This weekend has been all about Valentine’s Day and Primary Sports Weekend. Across the school Friday morning there was a splash of red, pink and white for the spirit day. Thanks to Sparkling Elephant for lifting everyone’s day with roses, chocolate and brownies. The Blind Date show arranged by secondary students was definitely a hilarious end to the class day.
After this was the largest Primary Sports Weekend we have hosted. Thank you to all the parents, students and staff that volunteered their time and energy to make the weekend run well. These types of events do not happen without your support. We also were lucky this weekend to have a much drier time than for the secondary weekend.
I cannot forget the great work done earlier this week by the M5 students. It was really interesting to see the diversity in their interests and to hear about their different passions. I do hope you hold onto these passions as you grow older.
Please remember that next weekend is our February long weekend and there are no classes on Friday the 21th and Monday the 24th. From the sounds of things, there are various events and trips being planned for our residential students.
I would also like to let the community know that in the first week in March, in addition to Book Week and the Wave production,we will be hosting members of different National Committees, UWC College representatives and International Office members for the annual conferences. This will be another opportunity for them to learn about UWC East Africa and our Moshi Community.
Bob Cofer
Upcoming
BOOK WEEK IS COMING!
From the 2nd to the 6th March, UWCEA will be celebrating all things literary! We have a number of things happening to celebrate our collective love of reading. Here are some of the things that will be going on:
We need volunteers for the following:
Twitter video reviews: Staff, students and parents
International Day will start in Karibu Hall at 11am with various national performances. We will have the traditional Flag procession to lead us in, and out.
After the presentations there will be continental stands around the area which are being organized by a combination of students and parents and will likely include a combination for costumes, food, music, games etc. Do not be surprised if you are approached soon to get involved.
There is a plan for additional children’s activities in the Green during this time.
Tickets for activities and food will be sold by the PTA with proceeds to be used to support future student led initiatives.
Ben’s Corner
Sharing learning in the classrooms has always been an important part of the PYP. It makes sense that children achieve more at school when their parents are involved. In the PYP, parents are encouraged to play an active role in the learning in and around the classroom. This might be as an expert to support the ongoing inquiry, a visiting storyteller, an artist or, even, just an extra pair of hands on a trip. At the same time, we want our PYP parents to be part of learning celebrations too.
In P4 this week, the students invited parents (and their peers) to hear all about their latest Unit of Inquiry. Each student set up a station and parents moved around, listening to “presentations,” looking through supporting evidence and asking questions to gain a better understanding of the learning involved and how it is connected to the real world. At the end, the visitors were invited to leave a comment for the students. These summative sharing sessions are a regular event across the Primary School.
This model is echoed in the MYP and the wonderful Personal Project (PP) Exhibition on Tuesday was the ultimate testament to this. The PP is a culminating M5 project that allows students to explore a personal interest and to showcase the skills they have developed over time through the Approaches to Learning. Whatever form the PP takes, it must allow the students to investigate and focus on a theme or issue closely connected to at least one Global Context. These Global Contexts act as a framework for students to make connections within and between subjects and, significantly, with the real world.
The variety of projects on display was incredible and the deep level of personal connection was a true reflection of both the value of the process and the support of the faculty. Huge kudos to the students and supervisors who worked so hard to make it such a meaningful learning experience for all.
With the PYP Exhibition being introduced to our P6 students as we speak, it is exciting to be part of a school where students are given choice, voice and agency to plan, articulate, interpret and share their learning in such meaningful and purposeful ways…and where parents are able to be involved in the process along the way.
Ben Morley
Diploma News
Friday was an eventful day on campus. The Sparkling Elephant group delivered Valentine’s Day gifts as a fundraiser. Later on, students organised a Blind Date show and then a disco for the older students and a movie for the younger ones. Meanwhile we had students from other schools on campus for Primary Sports Weekend with D1 students acting as ambassadors and helping with refereeing the touch rugby. On Saturday students also supported the swimming and football events.
