Arusha Campus News – 29 Sep 2017

This morning’s swim gala saw some excellent perfomances from all competitors. Results will be published early next week.

We have come to the end of another busy week at ISMAC and I think we can look back with satisfaction on a job well done! This evening’s PTA Welcome Braai was a success (pictured left) and it was such a pleasure to see so many new parents in attendance. I hope you all enjoyed the occasion. We listened to the marvellous sounds of Ndoto Tunes featuring Mr Dixon, ate super food courtesy of Bram and the accomplished South African Braai Kings and gazed at stars through Mr Linck’s telescope. All of this was made possible by the energy of our PTA. Thank you to them. 

The evening was also an opportunity to recognise the remarkable design of the new changing rooms and for this we have to thank Alexis Cronin of Dunia Designs for his skills in this area. Alexis offered up a prize this evening for anyone who could guess the quantity of recycled plastic bags that went into building the new rooms. The winner was our very own Beate Allard. Well done Beate.

Our Primary NTAA swim gala was a resounding success this morning, and ran smoothly, which is what we have come to expect from our Head of PE, Miss Peterson. Incredible organisation made to look so easy. Thank you. Tomorrow, she has to do it all again with the Secondary Gala. We will see you bright and early for an 8am start!

Have a super weekend

Phil

As we move towards the last week of the quarter, everyone is extremely busy.

In Primary was saw P3s visit Arusha airport; the students learnt all about the community of the airport, with tours of the Arusha Medivac plane (thanks Jac), the control tower and of course the fire station. 

P3 also led our share time on Thursday, sharing what they have learnt in their unit on communities. Well done to P3.

On Friday we hosted the EC-P2 fun sports morning. There were so many great perfomances from the students and also the parents. Massive congratulations to all those who took part and a big thanks to Miss Liz for organising all the fun. There are a selection of photographs below.

Next week we will host primary 3-way conferences for students in EC-P6. These will take place on Wednesday and there will be no classes for Primary students. Parents should have receieved details of appointments from class teachers.

MYP & D2 Quarter One reports will be issued via email on Friday 6 October, which will be a half day, with early release at 12 noon.

After the October break, MYP & D2 parents and students will have the opportunity to discuss their progress at our parent-teacher conferences. These will take place on Wednesday 25 October. Further details will be issued with the reports.

Wishing you a fantastic last week,

Darren

We had an amazing swimming gala today: well done to all those who took part. A special thank you to Miss Peterson for organising everything and Mr Bowen for his continuous commentary.

My name is Sophie Croteau and I am very excited to teach at ISMAC!

I was born in Quebec, Canada and I have always lived there until two months ago where I came in Tanzania. This is my first overseas trip and also my first experience as a full-time teacher since I was at University for 5 years doing two bachelor degrees. I was planning to do a master in business in Canada for this year but when I heard about ISMAC: I had to take this opportunity! When I am not at school, I really like to train and do sports and I would like to bring at ISM my skills in these different sports: aerial silks, cheerleading & gymnastics, flying trapeze and lyra.

Nine boys from P5 and P6 travelled to Moshi for an U11 Rounders tournament last Saturday. Every boy played in all 6 matches (because we didn’t have reserves) despite the early start, heat and a snake on the pitch! They showed great commitment and team spirit. Every student made a significant contribution to the team:
Batting – Sahil, Suryanshu and Santiago
Fielding – Gal, Sayan and Ibrahim
And our new student in P5, Haitham  joined Thomas and Griffyn to make a very effective bowler, backstop and first post trio which claimed many ‘wickets’.
Katrina Stanford and husband Mark (our PTA Treasurer) were proud to accompany such a cohesive team….and we would like to record our thanks to them for accompanying the trip.

M5 students are now being registered for the eAssessments that will take place in 2018. Next week, students will an information session on the eAssessments followed by a Q&A session.
eAssessment comprises three strategies for assessing what students know and are able to do:

• ePortfolios of coursework in Arts, Design, French and Physical and Health Education. The ePortfolios will be compiled during Quarter 3 (Jan- March 2018). Students taking Swahili will do a school-based ePortfolio as the IB does not offer Swahili in the MYP (only in the DP).
• on-screen examinations are two hours in duration and are offered for Individuals and Societies (May 8), Mathematics (May 10), English language and literature (May 11), Sciences (May 17), and Interdisciplinary learning (May 18).
• personal project; a student-centred extended project in which students consolidate their learning throughout the programme.

