The week started with an assembly to celebrate 55 years in Moshi first as International School Moshi and now UWC East Africa. We were able to hear past students and teachers, as well as some people we see every day, talk about what the school has meant to them.
From there we have continued on to primary sports day, swim galas, Farmers’ Market and the various Halloween events. A massive thank you to the parents, staff, community members and students that helped at these events. We would never have been able to make it through the week without you.
Next week will feel a little like a ghost town on campus as the MYP and D1 are off with the MYP on Week-Without-Walls and the D1 on Project week. That is over 200 students and staff traveling this week.
Not long after we get back from the off-campus trips, we will have Sports Weekend so keep an eye on the newsletter for upcoming details.
Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
Thank you
Just a taste of some of what happens here on Halloween. To the right is part of the “Trunk-or-Treat” at the Primary and above is a group of MYP and DP students working at one of the two haunted houses.
Ben’s Corner
Thursday’s Primary Athletics Day was a huge success. Everyone came together to showcase their learning in a variety of events, from sprints and relays to long jump and shot put. It was (very!) hot out there but the energy was palpable as everyone cheered for each other, embodying the teamwork that we strive to cultivate in our school. It was a joy to see the hard work and dedication pay off as everyone competed for their Houses and celebrated each other’s achievements.
During P.E. classes, students have developed their skills, technique and stamina in the different events and enhanced their understanding of the values of perseverance, resilience and cooperation. The emphasis on self-improvement has empowered our young athletes to push their boundaries and take pride in their progress, both individually and as part of a team.
A big thank you to the P.E. teachers and all the parents who came along to support. Well done to all the students for taking part. We hope you enjoyed the day…and the ice lollies at the end!
Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus
PYP News
It has been a particularly busy week in the primary school!
On Monday we celebrated 5 years of UWCEA and 55 years of ISM. At the end of a special assembly, the whole school enjoyed a slice of birthday cake.
Athletics day took place on Thursday. The children showed off their skills on the track and on the field (long jump, high jump, discus, shot put and javelin). We ended the day with an ice lolly. Many thanks to Coach Pickell and the PE team for arranging a very enjoyable event.
Coach Pickell, Coach Sabini and Coach T were up early on Friday to take the swim team to SCIS. I haven’t heard the details of the day but the children told me they had had a good time. As promised, the coaches managed to get the team back on campus in time for the Halloween celebrations.
On Friday afternoon, the Halloween Trunk or Treat, costume parade, dinner and cartoons were a big success. Congratulations to our costume winners: Jeremy, Anne, Marina and Daniel. Many thanks to everyone who participated by donating candy and running trunks. A lot of work also took place behind the scenes cutting grass, moving furniture, cooking meals, decorating the cartoons venue etc. Thank you to everyone who made the event possible, especially the MYP and DP students who gave up their time to ensure the PYP children had a great afternoon..
Next week will be quiet on campus as the M1 – D1 students will be off campus for Week Without Walls and Project Week. It will be a regular week in the PYP so afternoon clubs will run as normal.
Upcoming dates
Friday 8th November – EC/P1 gathering – please come along and support our youngest primary school children at 7:40am in Rafiki Hall
Thursday, 14th November – some children will be attending the NTSAA athletics meet on Arusha campus. An invitation will be issued on Life.
Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator
MYP News
Our MYP students are getting busier every week, and it truly warms my heart to see their dedication and hard work. When I was in school (and let’s just say that was quite a while ago!), we focused mainly on core subjects like Math, Science, and English because that’s what mattered most back then. But today, as I walk through our school, I see our students diving into so much more. They’re in the Art room, fully absorbed in their projects; they’re asking Mr. Baden to use the Design Lab to bring their ideas to life; they’re staying late to practice music or working with friends on collaborative projects. It’s inspiring to see them embrace these opportunities, ones I wish we had back in our day! Week after week, they continue to impress us!
