Arusha Campus News – 6 Oct 2024

This evening our intrepid Kili climbers will embark on the final ascent of Uhuru Peak, highest point in Africa at 5895 metres above sea level! This is the team pictured at Horombo Hut this morning on their way to the final hut at Kibo.

Wed 16th Oct – First day of Quarter 2

A huge crowd formed at the International Festival to sample the … Indonesian-Malaysian booth

I hope this newsletter finds families enjoying a well deserved mid-term break wherever you are. To my knowledge we are spread out all over the beautiful country of Tanzania with some bracing themselves against the icy winds at the top of Kilimanjaro while others are dipping their toes in the warm water of the Indian Ocean in Zanzibar and Pangani! Others have stayed in Arusha to enjoy the peace and quiet. I am preparing for the inaugural Arusha Land Rover Festival which will take place on 12th October and the Land Rover owners of East Africa will attempt to break the world record for the longest continuous chain of these vehicles ever congregated. The current record stands at around 630 – lets see what can be accomplished in this attempt!

UWC East Africa has become one of the most popular schools in the world and part of the reason for this popularity is our fabulous Outdoor Pursuits programme. We encourage all secondary students to join in with OP but please note that all these trips come at a cost. We try and offer them for the cheapest price possible and only aim to cover our costs. That said, we are now heavily over subscribed for most trips and unfortunately some students are disappointed when they do not make the final pick. We are going to adhere to a policy whereby students will only be eligible for trips if their current quarter school fees are paid by the due date. When you receive an fee note at the start of each quarter you will be given a due date. Please ensure that fees are paid by that date so that students are able to go on to participate in OP that same quarter.

Have a restful break.

Phil

National dress (above) in full technicolour on show at last week’s International Festival.

P5 (above) sharing about different forces

Provocations
Throughout our units of inquiries we use a variety of different provocations. A well designed provocation provides learners with an opportunity to think and talk about their learning, both at school as well as at home, and guides students in the development of critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking. Ultimately it will help us reach the goal of all our units of inquiry, developing an understanding of the world around us. This could be an interesting photo or book, an object, an event, a trip, an experiment, a nature walk, and exploring using our 5 senses.

This week P6 visited cultural heritage. P5 identified simple machines. P4 had a quiz on signs. P3 found patterns around school and P1/2 read a story related to healthy lifestyles.

Amanda, Head of Primary Years Programme

This week the PYP students (and staff!) pictured above, warmed up for athletics season next quarter with their own inter-house Sports Day. Well done Meru for coming out on top on the day!

NEC, P1 and P2 had a fantastic Fun Sports Day showing off all their talents!

On Tuesday, earlier last week, a group of students from P1- P6 took part in the Kennedy House Athletics Warm Up meet, we had lots of fun practicing for the big tournament hosted by UWC Arusha in November! Pictured above is Teddy demonstrating superb high jump technique.

photos by Karima Mama Quddus

PYP from both campuses met in Arusha (above) for a fun day of games and team building exercises.

PYP student council organized a maths day to celebrate the end of the end of the first quarter. Thank you to everyone involved.

MYP had a great first quarter, now it is time for a well-deserved break! This week we had our last three days of classes and on Thursday we welcomed MYP students and their families for their 3-way conferences. It was great to see many signed up to reflect on learning progress and set new goals with their mentors and subject teachers.

Looking ahead: Quarter 2 starts on Wednesday 16 October.

Week Without Walls trips will take place from Monday 4 – Friday 8 November. Together with their Moshi campus counterparts, our MYP classes will head out for a 5 day-4 night camping trip accompanied by their teachers and supported by OP staff. During this week, students will engage in hands-on learning and outdoor activities. The Week Without Walls trips are curriculum based and form the highlight of our interdisciplinary units, we therefore expect all students to take part. Stay tuned for trip information and parental permission to be shared via Life.

M1 will go to Lake Eyasi and Mto wa Mbu with Ms Ms Hilary and Mr Rab – subject focus is English & Visual Arts

M2 will go to Pangani and Tanga with Mr Festo, Mr Kevin and Ms Anoek – subject focus is Swahili & Individuals and Societies

M3 will go to the Cultural Arts Centre at Tumaini University Makumira with Ms Sarah, Mr Ronald and Mr Alli – subject focus is Performing Arts & Swahili

M4 will go to West Kilimanjaro with Mr Adam, Mr Jeremiah, Ms Emily and Mr Michael – subject focus is Mathematics and Sciences

M5 will go to Mto wa Mbu with Miss Caitrin and Mr Bryan and the subject focus is Science and PHE.

International Festival
We were excited to host our International Festival on Friday 27 September, an afternoon dedicated to celebrating the incredible diversity that makes our school community so special. Please see the images above and below this newsletter piece. We kicked off with the Parade of Nations where students, staff and families showed off their national dress. After this, everyone had the opportunity to discover traditional foods, crafts and displays from different cultures. Special thanks to all who hosted a national or regional booth; it was great to re-introduce the Festival and it was thanks to your efforts that everyone in our school community had a great afternoon!

Anoek, MYP Co-ordinator

M3 Design students got their first taste of Disc Golf this week. We got out on the practice field to learn & practice putting techniques as well as safety etiquette. Keep an eye out for Disc Golf CCA Quarter 2 (M1-D2)

Mr Rab, MYP Design

M3 students (above) are currently working on Still Life Drawing; building skills in observing reference lines as well as positive & negative space.

Mr Rab, MYP Visual Arts

A collective feeling of thrill, pride and belonging was shared in the PA last Friday night. This talent show’s success was made possible by all of you who attended! Thank you for making this event memorable.

I can’t wait for the next edition of Arusha’s Got Talent, and I hope to see you there!

Marie-Félix (D2), Organiser of Arusha’s Got Talent

More than 40 students from across both campuses attended a virtual information session with the University of Oklahoma (U.S.) where many of our alumni are currently studying.

We were fortunate to have 10 colleges from the U.S., all Davis UWC Scholar partner schools, come to visit both campuses this week – Concordia College, Davidson College, Earlham College, Lewis & Clark College, Macalester College, Middlebury College, St. John’s College, St. Olaf College, Wartburg College and Whitman College. In addition to a college fair, there were a variety of workshops for students and parents to learn about studying in the U.S., financial aid and more. At the end of the fair, one of the admissions officers shared that UWCEA’s two campuses had been the best experience of her 6 weeks of traveling across Asia, Europe and Africa. “Your students are the most engaged and most prepared (of any school I’ve visited on this trip). I wish every visit was like this.” Great job, students! And parents, great job raising such wonderful humans!

Adam, Unioversity and Career Guidance Counselor

This photo was taken at 6am on Thursday morning and shows the Arusha contingent of the Kilimanjaro Mountain climbing team ready to embark on an attempt on the summit of Africa’s highest mountain!

Enjoy this collage of images from last week’s Discovery trip to the North Pare mountains. Two days, one night trip through the forest up to the top of the highest peak of the North Pare Mountains, the Kindoroko Peak. This is one of our oldest trips in the OP programme, This excursion is an appropriate initiation to mountaineering in the land of the Wapare. The forest is fresh, the view at the campsite is absolutely beautiful, especially at full moon.