Yesterday we had our M5 celebration to mark the end of their MYP time and the start of the next phase of their schooling. For most this means a return here for Diploma in August but for a few, they will be taking other paths. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible, it looked great. Next week the P6 will be celebrating the end of their time in PYP and the move to MYP.
As we look to finish with a flourish you will note the production is next week and there are many other items listed in the PYP, MYP and DP news sections that will be of interest to you. The production in particular has been a community effort to get the stage and settings done. I think you will be impressed so come and appreciate the work of the students, staff and parents.
Yesterday we also had the last swim event of the year and the last Farmers’ Market. These events bring a lot of good cheer to our community and we hope for more next year. While wishing for more, thank you to those whose hard work was needed to make both happen.
There is a lot of interesting information below so please read on, and next week we will say goodbye to a few leaving staff and hello to a few incoming ones.
Bob Cofer
Upcoming
Ben’s Corner
As the last of our D2s (almost) disappear into the sunset, you might think you would be safe to assume things would taper off or, at least, slow down…you would be wrong! Reading through these newsletters each week, it never ceases to amaze me just how much happens on and around campus all the time…this week has seen daily rehearsals for the much anticipated whole school production, visits to Arusha for a Secondary Sports Weekend and the PYPX, P5 and P6 overnight camps, a PYP Swim Gala, Community Choir recordings, D1 and M4 exams, M5 Focus Days and, of course, the M5 Ceremony, the Farmers’ Market, the PTA Quiz and so on to fade. Meanwhile, a huge amount of work is going on behind the scenes to ready the school for the next academic year, in terms of admissions, recruitment, facilities and so forth. It really is relentless…in a good way…mostly. Remember, success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it.
As we edge closer to the end of an unprecedented year, the final two weeks promise to be as action packed as ever. Amidst the chaos, I ask that you find the time to pause and take stock of everything that we have to be grateful for at a time when much of the world is still reeling. Find the time to think back on the last ten months and appreciate the community that we are all fortunate to be a part of. Find the time to acknowledge the people who have made it happen…say thank you…and mean it. Being busy is all too often an excuse. It is worn like a badge of honour. It becomes a contest. I am busier than you. Busy. Busier. Busiest. Find the time to reimagine what it means to be busy. Find the time.
Ben Morley
MYP News
What an exciting week at the school. We said goodbye to the M5 class with style. The ceremony was lovely and the students and families truly enjoyed it. Good luck to them all. A big thank you to the parents for the decorations and all the teachers and staff that helped to make it a huge success.
The M4 class has happily finished their exams and are very relieved. We look forward to the final week of classes as we prepare for our focus days the following week. The students will be working in the daycare, finishing beautification projects on campus and many other exciting things during that time.
Jeanne Aman
Residential Life
As we approach the end of the quarter, I want to make a special mention to our M5 students who completed their MYP chapter on Friday and move ahead to the next journey in their young lives. They have been wonderful ambassadors for our school, and I wish them well for their upcoming summer break.
A few key dates to consider moving forward. All remaining students are expected to be at school up to the completion of the school calendar year on Friday 18th of June. With this in mind, I am still awaiting travel plans for a handful of students so do send these details to me or their residential parent as soon as possible.
Next year, we are asking all Diploma One students to return on the 3rd or 4th of August to be part of our week long orientation. For every other year level, we are asking that they return to campus on the 8th or 9th of August as classes start on the 10th.
Should you have any queries, please send them my way and thank you for your communication in advance as we prepare and plan for the year ahead.
Simon Johnston
Diploma News
Yesterday the D1 students finished their exams. It has been a busy week with up to six exams for each student. There are no exams in TOK, Visual Art, Theatre or Music and we do not set exams for students in the self-taught languages. The students’ performance has been excellent throughout with only a couple of late arrivals. They have followed the procedures well and this experience will help them for the future.