MYP Week Without Walls: The students are about to embark on quite an adventure this coming week on Week Without Walls! This is going to be very exciting for the students as they experience viewing experiential learning from a different perspective. All parents/guardians will be part of this week as well as I will be sharing daily emails with everyone and sharing what the students are doing with a few pictures.
Please keep a lookout for emails as I will also be communicating arrival times updates back on Mosi campus on Friday, November 8th, 2024.
Sunday, November 3rd, 2024, is packing day. Please review the information above to know the times. Students are to bring their main bag with what they need for the week and have a small day bag for their travel. Allocated tents with student names will be at the vehicles for packing. The OP team and trip members will also be on hand to assist with logistics of packing.
It is also very important for students to be on time on Monday morning for departure in order to be able to follow the plans well.
M1-M3 Halloween Party M1, M2, M3 students enjoyed a Halloween party on Friday, November 1st, 2024, at Kijito House, one of the school houses that was previously used as a haunted house in the past years. Though not a haunted house, the garden was filled with students laughing, dancing (quite intensely I might add as there was quite a heated dance competition), playing games and enjoying some sweet and savory treats. A very big thank you to Mr. Ben, Ms. Frida, Mr. Gadi (and his wonderful wife Katie), Ms. Debbie and Mr. Ramy who made this night possible and enjoyable for the students.
Another thank you to Mama and Baba Alayna (M2) who not only made tasty treats for the kids, but made them have a blast as they judged their “mummy making” competition, and I must say the mummies that were made were quite interesting and came with a background story and some really interesting dramatic effects!
MYP students helping with trunks
It was wonderful to see so many MYP students helping out with trunks for the PYP Halloween. Josephine, Rhea, Shalom and Cherie ran their own trunk. Vicky and Nadia assisted me with my trunk. Jane, Otis, Nils, Gus and many others were involved in making sure the primary children had a wonderful time.
M3 Art Our M3 students participated in an activity called “A Walk in the Museum”, where students walked around, gave feedback and peer assessed each other’s famous portrait reproductions. It was wonderful to see how well the students understood the MYP assessment criteria and how collaborative they were in communicating their ideas and justifying their judgements! Well done M3s!
M4 Language and Literature English M4 began learning Spoken Word poetry in the current unit. A form of art that transforms poetry reading into performances, made students think about issues that are part of their growing years. The students came up with beautiful compositions around “social media”, “What love looks like”, “Resilience” and “School life.” The complexity of their emotions complemented the simplicity of the topics chosen resulting in wonderful performances.
MYP Dates To Remember:
November 4th to 8th – Week Without Walls
November 22nd to 24th – Sports Weekend
December 12th – Semester 1 Reports Released
December 13th – End of Q1 Classes end at 12:30 pm
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
DP News
The D1s are looking forward to their upcoming Project Week, where many of them are heading off campus to explore a passion or interest of their own. Project Week is an opportunity to learn how to book their own accommodation, budget their own meals, arrange their own meetings and clean up around them. We have some exciting projects this year which include visiting famous sports teams in Dar, helping Mkomazi Rhino Conservation, tree planting, volunteering at KCMC hospital and cleaning up the beaches in Tanga. There are a number of other great ideas too. Thank you to our CAS coordinator, Ms Margaret Brunt, who has helped students prepare for the week and who will be on call in case of any emergency.
The D2s have reached the end of their first semester and I know many of them have used the weekend to catch up on sleep and rest. The last two weeks have been busy, jam-packed with deadlines and submissions as they demonstrate evidence of their learning. These reports are particularly useful for University applications as they reflect the growth of students over the last few months. Reports will be published on 15 November.
Next week, we head into our first-ever D2 Catch-Up week. The goal of Catch-up Week is to give students “Dedicated time to independently focus on their academics: to both catch-up and to advance in their school work.”
Day students must be on campus from 9am to 3pm.
Catherine Dowie – DP Coordinator
Project Week
For the next week the D1 students are off on project week.