Some of the D2 students have completed their final oral exams the others will be taking place soon. They also have to submit their final TOK essay; the end of submissions is in sight. The D2 students have had their mock exams returned and have been going over them in class. The mocks are not just a chance to find out what you know but also what study and preparation techniques work for you. Hopefully they are taking the time to reflect so they can improve for the final exams. The D2 graduation committee has met and groups of students are taking charge of different areas.
For D1 the work continues with assessments happening in many subjects. They also have the Long Weekend, an upcoming OP trip and the usual sports events to keep them busy.
Margaret Brunt
Residential Life
Another excellent and event-filled week in school saw Resident Students involved in so many different activities.
The week started on Sunday with the first of a thrice-weekly Cultural Night planned and presented by Diploma students. During that evening students from Ethiopia and Mongolia showed presentations about their countries, and we had the opportunity to sample some Mongolian food also prepared by the students. The evening was very well attended, and I hope it will be the first of many such culturally inspired events.
Tuesday saw the culmination of the practical aspect of the M5 Personal Project – the Exhibition with M5’s showing some amazing ingenuity and very clever concepts behind their products and presentations.
On Wednesday the Eco-Club held their very entertaining Water Dump fundraiser by the swimming pool, which basically involved students and staff paying money to see buckets of cold water poured over members of staff including Mr Cofer, Mr Carson, Ms Alannah, Mr Ochieng, Ms Hazel, Mrs Brunt, and myself. Particularly entertaining was when the students poured a full and endless basin of water over certain members of staff. A fun time was had by all?!!
Friday being Valentine’s Day saw roses, lollipops and chocolate gifts distributed with kind messages to staff and students throughout the school by a team of Diploma organisers, a very entertaining Blind Date event and then in the evening a Valentine’s Ball for our older students and a film viewing for our younger students. The ball involved some excellent individual performances by Diploma students who sang and played the piano.
This week culminated in the excellent Primary Sports Weekend which brought an extra 300 plus Primary students to our campus, to stay overnight on Friday and Saturday. The students participated in some excellent swimming races and touch rugby and football matches with the successful teams competing at a very high standard.
After this week, I wonder what next week will bring?
Ian Horne
MYP News
PERSONAL PROJECT EXHIBITION We are thankful to all members of the community who attended this year’s M5 Personal Project Exhibition on Tuesday February 12. The attendance was very good and students got valuable feedback. The student’s will submit their reports on Tuesday February 18.
Eco Club Water Dunk Wednesday February 12 was full of fun at the Swimming Pool area. In a bid to conserve water, the Eco Club Service group organised an event to help fundraise for the purchase of new water efficient spouts for fountains at school. The event successfully raised TZS 170,000.
M1 Lake Eyasi Trip The M1 class has an interdisciplinary trip planned for February 17-20. This is a cross campus trip involving our Arusha campus and features both Integrated Humanities and Design subjects. The students are going to investigate how the Hadzabe and Datoga communities develop strategies for adapting to harsh environments and how they respond to everyday needs. This includes how they make their jewelry and adornments.
David Ochieng
From the Counselor
This Valentine’s Day weekend I just want to take a moment to pause and encourage everyone to take a deep breath and enjoy the moments. Even in this beautiful and peaceful environment that we find ourselves in, there are a lot of things going on that make it hard to stop and appreciate where we are and who we are with. This weekend, take some time to breathe, relax, and share the love. On that note, there has been some talk about students needing to have strategies to deal with anger and feelings of frustration. This is an ongoing issue, and benefits from taking time to Just Breathe.
Another way to settle oneself is to take some time to appreciate your environment and each other. With a little more than three months left with our D2 students, we decided to spend some time enjoying the beauty all around during Life Skills class this week. It ended up being a wonderful walk and talk session as students walked the path behind the school and reminiscenced with each other. Knowing that they will be moving on from us soon make this time together even more special.
Wishing you a LOVEly weekend, and lots of opportunities to breathe and appreciate the moments.
Sincerely,
Cassandra Ford
Sports Update
This weekend had been dominated by the Primary Sports weekend. More about this event will come in next week’s newsletter. Thank you to everyone that helped this weekend. We could not do this with out your help.