We had started the week with an information session, where it was emphasised, these are formative exams. Their formative nature is not just about the knowledge and understanding, but also the structure of the exams, following a seating plan and other formal aspects, and to see if their preparation techniques are working. The informal conversations I have had with both students and teachers suggests it has been a positive experience. The grades for the exams will be included in the end of year reports which are issued in the last week.
After the exams it was good to see some of the D1 students assisting at the PYP swimming gala, they were joined by some D2 students who are still to leave campus. Others were rehearsing for the play, selling play tickets or helping in other ways at the Farmers’ Market.
We look forward to the current M5 students joining us in Diploma next year and I have had a brief chat with them all about their choices. More information about the subject choices will be sent to them soon. I was very impressed with them today when they came into Rafiki hall and changed the set up from an exam hall to a ceremonial venue in less than an hour.
Margaret Brunt
Short Story Winners
PYP winners
1st place: Otis
2nd place: Simreet
3nd place: Rhea
Otis’ story:
Serengeti Life
I was woken by the roaring of a lion in the Tanzania plains in the middle of the Serengeti. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that my brother was still sleeping. Suddenly then and there everything went quiet like something was watching. I saw it crouched in the bush ready. I stood up quite slowly and tried to wake up my brother. He opened one eye then the other. I shouted at the top of my lungs: ‘Run!’ Just then the lion pounced out of the bush straight at me but just missed. He must have seen my horns.
MYP winner: Ataho, M5
‘You’re going to miss it, you know?’
I see trees moving, reacting to the breeze, so free.
‘On to better things.’
I taste the humidity all around me, inescapable.
‘Don’t be so sure…’
I look up at the star filled sky in awe.
‘Opportunity awaits…’
I hear… nothing… excruciating silence underneath the dark empty sky.
‘This is your home.’
I am blinded by the sun, bathed by its warmth.
‘I want more.’
I want it back.
I open my eyes.
I see hecticness, I see stress, I see worry.
I hear the sounds of home.
‘I told you so.’
DP winner: Joao Marques
Congratulations to Neil Magambo and Helena Koops for also handing in some captivating short stories!
Joao’s story:
Life is but a series of moments
Through the overwhelming green I noted the tinges of red atop the same trees I had to walk past daily. The sound of the crickets merged with the rhythmic bounce of a distant basketball, creating a melody unlike any that had previously been playing in my suffocatingly heavy pair of headphones. Even the smell of moist grass was now reminiscent of the most exotic of colognes. Had there been a moment as beautiful as this in the past month? A single instant so vivid and tender? I sat there and wondered. Had I found it? Was this the true Africa?
From the visiting author
When my daughter Jasmine was younger, she used to enjoy making up stories. The chicken drove mama’s car to town; the butterfly and the frog were friends; the dog and the cat had a tea party. Everything had character and everything was possible in her worldview. Every one of her stories were real to her.
My daughter is almost six. The other day she said to me concerning her dolls and their feelings, when I was trying to make her consider them, she said that they aren’t even real. The shock I felt on hearing that. I had a moment, and chose not to keep arguing about it. It made me realise that she was becoming more like me, trying to distinguish fiction from truth, while I was trying to become more like her, to never let the child within me die.
Stories help us understand the world and express our truth in ways that are very personal. No two stories or poems can ever be the same. Your truth matters. Your perspective matters. Your stories matter. So decide to write and publish your work. When it is horrible, work on it and hone your craft. Whatever you do, whatever happens in life, never stop letting that inner child come out to play and write as much as they want. You can do great things with your pen. Keep writing. -Esther Karin Mngodo
Sports Update
The last few weeks have felt very much like the pre covid sports times. We have had the Arusha Sports Weekend Lite, taking 86 students to Arusha campus for a 2-day action packed event starting off with track and field events followed by U15 basketball and U19 Volleyball on Friday. Saturday was full of fierce competition with U13, U15 and U19 Basketball, Touch Rugby, Frisbee, Netball and Volleyball. All these sports were mixed gender except for Basketball and U19 Netball. A special mention goes to the U13 girls Eunice, Prisca and Tabea who played in all games in all the sports as they were the only girls we had for that age bracket, a huge effort meaning that our teams could compete in the competitions. Also, the U19 Mixed Touch teams showed their hard work and effort this quarter paid off as they won all 4 games against Arusha with a for and against of 19 tries to 1, great defence and excellent well-structured attack. Lastly, Sebenele not only took out the blue-ribbon event in the 100m sprint but set a new NTSAA record taking 0.2 seconds off the previous record.