A big thank you to all the supervisors who have asked them questions to make sure they have thought of things. A special thank you to Dr Wade, Ms Rachel and Mr Cofer who will be accompanying groups and the parents of Aman and Thomas who are helping. Thank you to all parents who have approved their leave to allow this to happen.
They should be making contact with someone from school every day and most groups will be visited by a member of staff. I have encouraged them to also keep in contact with their parents. We will share photographs and their products when they return.
Global Politics
The D2 Global Politics class overcame the heat on Monday afternoon for a quick field trip up Lema Road to the source of a local irrigation system. Students met with local leaders, including Mr. Mushi, chairman of the Kibosho irrigation committee, to learn about how exactly our community allocated the scarce resource of water. More generally, students were testing Elinor Ostrom’s theory about how best to manage “the commons.”
From the Counselors
November 1 was a major deadline for many of our D2 students; this is the first deadline for many colleges and universities in the U.S. Our D2 students worked for months to get their applications ready for the deadline and our students have already submitted 172 applications, not only to universities in the U.S. but also to unis in Europe and the U.K. Congratulations to the Class of 2025 on reaching this exciting milestone!
There has been a lot of hard work leading up to this deadline with meetings all around the clock as students and parents prepare for these submissions.
And a huge congratulations to Lydie Baeni in Arusha for being the first student in the Class of 2025 to receive a university acceptance! Lydie received this acceptance very early because she applied very early; there will be many, many more acceptances to share in the future. We are all so proud of you and excited for you, Lydie!
Outdoor Pursuits
This week the Reefs Adventure trip returned from Emayani Lodge, Pangani. 14 students and 1 member of staff successfully completed their PADI Open Water Certification – a huge congratulations to them all. Please read the reviews of this amazing trip below!
Next week is Week Without Walls for MYP students and we hope every trip has a great week. A gentle reminder that in order to ease departure on Monday, packing of buses will occur on Sunday 3rd November at the allocated times.
Students are reminded to keep a day bag with essentials and everything they require for their travel. They will get their main bag upon arrival of their destination.
The team are already busy planning for the next trip which will be the second North Pare Mountain trip on the weekend of 16-17th November.
Many thanks, The OP Team
Adventure Reefs: Pangani
Recently students from both Moshi and Arusha campuses made the trip to Pangani as a part of the OP Reefs program. Over the trip, students completed the requirements to get their PADI Open Water Drivers Licence. This license opens students up to a world of opportunities surrounding the underwater world and certifies them to scuba dive across the globe. I had an absolute blast on this trip! I tried so many new things that I never thought I would experience and saw so many sights that I never thought I would see.
On the first day of the trip, we completed various scuba exercises in the pool. Diving for the first time was unforgettable. We split into groups of four for the trip and I remember going down in a circle with my group and all breathing underwater for the first time. It was an indescribable feeling – looking around and seeing all my friends breathing into our regulators at the bottom of the pool. In the beginning, my brain kept telling me I needed to go up for air but I slowly got used to the idea that I don’t. On that first day, I also fell in love with the feeling of being neutrally buoyant – of having no gravity pulling me down or buoyancy forcing me up. It felt like flying.
The next day, our group went to dive in the ocean. We took a boat to our dive site with the clearest water I have ever seen and learned how to roll backward off the boat. Then, we followed the anchor line to the bottom of the ocean and did more exercises, including learning how to navigate underwater. And, of course, we couldn’t resist doing many backflips with our newfound lack of gravity. That day, we surfaced to a brilliantly pink sunset and rode back to camp with the sky looking like it was copied and pasted from a movie. The last day of diving was purely dedicated to exploring. We saw many fish, stingrays, an eel, and my favourite: sea turtles! That night, we had a celebration dinner at the lodge. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go on this trip. I made memories of a lifetime – not only through diving, but also through playing games with my friends at night, running up and down the beach, and everything in between that made this trip magical. I want to thank the UWCEA staff and the instructors at Kasa Diving for making this trip possible and as amazing of an experience as it was.
