Arusha Campus News – 22 Aug 2020

Miss Coralie conducts her Diploma French lesson outside this week as part of a collective effort to take learning outside.

And there we have it. A successful completion of the first week of the year and plenty of reasons to congratulate ourselves. We are very proud to be one of the few international schools to have a full reopening. Of course, if you were to walk around campus this week, peering out over the top of your mask, you would have seen some differences. Lots and lots of classes working outside. We have also changed our lunch schedule so that Primary, MYP and DP all eat at different times to reduce the congestion.

We teach and learn to the harmonious sound of angle grinders and welding machines as the new buildings go up around us. In this age of adapting to the unexpected, the teachers and students seem oblivious to the noise and life is very much going on as normal. This week I was in Dar es Salaam and was able to source some first class laboratory fittings for the new labs. Lets hope we can use them soon.

Finally, today was my Annual Tree Planting Extravaganza. We woke up this morning with 50 indigenous trees to plant, a truck load of manure and plenty of shovels and hoes that had been kindly donated by the PTA members. As I write this we have successfully planted 40 of the trees, and all with the super help of some of the Diploma students who volunteered to get up with me, Sarah, Reuben and Nuru to work on the job. We will plant the remaining ten trees on Monday. Pictured above are easily the most vocal and flamboyant of today’s tree planting groups! Now we just have to sit back and watch the saplings grow. Over the past 24 months we have planted around 250 indigenous saplings and I am pleased to report that they are all doing well. We will have a beautiful campus in years to come.

A big thank you to the PTA and Monica D for organising the PTA snacks for the new teachers on Friday at coffee time. Much apprecated by all of us.

Have a super weekend, (….and Good Luck to the Arusha Rhinos who are taking on the Dar Leopards at rugby. Congratulations to teachers Matt Uffindall and Jessica Peterson for making the team!)

Phil

 

 

I think it is fair to say that our Secondary School has grown. In the MYP section of the school we have 61 students whilst in the DP section we have 127 students! The picture above of the openng day assembly gives you an indication of the numbers in school, bearing in mind that many of our boarders have yet to arrive in Tanzania.

I have to congratulate our teachers for their adaptability in teaching in unusual places whilst we await the completion of the science laboratories. We have seen many of our lessons take place outdoors which is something we are looking for at every opportunity given the COVID threat.

Our new Co-ordinators, Miss Nathalie VIgnard (DP) and Mr Hamid Rezayi (MYP) have been magnificent. I feel very lucky to be working with two professionals who are really at the top of their game in terms of being able to manage their programme. 

Everyone will be pleased to know that our bandwidth provision nearly doubled this week to accommodate the new influx of online student users. I hope you notice the difference.

Finally, we welcomed in the new six day schedule here in the Secondary School. That means Monday will be Day Six and we start all over agian on Tuesday. Confusing enough?

Here’s looking forward to a smooth Week Two!

Phil

P4/5 show off their artefacts aspart of their Unit on How we Express Ourselves

We have had a fantastic week back in school. Everyone has enjoyed and appreciated the value of friendship and learning.

On Tuesday 25th August at 6pm, I will send out the link for the CCA sign up via signupgenius. Students from P1-6 are eligible to join the CCA program but it is not compulsory. Please be aware we are offering a reduced program on a Monday and Wednesday for Quarter 1. On a Tuesday and Thursday Coach Kevin will offer swimming for intermediate and advanced swimmers (25m in one stroke). Please contact me if you have any questions on amandabowen@uwcea.org

The IB Learner Profile

The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. 

Inquirers – show natural curiosity, skills to conduct inquiry and research, enjoy learning

Knowledgeable – explore concepts that have local and global significance and develop in-depth knowledge across a range of subjects

Thinkers – Use initiative, critically and creatively approach complex problems, and make good decisions.

Communicators – understand and express ideas and information confidently in a variety of ways and work effectively and in collaboration

Principled – act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect. Take responsibility for their own actions

Open-minded – Understand and appreciate their own and others cultures, personal histories and experiences.

Caring – show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others and act to help the lives of others and the environment.

