Moshi Campus News – 7 Nov 2020

Let me start off by saying thank you to the PTA for the picnic yesterday. People seemed to be having great fun and the view was amazing with the views of both Kili and Meru. I would also like to thank the volunteers that helped out this week at the Athletics days, I know the sttudents appreciated it.

Speaking of the Athletics days, congratulations to participants of all ages, it was really nice to see that much sports going on and heightens anticipation for Sports Weekend. As much as the great performances, I saw some wonderful sportsmanship and that makes me proud of our students.

Lastly, a construction update.  Yesterday the main foundation floor was poured and the underground support structure for the elevated art room is nearly completed.  Many of our primary students came yesterday to see the floor poured.

Please see below for some of the other items that are coming up or happened this past week.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus

Please remember the PTA AMG for Moshi Campus.  It will be this next Wednesday the 11th starting at 6:30pm in the Director’s Garden. All parents are invited.

This week we have a CIS/MSA prepratory visit to the school as part of our reaccreditation process. In a normal situation this would involve two people coming to see the school and interview staff, students and parents while watching lessons and touring the school.  This year the whole process is virtual.  Several videos have already been filmed and through the course of next week the normal face to face interactions, including class visits will be done via zoom.  So if you see people wandering around with a camera, that is why.

In November 2019, UWC East Africa lost one of its own when Faith Yona was tragically killed in a car accident.

Faith was a very special member of our community. She was a social individual who greatly enjoyed getting together with friends to talk, laugh and enjoy music. Faith particularly loved to do this around a campfire. In honour of this, over recent weeks, we have created a beautiful new fire pit in the Community Garden.

We thought it would be a fitting tribute to use this as the location for an informal memorial for Faith to mark a year since her passing. The hope is that, in the future, this beautiful, tranquil spot on campus will become a place for friends to gather and enjoy each other’s company around a campfire. We believe this is something Faith would have enjoyed very much.

The event will take place on Friday 13th November from 7:00pm-8:00pm in the Community Garden. Again, this is an informal gathering and is open to anyone who feels they had a connection with Faith or, indeed, would like to come along and take a moment to remember her.

A few of Faith’s close friends will say a few words, we will hear some poetry and share some of Faith’s favourite songs. The feeling is that it will not be a ceremonial event and, in light of this, there is no specific dress code but we ask that you dress respectfully and arrive promptly. The event is open to day students.

Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus

It has been a difficult week for diploma students this week as we have had some internet issues which has made research for assignments such Internal Assessments and Extended Essays for D2 difficult. Hopefully they have been working on other areas and we will relook at deadlines soon. Reports were issued to D2 students on Monday. As these were based on more physical assessments and more difficult material, the grades for some students were different when compared to the more online semester 2 assessments of D1. With the release of more information from the IB, at a school level, we have been discussing the revised weightings for the May 2021 exams and what this means when marking assessments.  These conversations will follow through into individual classes.

Many D1 and D2 students were involved in Athletics Day on Wednesday. Some were there all day competing in a mixture of track and field events and others came during Life Skills to compete in Field Events. It is good to see that there were diploma students in almost every event and there were some very exciting races.

We continue to have a large variety of clubs run by diploma students after school covering a wide variety of interests including creative writing, dancing, theatre sports and Model United Nations for MYP students. Details can be seen here.

Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator

As the UWCEA pioneers, it is our responsibility to set a legacy that the next generation after us can look up to. One way of achieving this was to carry the UWC East Africa flag to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and highest free standing mountain in the world. The dream to accomplish this mission started on Thursday 22nd October 2020 with 18 students and two teachers representing 13 countries (Mexico, South Sudan, Italy, Tanzania, Kenya, Israel, Namibia, Germany, India, Spain, England, Denmark and Poland).

The determination and desire for some of us to fly their home country flags on the summit, perhaps for the first time, was huge. The teamwork and courage from everyone was enormous and, together, we finally found ourselves at the only point in Africa where you feel real freedom, Uhuru Peak, on  Monday 26th October 2020! Of course, if it was not incredibly hard then it would not have been Kilimanjaro. Congratulations to this amazing and dedicated group.

This lifetime accomplishment would not have been possible without the support from different individuals and groups of people. Special thanks goes to the UWCEA administration for prioritising the Outdoor Pursuits Programme,  the OP department, headed by Mr. Isaac Foya, Deputy Head of Campus, Mr. Ben Morley and, above all, our parents for facilitating  this trip. I am so proud of you all.