Please see below the summary of the eAssessment model for 2018:

On Monday, after raising funds and putting this project together for weeks, the M3 students have led their first plastic collection session in town with the close collaboration and supervision of Alexis and Lazar from Dunia Designs. Almost 900 plastic bottles were taken away from the streets by the people in the streets around Aim Mall and Mawala Road, and each person who has participated was rewarded with the money raised: a total of 41,000 TZS were given to different collectors. The purpose of this project is to create a movement that will get the people in Arusha to understand that taking care of the environment can bring positive outcomes, even find employment! The M3 students are trying to raise the attention in the streets regarding the collection of plastic bottles, and will bring this project to the next level by raising awareness and educating people on the ways to recycle and the effects of a poor waste management. Since the beginning, the M3’s have shown outstanding commitment and cleverness in finding ways to overcome the waste management. Let’s see what type of future they can bring!

The M2 classes from Arusha and Moshi travelled to Pangani for their Inter-Disciplinary Unit from 12-15 September. The aim of our trip was to find out what human and non-human factors have shaped the identity of Pangani. The day after we arrived we explored Pangani with a guide and learned about the history of the town. We noticed that the past is still very much visible in present day Pangani and we saw evidence of Arab, German and British influences in many of the older buildings. We camped in the garden of the ISM school house and explored the bay here, we used maths insights and methods to analyse coastal processes and features of erosion. Students’ knowledge about coastal processes helped them to explain how the caves and tombolo we saw in a nearby beach were formed. Arusha and Moshi students enjoyed their time together and afternoons were spent on the beach playing ultimate frisbee on the beach or swimming in the Indian Ocean.

Last week-end, Rehema (M2), Ellesmere (M2) and Harsh (M4) were the only three courageous and adventurous students from Arusha Campus to attend the level 1B trip to Pare Mountains. Led by Mr Olivier and teachers from Moshi campus, they, as well as the 14 students from Moshi, faced the adversity with great positive attitude. No doubt that they are ready to step in for level 2 or level 3. In this magnificent and peaceful region, not only they could observe this part of Tanzania from a great point of view, they have enjoyed the nice smells and sounds of the forest, which gives a break from the noisy and dusty city of Arusha. They even discovered the presence of a medicinal and good smelling plant just by the peek of the summit: the eucalyptus. Good luck in the next levels to the three of them!

At ISM’s Garden Club on Tuesday, September 19th, we had a wonderful turn out of participants, staff and students who were excited to learn.
Firstly we, Adive, Laura and Malvery, from ECHO opened with a quick reminder of how to create compost out of easily accessible materials. Next we shared about the uses and benefits of Chaya, a highly nutritious leafy green native to Mexico. Other species such as moringa and NZ spinach were mentioned and described to students and staff.  Participants were shown how to plant and maintain the perennial green Chaya. This helped us ease into the next segment of the training: to explain the importance of mulching. It is important to use mulching on farms and small gardens to prevent soil erosion. Also it is important, as mulching retains moisture in the soil; meaning areas that are prone to drought will begin to produce healthy yields. We were able to show the students and staff members the impact of water on a garden without mulching and a garden with mulching.

Together with mulching, it is recommended to use green manure/cover crops to increase soil fertility and produce greater yields. Cover crops are types of beans which cover the ground completely, providing shade for the soil and retaining moisture when it rains, essentially a natural form of mulching. Green manure/cover crops also reduce weeding time because mulching prevents weeds from growing. There are four best known types of cover crops and members of ISM staff and students were educated on these four types and their benefits to our environment. They are jackbean, velvet bean, pigeon peas and lablab.

We appreciate ECHO’s input into our developing garden as well as waste management. If you are interested in helping support Permaculture at ISM please contact me at lindaw@ismac.ac.tz I am sure there are ideas and experts among stakeholders from whom our campus environment and culture could benefit.

Our very own Aliabbas Somji (D2) competed in the CMC Golf Tournament at Arusha Gymkhana last weekend and claimed the top honour of Champion of the Elite A Division. Speaking after the tournament Aliabbas said “My composure paid off. I am really happy with this victory because it was tough, considering the quality of golfers who took part”. 

All of us at ISMAC are very proud of this young man who is proving to be a sports star of note in the making.

The Plaster House expansion is happening apace! We will put in some bottle walls for a little bit of glam and difference.
But we need your help!
We are looking for CLEAR and BLUE glass bottles to be cut down and put into our walls.

Please leave your bottles at reception or give them directly to Sarah or message me if you have a large amount to be collected sarah@theplasterhouse.org

Thanks so much!

Sarah

Sarah Rejman
Director
+255 753 296 649
www.theplasterhouse.org

If anyone knows of someone in Arusha who may be willing/able to teach German, please could you pass on their contact details to Darren via darrena@ismac.ac.tz 

Many thanks