Risk-takers – approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and independence

Balanced – understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.

Reflective – give thoughtful consideration to their own learning, experience and personal development.

 

Primary Share Time also took place outsde this week. Here are Miss Amanda and Mr Ali teaching the Primary School a song.

Dalida in P6 doing work whilst her buddies take a breather behind her

Last Sunday our Designated Safeguaring Leads spent the afternoon with the new Diploma 1 students as we completed a safeguarding and wellbieng workshop. The Campus safeguarding leads are Miss Amanda, Miss Carmen, Miss Angela, Mr Neil and Phil.

Pictured above are the students engaged in some role plays – modelling difficult conversations with your peers.

Our UWC East Africa Swim Squad is BACK!

Whilst we find ourselves in these strange times, the ‘normality’ of school life is so important, and to add to that, the chance to be active, healthy and competitive. NTAA sports may well be on the back burner for Q1, but on campus, we are gearing up for a sports bonanza over the forthcoming weeks and months.

Without doubt, the UWC East Africa Swim Squad is certainly one part of school life that we want to welcome back and get going again as soon as we can. The great news is that we are back up and running from next week!

Squad practice, with Coach Kevin, is week day mornings from 06:30 – 07:30, and Tuesday / Thursday from 15:30 – 16:30.
The cost for 13 weeks, from August 24 – December 4 is 100,000 TSH per swimmer. Payment can be made at the school finance office.
The squad is available for anyone, but as a minimum, we would expect 25m in one stroke to be confident and strong.

For more details, and to register, follow this link: UWCEA SWIM SQUAD SIGN UP

Yours in sport,

Matt Uffindall

The forbidding interior of the crater on Lengai, a potential future OP Level 5 trip

My apologies for a delayed notification on our Outdoor Pursuits Trips that will be running quarter 1 and 2 of semester 1 for year 2020-2021. This will help with our sign-up process and generally keep you informed about our program.

We have hiking trips, mountain bike trips, and water based trips. For the hiking trips we have the mountain stream and flat land stream.Trips are further subdivided into levels that student will have to complete before going to the next level.For instance our Camp Craft trip is designed to introduce M1 students to camping and hiking kills.

I have created a sign-up genius and sent a link to students to facilitate the sign-up process. Attached is a copy of the trips and costs associated with every trip.

Again I apologise for the delayed notification and hope this timely email will help in our preparation for another Outdoor Pursuits year.

Isack Igenge.

OP Coordinator

We hope that you are ready to enjoy a wonderful weekend to refresh after the first week of the new school year. This is a great time to review expectations and routines now that we’re back in session, and to set goals for a positive year ahead. Hopefully you have seen this week’s Wellness Wednesday Weekly message, and will take a moment to complete the survey. Thank you to those of you who have already completed the survey, we hope to have more responses than we had to the survey at the end of the school year in order to continue planning mental health services for our school community throughout the year. Our staff are already engaged in Safeguarding, and some teachers on the Moshi campus took part in a Mindfulness training by our own Marissa Lipovsky during last week’s Wellness Wednesday. Members of staff also watched the documentary ‘Angst’ this Wellness Wednesday and look forward to exploring more of the topic of anxiety and young people. Stay tuned.

Mental Health and well-being survey due 28 August 2020: https://forms.gle/nV3dYtrcKzqxj8V58

On the University planning side, it has been a great week of meeting with Diploma Programme students in person or virtually to review their courses and continue to explore their post-secondary plans. Although our work at this time is focused on DP students, we will be doing presentations with M4 and M5 students in the coming months, as well as parents presentations. We invite you to reach out to us if you have any questions along the way, and invite parents to request access to their child’s Maia Learning account (currently only D2 and former M5 students. More accounts coming soon to all D1 and M4-M5).

We wish you a wonderful weekend, and are here to support you throughout the school year.

UWCEA School Counseling Team

We have a fabulous range of new merchandise which promotes UWC East Africa. Hoodies, t-shirts, water bottles, mugs and bags are all on sale at Main Reception – just see Phil or Caroline.