Moshi Campus News – 18 Feb 2023

This week students in D1 were off around Tanzania exploring their interests and learning new skills. One example of this is a group that went to Mkomazi to study the rhino and wild dog conservation efforts. Another was a group at KCMC learning what it really takes to succeed in medicine. Thank you to all the people and organizations that supported our students during this week.

At the same time the MYP students were on trips from Pangani to Lake Eyasi with their grade level counterparts from Arusha. Thank you to all the teachers, drivers, cooks and support staff for making this possible through the work prior to and during the trip.

While things on campus were a bit slower, please see the PYP sections to see what they were up to.

The next few weeks have three assemblies. One on Monday for Black History Month, one on Thursday the 2nd of March for Book Week and one on Monday March 6th for Women’s Day. You are warmly invited to attend all of these assemblies which will take place at 10:30 in Karibu Hall on the respective days. We also have the Farmers’ Market on the 23rd, International Day on March 4th, the blood drive on March 3rd and much more.

Lastly, good luck to those students off to EAMUN in Nairobi this week.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus

A photo of the newest member of the Black Rhino Conservation program. At less than 48 hours old at this point she is the newest of 4 rhinos born in the last 3 months.

Every February the United States celebrates Black History Month. However, as UWCEA we shall be celebrating the history of the black African. Our black history month will not be about awareness but am opportunity to reflect and celebrate how black African history has influenced our lives. On Monday 20th Feb the campus and cultural committee will host an assembly which will usher the conversation into peer to peer led workshops centering on the black African.

The aim for all this is to harness the intentional diversity of UWC and continue sharing the roots of the black African.

Deogracious

SATURDAY MARCH 4TH is the UWC International Day celebration on Moshi campus — it is just three weeks away, and we still have A LOT of planning to do! Simon has helped to put together a Google Doc where people can sign up to help run the food stalls for each tent — we will not be doing a silent auction or large fashion show this year, but instead will make it more based around the food, music and culture. I am going to send out a separate email with the sign up link to be involved. It will also outline some things that were discussed during a meeting with the student government on Tuesday. Please message me at +255 712015821 or email me at mandy@neemainternational.org if you are interested in getting involved in a bigger way!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Please note that this month the Farmers’ Market is on Thursday February 23rd. 

The Market will be from 1pm to 4:30pm and is open to all in the community. We look forward to seeing you there.

Noise is back on campus after our MYP cohort returned from a very successful Week Without Walls. So many smiles and happy faces we’re excited and eager to share the stories of that special week. Please stay tuned for a special edition of the newsletter that will include the success stories, experiential learning journeys and awesome pictures to showcase the events of that week!

Peer to Peer:
Our MYP Peer to Peer Service Group is excited to host M4 students from Khartoum International Community School, Sudan from February 19th to February 23rd, 2023.

KICS is a transitioning school with implementation of the MYP programme that started this academic year 2022-23. The main objective is for students to interact and engage in meaningful action/collaboration with students of other IB schools by exploring:

• Team building and collaboration
• Working together to understand global challenges and how they can work on it locally
• Reflection and brainstorming sessions
• An opportunity for students to share their understanding and experiences.
• Inspiring and being inspired
• Play-based interactive and hands-on sessions that are blended into active movement, role-play and games

Important MYP Dates to Keep in Mind:

• March 6th – Mock Orals Week (M5 French)
• March 15th – Final Drafts of PP reports
• March 20th – e-Assessments Mocks Week AND Final Orals (M5 French)
• April 1st – 16th Easter/ Spring Break
• May 8th – 19th – MYP5 e-Assessments (official)
• June 6th – M5 Ceremony

Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator

As I am writing this the campus is slowly returning to normal as the MYP and D1 students are returning. Project week has been a success according to the brief reports I have been getting. I could hear the students from a local school practicing Hungarian and Armenian dances earlier. Most students are still travelling or finishing off their project and returning on Saturday.
More details of what each group achieved, and photos will be available in a later newsletter. Hopefully as parents you have been informed what your child did.

