Arusha Campus News – 1 Feb 2020

The OP Level 1b trekkers clamber up a slippery slope in the South Pare Mountains this week.

The children of EC are mesmerised by the loom at Shanga this week.

I was contacted this week by a group of people from Davos where the World Economic Forum has been held. It was a relief to many that this traditionally business-oriented gathering featured several high profile environmental organisations this year. The organisation that contacted me was seeking four young people to join an exciting initative called Uplink. Uplink will be a forum which aims to connect innovative youth with seasoned business managers and philanthropic money people. It is hoped that the ensuing discussions in these groups lead to projects that have a high chance of succeeding in addressing some of the global issues we face. So, next week, Lea, Alma, Jube and Teckla from D1 will engage in a conference call to launch the new Uplink platform. We will let you know what happens!

Our students and teachers are scattered far and wide again this weekend. Some are in West Kilimanjaro for the Kilitrails marathon, others will be on the Mountain Bike adventure whilst those left behind will attend the Chinese New Year celebrations at St Constantine’s School. I am hoping to get away to Monduli for a night to do a recconnaissance trip for the forthcoming Diploma Biology fieldwork trip. One thing is for sure – we will all come back WET!

Have a pleasant weekend

Phil

We have had a wonderful yet rainy week, filled with exciting learning in the primary, some oral internal exams for the graduating diploma students, followed by a Level 2 OP mountain bike trip and a hockey tournament planned for this weekend.

It is already that time of the school year when we prepare for fall in terms of new teachers and the expansion of our programs, especially in the DP. More information on new staff will be shared in the newsletter soon, and we are excited to welcome our new colleagues to the UWC East Africa growing community in Arusha.

MYP parents, please be reminded to contact your M1-5 mentors, if you have not already had a chance to do so, to schedule your February 13th student-led conferences for all MYP students. There will also be on that day student-led reflections with teachers for DP1 (students responsible to sign up with their six subject teachers), where we warmly invite parents to attend. D2s will be engaged in self-directed core and subject work day with the DP Coordinator. While this is a non-teaching day for secondary students, we require all students to be present as scheduled, prepared and engaged with their reflections and learning.

With best regards,
Ciprian

EC went to Shanga this week and the children had a blast. They learnt about their senses and also learnt a little bit of sign language. They also sang their 5 senses song. Overall the trip was a great success as we were lucky to have an amazing guide. 

Last week I wrote about summative assessment and this week we have been treated to even more examples of our learning. The P2/3 class shared their knowledge on water and the P4 class shared their creativity related to the ‘How We Express Ourselves’ with a wide variety of art and poetry. They chose a mood of expression to represent a particular mood. The students showed the choices they made and expressed themselves with confidence and enthusiasm.

The P4 class also shared information about Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the rat. The Rat is the first of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. The Rat tricked the Ox into giving him a ride. Then, just as they arrived at the finish line, Rat jumped down and landed ahead of Ox, becoming first.
The Rat is also associated with the Earthly Branch (??—dì zh?) Zi (?) and the midnight hours. In the terms of yin and yang (??—y?n yáng), the Rat is yang and represents the beginning of a new day.

In Chinese culture, rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus. Because of their reproduction rate, married couples also prayed to them for children. Rats are clever, quick thinkers; successful, but content with living a quiet and peaceful life. (Information from https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rat/ )

Amanda

As part of their unit ‘Bon Appétit’, the French Ab Initio DP students had two cooking lessons this week. Al, Lydia, Campbell, Harsh and Ornela (pictured above) cooked two typical French desserts: ‘fondants au chocolat’ for our chocolate lovers and ‘tarte Tatin’, a pastry in which apples are caramelised in butter and sugar. Their French B and Swahili Ab Initio classmates were invited to taste the final result… Délicieux! Next week they will perform their restaurant skit.

EC explore their senses in the flower fields of Aga Khan

Pay 10,000tsh to guess the marathon finish time (hours, minutes, seconds) of one of our brave competitors. Use the inside information and average marathon times to choose your 5 digit (#:##:##) finish time.

The closest guess to the competitors actual time will take home 50% of the competitors pot.

The remaining 50% will go towards the shipping cost for the new UWCEA Arusha Sports kits (U9-U19)

TO ENTER: Make your prediction at Main Reception

On the 24th of January, there was the OP trip level 1B in the south Pare mountains (pictured above). There were 12 different nationalities on the trip. In total, we were eighteen students, four from Arusha and fourteen from Moshi. We were there for two nights and three days. On the first day, we got to camp at 3.30, set up camp and relaxed until dinner time. On the second day, we woke up at 6.00 and hiked to a dam by 11.00. The weather was overcast but sometimes raining with lots of wind. After the dam, we hiked to sacrifice rock, which is a very high rock that the village would sacrifice abnormal children by letting them fall off the rock. Overall, it was a very fun trip and now the people that passed can all do level 2 in quarter two!

Report by Anisa Davenport

At play times the primary students have been having a great time in the sand pit. There have been rivers, volcanoes, lakes and giant holes! Sand play promotes physical development. Large muscle skills develop as children dig, pour, sift, scoop, and clean up spills with brush and dustpan. Eye-hand coordination and small muscle control improve as children learn to manipulate sand. Sand play also promotes social skills and cooperation.

Ngorongoro to Lake Natron hike as photographed on last year’s trip by Mr Darren

Secondary students received the following link to sign-up for the Outdoor Pursuits trip: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040E4FAAAA22A6F94-outdoor

Parents and guardians can also access this link to check if their child has signed-up or to encourage them to sign-up.
After signing-up,  payment should be made directly at the accounts’ department to secure a spot on a trip. As there are limited places, priority will be given to students who finalized payment first.
Our trip costs are made up of transport and food costs ; teachers, guides and porters costs, WMA or National Park fees. The differing prices for Tanzanian and expatriate students reflect differing charges from WMA or National Parks. Prices below are in TZ Shillings.

Anyone who’s interested, please let me know either via email http://davidratsakatika@uwcea.org or in person. Also, for those who would like tennis coaching, Arusha Campus has access to the best tennis coach in Arusha in Lembris. He’ll be on the tennis courts with his coaching team every Tuesday from 4:30pm-5:30pm. All UWCEA-Arusha parents and teachers are welcome to attend coaching sessions, all abilities welcome. Lembris charges a 10,000TSH pay as you play service so karibuni.