On Friday Moshi hosted the Primary Swim Gala against Arusha campus. A huge thank you to Arusha for making the trip and to the numerous parents who supported their students, giving them a great cheer squad and contributing to the very positive atmosphere. Thanks also goes to all our swim community parents, Christine, Mr Patrick, Debbie, Jenny and of course Coach Sabini for all their hard work organising a fantastic event. The swimmers had a great time, with PBs set left right and centre and as has become customary with our swim squad, Moshi again took out the silverware winning the overall event.
Note next week is the last week for training so get along and enjoy some sport with your friends before we break up for holidays.
Robin Marsh
Inter-campus sports in Arusha
PYP News
Photos: Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Ally will take photos of the PYP classes. These photos will be made available for you to download. Your child’s teacher will let you know the day of his/her class photo. Please send your child to school wearing a UWCEA t-shirt on this day.
Production: Wednesday 9th June and Thursday 10th June are the days of the school production. There will be no after school clubs on these days apart from EC/P1 Fun Club on Wednesday. We recommend that the PYP children go home and rest before returning for the evening performances. Those children performing in the chorus should be seated in Karibu Hall at 6:30pm, wearing their production t-shirt (to be handed out next week), a green school t-shirt or a plain green t-shirt. Your child should eat an evening meal before coming to school but please note there will be refreshments on sale before the performance that you might wish to purchase.
Move up: On Friday, 11th June we will have the P6 leaving ceremony followed by Primary Move Up morning. The PYP children will spend an hour in the classroom above their current one i.e. P4 will move to P5, P5 will move to P6. This is an opportunity for the children to see a new classroom and ask questions about the school year ahead. Please note that at the moment our teacher, Educational Assistant and class allocations are still being decided – just because your child spends the move up session with a certain teacher does not mean that teacher will be teaching that grade level next year. When we know the class allocations the information will be shared with you.
Clubs: After school clubs will run as normal on Monday and Tuesday of next week. On Wednesday the only club will be the EC/P1 Fun Club – all other clubs are cancelled due to the production. On Thursday there will be no after school clubs due to the production. During the final week of school (beginning 14th June) there will be the normal after school clubs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday there will be no clubs. Friday 18th June is a normal school day and will finish at the usual time of 12:30pm.
Swim Meet: Many thanks to everyone who helped with the event and congratulations to all of our swimmers!
Sports day in the final week: More details will follow but this is advance notice that on Wednesday 16th June there will be a fun sports day and the children should wear their house shirts.
Mboka Mwasongwe & Deborah Mills
EC/P1 Class
Superworm has been our hero of the week. He saves the day and makes everyone play. EC2s and P1s have created sketches of superworm saving his garden friends. EC1 were busy this week drawing their own ideas in the sketch books. They drew dinosaurs, cars, family members and princesses. Drawings carry messages and stories. They are a vehicle to another world.
This week, we would like to thank a few people. Thank you Greener and Ciara (P4s). Out of their own initiative, they found a time to come and read two inspirational books to the P1s. Thank you Mithra, Tania and Eunice (M1s) for consistently playing with the ECs during playground play. They look forward to talking and playing tag with you.
This coming week, on Monday, we will be taking class photos. Please make sure that your child is wearing a school T-shirt. Pictures will be taken at 8:30am.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
P2/3 spent a lot of time this week practicing their multiplication through arrays, repeated addition and number sentence formation. We also continued to discuss the three states of matter that water can take. We investigated what happened when you mixed a solid (salt) with a liquid (Diet Coke). You can see the videos of our experiment on Seesaw. Next week students will be spending time practicing for the performance. Please remember the performance will take place on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th June. There will be no PYP Clubs on these days for the students, I recommend adding in a nap time since the performance runs quite late, and students may be tired.