For D2 students it has been a very different week, with the mock exams. They have been taking the experience seriously and know how to behave during exams. Most students are taking the full time for each paper showing they have studied well and can show off what they know and understand. With three exams for most subjects and up to six subjects each it has been an intense eight days.

The students will be receiving the papers back over the next week and discussing how they need to improve with their teachers. The grades for these mock exams will be sent to parents and will be used to inform predicted grades, which may be sent to universities.
The final oral exams will start on Thursday 2nd March, the art exhibition set up starts on Friday 17th March and the final CAS interviews, meaning the semester is still busy. There are also IAs, EEs etc to complete.

Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator

The D1 History students have taken a deep dive into local history this past month. For several weeks, students read about Chagga resistance to German conquest as well as the Maji Maji uprising in what is now southern Tanzania. In early February, Prof. Somo Seimu from Moshi Cooperative University visited the class to discuss the importance of coffee to the Chagga people during the colonial era.

On Friday, 10 February, the class took a field trip to important historic sites around Moshi. The students visited Old Moshi and the Mangi Meli Remains museum, where they spoke with Mangi Meli’s grandson about his grandfather’s resistance against the Germans in the 1890s. Afterwards, students met with the Station Manager of the German-built Moshi railway station. The trip culminated with a tour of the KNCU Centre, built in the 1950s at the height of the cooperative union’s power and influence as a Chagga-owned business.

Wade Morris

This week has been quiet on the residential front to a degree with all our MYP students away experiencing education outside the classroom on the various week without walls trips. Our D1’s, as you would have read, were also based around all corners of Tanzania. Such an experience is unique to UWC and from my end, I am extremely grateful to our staff who stepped in to help assist in our Diploma dorms whilst a majority of our team were chaperoning and leading the various trips from M1 to D1.  Asante Sana to all.

In addition, I want to congratulate our D2 students for finishing their mocks examinations. Whilst it is important for them all to take some time to themselves, it is also important to now consider completing their last IA’s, TOK’s and EEs before the heavy revision commences.

Moving forward, we have our long weekend from Friday 24th to Monday 27th. This is a unique opportunity for our PYP and MYP students to come together, plan activities and have fun. I look forward to scheduling these days with them throughout the weekend to ensure that they have a much-needed break themselves and use this time to bond, socialize and embark on activities they would like to do. Whether it be the movies in Arusha, swimming at Maji Moto, bonfires in the evening, hikes in our beautiful parks in our local surroundings and more. I eagerly await their suggestions and will empower them to assist with planning and working through the logistics for their days.

For our DP students, they have the opportunity to use this time to get on top of their academics, or sign-out for the weekend in groups. (If they are on par with where they need to be academically.) Should your child wish to sign-out in groups, please ensure you send through parental consent to me, know where they are staying, who they are with and when they are leaving and returning. Of course, I will be accessible 24/7 throughout this time.

Simon Johnston – Head of Residential Life

The campus may have been nearly empty due to Week Without Walls and Project Week but the  PYP children were busy learning and playing. We had some visitors from the University of Agder in Norway who spent time in the classes, meeting the children and observing the PYP in action. We enjoyed meeting them and they told me they very much enjoyed spending time with us.

Get Caught Reading photos (of your child reading in an unusual situation) should be emailed to your child’s teacher. This can happen now – you don’t need to wait until Book Week. However, the long weekend might present some good photographing opportunities. If you plan to travel, be sure to pack a book! Guest readers during book week are always welcome. If you would like to come into class to read a book to the children please let your child’s teacher know. You might have a favourite book at home – if not the class teacher will find one for you.

Our PYP footballers were out on the pitch on Friday afternoon enjoying a tournament against Hope. We fielded a mixed U7s, mixed U9s and boys U11 and girls U11 teams. All the teams played with good spirit and some of our teams had their first win of this year. We are proud of all our teams – a special mention goes to the U11s boys who won both of their matches. Many thanks to the coaches and referees who made the tournament possible. The photo shows our U7 team.