Hard things always make us stronger so I hope you all enjoyed the challenge and the feeling you experienced when you were at the top of the continent. WE DID IT! Now, you can do it.

Peter D2

P6 provided our cultural event for the last week with an altar for “Dia de los Muertos” – Day of the Dead.

On Sunday we have the next cultural night with the theme of Latin America – Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. As usual we will start with food from some of these countries for residential students followed by presentations in Rafiki.

Ready, Set, Pause…

Waiting on the internet has been quite an experience recently. Just after typing the title of this message the internet froze, and an unexpected moment of reflection began to unfold. We are all learning how to take a pause in life due to recent events, and in the process, are hopefully learning more about ourselves and how we handle when things don’t go the way we planned. This is an important life skill as we think about how we handle disappointment or frustration, and what we model for others in our lives, especially for the younger people who are always watching.

What is the first thing you do when something does not work out the way you planned? Have you found a way to make that a mindful moment? Do you take the pause as a welcome break from a mundane task? How are you turning disruptions in the routine into a moment to inspiration that leads you to do an old task in a new way?

We all need to pause from time to time, and allow our setbacks to turn into opportunities to explore life in new ways. It can make the wait (ie. for the internet to return) quite a different experience.

Speaking of waiting, it has been well worth the wait to bring a fabulous counselor to the UWCEA Counseling Team. It is with tremendous enthusiasm we welcome Dr. Robin Peterson to the Arusha campus on a part time basis. We are already exploring ways to collaborate, including the formation of a peer support program to provide secondary students with skills to help others deal with the challenges that life can bring. Stay tuned for more information as the counseling collaborations commence.

One thing that continues not to pause is the flurry of activity coming from the world of university admissions. We had 30 students apply to university over the weekend, and another 20 aiming for deadlines prior to 1 December. This will be a busy month, and we encourage students (and parents) to join the virtual visits that are providing essential information to assist with the college planning process. On Tuesday we had a great presentation from Mr. Musa Khalidi from UWC Davis Partner Scholar Partner institution St. Lawrence University. He spoke with D1 and D2 students about the process of applying to US institutions, and what his campus has to offer to the diverse community of UWC graduates.

Next week we will continue November Apply Month with a focus on applying to the UK. On Tuesday, we will have a presentation from two UK institutions presenting exclusively to our community about the benefits of a UK education and the application process. In addition, on Sunday, 8 November, there will be a huge fair for Dutch institutions, which is becoming an ideal international location for students around the world. Don’t miss your chance to learn more, and see what else is coming your way on this link.

Asante sana na wekiendi njema,

UWCEA School Counseling Team

First off let me congratulate students for their participation in the secondary athletics day.  There were some great performances.

This week some MYP students were given an invitation to attend “MYP Success Skills Club” with our first session on Thursday November 5 in room 14. If you are interested in your M1 to M3 child joining us on Mondays and Thursdays after school, please contact me. In the club we will be discussing ways to improve their study habits, goal setting and organizational skills in addition to providing support for their academics.  

As a reminder student MAP test results were sent out, please contact me if you did not get them or if you need any help reading the information as I will gladly help you filter through the information.

Lastly we are looking at some MYP specific social events in the remainder of the semester, so please be on the lookout for these.

Jeanne Aman – MYP Coordinator

Well done to all the competitors in the PYP and MYP/DP athletics day.  It was great to see everyone out there enjoying their sports and, in most cases, beating their target times/distances. Thank you to all the staff and parents who volunteered their time to support the event and the children.

The results were as follows –

PYP

• 3rd place – Mawenzi
• 2nd Place – Meru
• 1St Place – Kibo

MYP/DP

• 3rd place – Meru
• 2nd Place – Kibo
• 1St Place – Mawenzi

Our modified sports weekend is only a few weeks away.  We will be running it a little differently this year as we will only have UWECA Arusha and Moshi competing, however, we will be increasing the categories for great student participation, allowing our younger students to take part in a tournament this semester.  We will have U11, U13, U15 and Open categories.  A sign up sheet has gone out to everyone, please fill it in as soon as possible so we can organise our teams.  The idea is that students take part in as much as possible as there will be limited number of games, but lots of different sports to take part in.

Tennis with Coach Charles
Tennis with Coach Charles continues with him offering private and/or group lessons Wednesdays at 3:30pm to 4:30pm and Saturdays from 9.30am to 11.30am. Please contact Coach Charles at the courts at the above-mentioned times or call/message on 0710606766. 