Congratulations to all the swimmers who took part in the Moshi-Arusha Swim Gala. Well done!
Elisha Jaffer
P4 Class
It was another great week in P4! Friday was busy with the Swim Gala for our 6 students on the Swim Squad. The rest of the class journeyed to the Farmers’ Market to try out their Swahili-market vocabulary! We had a lesson on making choices about income and expenses that left students thinking big about their futures.
Next week will include a lot of time preparing for the Musical- we hope that all students will come and sing on Wednesday and Thursday night. Friday, we will have our Class Market with students setting up their own shops and selling their products. There is a lot of excitement in class about this day. I think it will be a wonderful way to consider supply and demand, advertising, and setting prices. Students are expected to bring in a minimum of 12 of their products.
Information will be sent home next week about our class Camping Trip which will be the Monday-Tuesday of our last week of school. We will be going to Simba Farms and sleeping at their campsite. What a fantastic way to wrap up the year!
Kacey Buckley
P5 Class
The P5 children had an action packed week. We went to Arusha on Tuesday to see the P6 Exhibition. On Wednesday we went for an overnight camp at Kahawa Shamba. We went on a very educational coffee tour where the children picked coffee cherries, roasted the beans and sampled the coffee – that might explain why some of them woke up at 3a.m. A lot of time was spent playing outside and enjoying a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Spooky stories (the children) and campfire songs (Ms. Deborah) were shared amid great hilarity. Many thanks to Mr. Isaac and Ms. Lydia for making this event such a success. Nine of the class participated in Friday’s swim meet against Arusha Campus. Next week sees production rehearsal on Monday and Tuesday, plus production performances on Wednesday and Thursday. The P5 class photo will be taken at 8:00 on Wednesday – the children should wear a UWCEA t-shirt.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
The P6 started out the week with a fun trip to Lake Duluti in Arusha. Upon arrival, we hiked around the lake enjoying the scenery and seeing a gigantic monitor lizard and many water birds. After the hike we enjoyed canoeing on the lake. Though this was a first for most, and many were nervous, they all did great. We went across the lake, and with teamwork and perseverance we all made it back enjoying views of Mt. Meru. Thanks to the amazing kitchen crew we had a delicious dinner. The class followed their taco feast with flashlight tag and 40-40 in the dark. The night ended with star gazing.
The following day we went to the Arusha campus to see the PYPx in action on the stage and in the classroom. We were all impressed by their acting, musical performance, and dancing. It was fun to witness how they approached the experience, and everyone enjoyed the visit. Upon our return to Moshi the class explored our new unit making circuits with batteries, and started to plan the vehicles that they will build next week. Congrats to all the swimmers in today’s Swim Gala.
Next week the P6 Ceremony will be on Friday during the gathering. Pictures will be taken on Wednesday.
As we begin the last month of this memorable school year, take some time to explore the calendar full of ideas to end the year with a joy filled smile on your face. If you are seeking ways to create joy by learning how to train your brain, consider joining a special webinar on happy brain habits that will take place on 9 June. If you would like to learn more, please visit the link.
We have experienced a lot of joy recently after celebrating our graduates and MYP completers. This week, we were reviewing the large amounts of scholarship money that has been received by the Class of 2021 to continue the academic journey. It is quite impressive, and we will be sharing the details soon.
In an effort to prepare the next groups of graduates, and their families, we invite you to participate in a week of very insightful presentations. We waited until exams finished to bring a wealth of information your way. Please take a moment to see all that is coming (virtually) next week to help enhance post-secondary option exploration.
All of the details for these sessions can be found on our Upcoming Visits List. We strongly encourage M4-D2 to make the most of this week full of valuable information for the post-secondary planning process.
As always, we close by inviting you to utilize the resources we have compiled in the COVID-19 Counselor Resources. We know that even in all of the excitement of the end of the school year, some may be experiencing difficult emotions and other life challenges, so feel free to access as needed.