Please do not forget we have a number of other upcoming primary and secondary sports events upcoming as seen in the list below.
Robin Marsh
Duke of Edinburgh
Early last Saturday morning four risk takers journeyed through Maasailands in the Duka Bovu area in Arusha.
The group of 4 left the UWCEA Arusha gates around 10.30 AM and made their way 10km North, to a bushy farmland. With the aid of a map and compass, they carefully navigated rivers and galleys, using their check points to hydrate, reapply sunscreen and confirm their next route. They arrived at the campsite just before sunset after hours of walking in the hot sun. They quickly put up their tents, got the fire going and began cooking their dinner. At 9.30 PM the fire was out, the site cleared, only the sounds of wild birds were heard in the cool air.
They got up at 5.30 AM the next day, made breakfast, packed up and began their journey to Panone Petrol Station, where they concluded the trip with a new-found confidence.
Well done Benjamin, Johannes, Luke and Theodore!
Contact Mwegelo Kapinga for details on the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Outdoor Pursuits
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.”
A lot of people enjoy hiking, it can be therapeutic and can help maintain your health. Although I am not into hiking as much, I have always dreamt about having an experience with my friends and I can proudly say this experience was a highlight.
It was a one-night hiking trip, we left at 7am and drove for around 3 hours. Looking at the sizes of the hills, we all thought it would be an easy hike. However, half an hour into walking we were out of breath. We started questioning whether we would be able to make it.
“C’mon, we are almost there, you can do it!!”. The guides kept us motivated throughout the whole journey, even though they lied every time.
The breathtaking view helped us to the top as we slowly struggled through each step. Every time we would reach on top of another hill, I kept holding the group every 5 minutes to capture the natural play of colors on my camera. A small piece to take back home with me.
Another wonderful experience was the social aspect. We all started the hike as strangers and ended it as friends, hugging and wishing each other the best of luck. We bonded, laughed hard and mainly talked about how stressful school is.
I highly recommend doing this flat (not so flat) hiking trip to the Monduli Village.
Navya M5
PYP News
The Primary Sports weekend is here! It was great to see the many students together with their teachers, here at UWCEA, giving their all in this annual event! May the best school win!
We have some great action also taking place within our student community. Townes in P6, raised 50,000 Tshillings at last week’s Farmers’ Market to help the koalas injured in the recent Australian bushfires. Great action Townes! The P6 class set up a splat a rat and a haunted house on campus on Saturday to raise further funds. Well done to all of the children who helped out. A special thank you to Julian who was the driving force behind the haunted house and who spent an hour inside a very hot costume to entertain the visitors. In the coming month it will be the P5s and I encourage everyone to support them as we continue in this action together.
The P4s were out on camp at Bondeni Estate in Sanya Juu and the children were naturals when it came to fishing! Well done Student Voice, for setting up yet another Spirit Day. It was lovely to see the community in red and just sharing the love. Next week we will have our mid-term break from Friday the 21st to Monday the 24th Feb. After this, we will be preparing for Book week. Parents, you might want to start thinking of being a surprise reader and getting the character costumes for your child. More information will be found in next week’s news.
Cathy Wambua-Saha
EC Class
EC now understand the vocabulary of sense and are beginning to delve a little deeper. We used the opportunity to produce our own tally charts to survey people’s favourite sounds, tastes and touches.
Travelling around the school, it is always an absolute pleasure to note the open-door attitude of our secondary teachers and students. You can really see from this picture the energy and concentration in our children as they surveyed and tallied up.
This kind of activity not only teaches how to lay out, record, count and question. These interactions between our youngest and oldest children bring out a palpable sense of confidence and independence.
Hopefully you visited for Sports Weekend and enjoyed a few ‘fairground’ games.
Owain Evans
P 1/2 Class
The children enjoyed learning how to tell time this past week.
P1s explored how the short hand tells us the hour and where the long hand stands when it is o’clock. A few P1s excitedly moved on to look at where the long hand stands for half past.