PYP Saturday Soccer
Saturday Soccer this Saturday with Mr T and several of our skilled M5, D1 & D2 students helping to run the club.  It kicks off at 9am and finishes at 10.30am just in time for the PYP swim squad to get their laps in.

Go Leopards
Robin Marsh

This weekend we have the Usambara L2 trip away from Friday to Monday. This is a beautiful walk through the Usambara forested mountains and great preparation for longer camping trips. More information to come on this trip next week.

Next weekend we have a trip to Mt Hanang and a Flatlands trip to the Lake Manyara region.

It was lovely to see so many parents at PYP Sports Day on Tuesday. Many thanks to Robin Marsh and his team for putting this event together. Sports Weekend will take place November 20th – 22nd and PYP  students are eligible to take part in the U11 category. If your child is interested in participating please fill out the form that was emailed out last week by Grace Mkumba – the deadline is Monday, 9th November.

Mboka Mwasongwe & Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinators

With the primary gathering presentation done and athletics day in the bag, we are moving on to another full on week of looking at animals and how we interact with them.

This coming week, we will be focusing on our fish. Thank you Aarefa and family for adding more fish to our tank. The children are asking more and more questions about them. So this coming week, we will be looking at how fish grow. We will clean the tank and look at the steps to take so that the fish remain healthy. We cannot complete all this without making fish during our craft time.

This coming week, all the children will be receiving a home project to complete about their pets. Please help them accordingly for some will need to write and others will need to make a recording of their work. If you do not have a pet at home, there will be an alternative project as well.

Mboka Mwasongwe

What an exciting week we’ve had in P 2/3. All the students thoroughly enjoyed Athletics Day on Tuesday. They had a fantastic time competing against each other, and watching their friends and siblings do so as well. Thank you to the entire PE department for organizing Athletics Day for us.

In class, we’ve been working on lots of math this week. We’ve been thinking about place value, looked at adding using base 10 blocks, started talking about subtraction, and made changes to what our Friday schedules will look like. The students in P 2/3 have chosen to work on math drills to work on their recalling of math facts, and free-writes to express themselves through stories and words.

Next week, P 2/3 will be going on a field trip to TPC. Please look at the email sent to you on Thursday for more information.

Elisha Jaffer

Science experiments, Sports Day, an exciting chapter book, the times tables- there were not enough hours in the week! Our class has been studying the steps of the scientific method and putting them into use with experiments this week. It may soon become their new at-home hobby! We had 2 MYP visitors on Monday who showed us how important it is to write steps to an experiment precisely- thanks for the fun demonstration, Doris and Theo! (The photo is from our Milk Color Explosion experiment.)

If you’ve not received an email with details about my time away next week, please let me know. The class will keep their regular schedule and will remain busy with Ms Zitha. We have pop-in teachers planned throughout my absence so I am confident that it will be time well used for all students. The Monday Home Learning folder will contain a letter about this unit’s summative assessment which is not due until the 20th.

Talking points with kids: Does air take up space?

Kacey Buckley

This week our focus has been on map work. The children have looked at the different features of the atlas. They have used simple grid references and have researched the highest mountain, the longest river, the biggest city in the world etc. We have considered the purpose of lines of longitude and latitude. They have shared personal migration stories and those of family or friends. Next week they will plot these journeys on a map. The children will also identify a country that interests them and will carry out a country study, at the end of which they will ask the question: “Would you like to migrate here?” The migrations that the children researched for home learning were all voluntary migrations. Next week we will consider forced migrations and will learn the stories of some child refugees. In maths we have modelled measurement using a decimal point (see photo) and will continue with this work next week.

Deborah Mills

This week the class chose what their personal summative science experiment will be to test plant growth. They each chose 2 ways to alter the environment for a seed, from growing it in sand, planting in darkness, putting it in the freezer or watering with soda. We will be looking at the scientific process, and their summative will be in the form of a lab report that they support with a poster or slideshow. Please remind them to bring in their items from home that they decided on for their experiment.

The beans have begun growing and working their way through the mazes we built last week. They are excited to see the beans make their way.  Some are growing quickly. Speaking of quick, we have some very fast runners in the class. They all did a great job with being a good sport and being supportive of others during Athletics Day. They led their teams in stretching before we started the day. They were great leaders!

Sarah Brummel