Dates to note

• Monday 20th February – 10:30 Black African History Month whole school assembly (all welcome)
• Thursday 23rd February – P2/3 Primary Gathering (note Thursday)
• Long Weekend – 24th – 27th February
• Tuesday – 28th February – Book Week starts. This is also tentatively planned to be a spirit week with a different dress up theme for each day. Further details will be shared shortly.
• Thursday 2nd March – Dress as a book character day.
• Thursday 2nd March – Book Week whole school assembly in Karibu Hall at 10:30. You are welcome to attend.
• Saturday 4th March – International Day
• Monday 6th March – International Women’s Day whole school assembly (all welcome)
• Tuesday 7th March – PYP Swim Gala
• Thursday 16th March – P6 children will present their PYP Exhibition (all welcome)

Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator

Thank you to all who sent in pictures for show and tell. Every Friday, we see how articulate and amazing our children are.

This coming week, we will not have show and tell as there will be no school on Friday. We will resume when we return.

Thank you to all who made the 14th such a special day. Student Voice surprised the class with cards and they were so pleased to receive them.

hank you Mama Fatma, Hugo, Aarefa and Hattie for sharing treats with the children. Thank you Mama and Baba Fatma for bringing Fatma’s aunt to visit us. Fatma’s aunt is a police lady and she came in fully dressed in uniform. The children were so excited to meet her. They asked her many questions and would like her to return and share more about her work.

Mboka Mwasongwe

Shadows and rainbows were the focus of our look at light this week. We had a wonderful time with our investigations that involved things like a Color Hunt and going up to the roof of the art building for tracking shadows throughout the day. Friday was our kick-off of sound and the kids were amazed when we made rice move with the vibrations of sound.

Next week we will be reviewing our learning and preparing a good way to present it to everyone at the Primary Gathering on Thursday. Please join us in Rafiki Hall for our presentation.

I emailed the reminder about Book Week and I’ve heard children talking about their book character costumes! I hope that preparing them is something fun for your family- it is such a wonderful way to get excited about books! Don’t forget to send in the Get Caught Reading photos and your availability for being a Mystery Reader.

Kacey Buckley

This week, the children made fraction kits and played games, exchanging halves for quarters, eighths and sixteenths. We will develop our understanding of equivalent fractions further next week. Each child has identified a body system that they wish to learn more about and we have started researching online and from books. This will continue next week. The highlight of the week was our “Exercise Day” on Thursday. The children went for a hike, played on the boulders in the river (which is very low at the moment), had a fun swim session (thank you Coach Sabini), followed by basketball (thank you Coach T). We squeezed the juice out of fruit and enjoyed home made ice lollies in the sunshine. It was so much fun and the children’s behaviour throughout was exemplary. The general PYP newsletter gives information about upcoming events – Book Week starts on Tuesday, 28th February and dress as a book character day is Thursday, 2nd March.

Deborah Mills

The UWCEA Moshi PYPX 2023 juggernaut is gathering momentum!

We are at the research stage and this week we looked, in language, at how to prepare for and conduct an interview. Fortunately, we had some visiting Norwegian teachers who were excellent interviewees (see photo) and provided valuable feedback afterwards. You can see the positive results of this exercise outside our class. Ms Brunt came into class and demonstrated how to create an effective survey on Google Forms and all the children are now creating surveys that address their lines of inquiry and will produce data to support their presentations. In maths, we’ve looked at presenting and analysing data via pie charts which again will tie in with our survey results. It is lovely to see the varied models, poems and posters that have been completed for home learning. These add variety and individuality to our (many!) presentations, thanks to all who are supporting from home. Finally, It’s Book Week soon so start preparing costumes and get in touch if you’d like to be a guest reader in class!

Hywel Davies