Thank you Mama Ezra for lending us the see through clock. The children enjoyed looking at all the gears and trying to find out how they moved the hands.
P2s reviewed how to read the time to half past and will be on their way to reading the time to quarter past/to this coming week. Thank you to all for reminding the children to wear watches to school as well as Mama Eefke for giving us watches that the children can add to their play area in the classroom.
This coming 4 day week, we will complete our look at continents and ask ourselves why some places are very hot and some places are covered in ice. Please take time to share the location of your home country on the world map with your child.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P3 Class
P3 students show love and affection for each other on a daily basis. Valentine’s Day is just another day for us to make cards for each other and let each other know we care and give each other a hug. Nonetheless, Valentine’s Day has been a hurricane that has left red and pink paper scraps and plenty of marker caps on the floor in its aftermath. I hope all the parents and guardians like the cards that the students have made for them. More importantly, Happy Valentine’s Day!
Much of the love that is exhibited in our class is centred on sharing of snacks. There have been a couple of disputes this week over students wanting each other’s snacks, but not liking anything that is offered back. In an effort to curb these disputes, as well as ensure that they are eating what is packed for them by their parents, please talk to your child at home and let them know that the snacks you provide have a lot of thought and effort put in and are for them to eat.
It’s rather fitting that Primary Sports Weekend starts on Valentine’s Day. P3 students have been abuzz all week eagerly awaiting their opportunity to showcase their talents and be the centre of attention! It’s also been a great opportunity to bribe some of them into eating healthier! I wish them all the best of luck and look forward to catching up with the parents on the field or by the pool.
Elisha Jaffer
P4 Class
This week the P4s went out to the bush. 🙂 We had a great overnight experience in the remote part of Sanya Juu at the Bondeni Estate. We really appreciate Mr. Leon de Vries for making this possible. The children were able to engage in team activities and share reflections which will hopefully help them further develop social and emotional skills. We had a good number of “first-time” experiences and it was quite an adventure for us all. We have a visiting teacher from the UK, Carolyne Pickering. She has come to see how we do things at UWCEA and also strengthen links between our students and those in her school.
In the coming week, we will begin our unit on inventions. This is your opportunity as a parent to be more involved in the learning. You can come in and lead an activity or come in as a guest speaker. We will be unpacking our big idea, and looking at inventions of the past and how they have changed over the years until present. We will further develop our persuasive writing skills as we share our perspective on the impact of technology. In Math, we will be learning about money starting from barter trade and working our way to our modern currency. We will be requesting different objects from home, to set up a shop in our classroom. There will be a note or email that will be sent home each time there is a request.
Cathy Wambua-Saha
P5 Class
From doctor visits to baking cookies, the P5 had a busy, engaging, eye-opening, and sweet week. On Tuesday, we had a visit from Dr. Marieke and the class was able to look into one another’s eyes to see their optic nerves. The next morning, Dr. Henke brought his ultrasound to scan their internal organs. We saw the heart, bladder, and many other organs. The class was deeply engaged in both of the visits. We were really lucky to be able to see the human body systems in such an up-close manner.
The class enjoyed starting their narrative projects this week. It will take us at least a month, so this week was just about creating characters and story maps. They are enjoying being authors. Friday was a day of cookies, compliment cards, and cake. We celebrated a birthday and Valentine’s Day with homemade frosted heart shape cookies. The class made one another sweet Valentine’s Day compliment cards. You could feel the love and sugar in the classroom!
Sarah Brummel
P6 Class
It’s been a busy week for P6. The children have now chosen an issue to inquire into for their Exhibition. Next week they will meet their mentors, work on a central idea and lines of inquiry and make sure they are clear how to cite sources of information correctly. After that, the research can begin. We will be following the MISO protocol: Media, Interviews, Surveys and Opportunities for experience and action. In maths we will continue to work on data handling – take a look at our pie charts displayed on the breezeway. We will also continue with our work on advertising, focusing on persuasive techniques. This weekend many of the P6 students participated in sports tournaments and have been working hard, fundraising to raise money to help the koalas hurt in the recent Australian bushfires. Well done on some great action P6!