Neko D1
The PADI trip is definitely one of the most memorable trips ever. The first time breathing underwater and getting to experience the rich underwater world leaves an impact. The astonishing beauty and biodiversity of the depths was truly an amazing experience. We were lucky enough to see sea turtles, stingrays and an abundance of beautiful, colorful fish amongst the corals. Though the trip was not only wonderful under the water. The social part made the trip even better. Either it was at the lodge or during dinner prep, the chatting and laughter was rolling. We are truly lucky to have opportunities like this.
Marta D1
EC/P1 Class
What an eventful week. The children were very balanced and reflective this week. Some attended their very first whole school sports event. What a daunting experience and very fun as well. Each student amazed us with their willingness to participate. The 50m, 100m, and 200m races were amazing and each student deserves a compliment.
We want to say thank you to Ms. Natasha and the P6s. They continue to be true buddies for EC/P1, seamlessly assuming their roles at the drop of a hat. They have all shown how caring they are as they helped their buddies through the races and spent time with them playing at the playground on Friday. We always look forward to playing with them.
We will be presenting at the primary gathering this coming week. Please come and support the children. You will receive an email concerning the presentation and what you can do to help us prepare at home.
Please keep sending in boxes and toilet rolls. We are looking for small ones now, the size of a box of tea.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
Boo! We had a lot of fun combining our excitement for Trunk or Treat with our focus in Math on graphing and data analysis. It was also a week filled with investigations about the properties of light. We used the flashlights and mirrors to show that light moves in a straight line. We also examined objects to see which reflect light and which absorb it. We worked up a sweat during our investigation of how shadows move throughout the day. We were tracking shadows on top of the roof of the Art building as as seen in the picture to the right.
I’m so proud of the P2/3 and their participation on Sports Day! Everyone was willing to participate, and everyone had a great attitude. It was a wonderful testimony to the great work that Coach T does in PE.
Kacey Buckley
P4/5 Class
This week we have been learning about the causes of earthquakes and the best way of staying safe it you are involved in one. The children simulated the movement of tectonic plates using playing cards and shaving foam. Next week we will learn about different rocks. We hope that Dr. Anna will visit the class to show us some fossils and her rock polisher. In maths, we have been learning strategies to increase the speed and accuracy of mental arithmetic. The children are making very good progress in this area. Next week we will review subtraction strategies.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
This week in P6 was full of excitement and discovery! As part of our exploration of advertising strategies for our current unit of inquiry, we had the pleasure of welcoming the very ‘talented’ Mr. Baden as a guest speaker. To our surprise, Mr. Baden has appeared in several television commercials, offering us an insider’s perspective on the creative process behind them. He walked us through the various steps involved, from scriptwriting and setting up camera angles to working with props and perfecting each scene through multiple takes. His insights provided invaluable guidance as P6 prepares to create their own advertising campaigns, sparking our creativity with real-world advice.
On Thursday, we jumped right into the excitement of Athletics Day. P6 came together to demonstrate terrific camaraderie and sportsmanship, giving it their all. They dug deep, especially in the long races and warm weather. It was great to see P6 encourage one another and look out for their buddies. It was a perfect day to strengthen our class spirit and celebrate teamwork in action!
Natasha Berri
Sustainability Committee
This week the sustainability committee is focusing on footprint tracking for our campus. We are happy to announce that the first campus footprint numbers should be ready by the end of the upcoming catch-up week! This will allow us to better understand and inform how we reduce our environmental impact. Keep a sustainable mindset on WWW, Projects and catch weeks!
Calling all sustainability change agents! To support our growing initiatives, we are welcoming people interested in sustainability to join and help us in future projects and events. We encourage anyone interested to get in touch with any committee member! We will slowly release responsibilities to them!
PYP to DP We will be rolling out a collaboration with the PYP Sustainability Heroes elected in quarter one the week of November 11th, get involved and support our budding environmental heroes in their endeavors!
EARTH PRIZE – It’s not too late to register
There are students on board and going through the free training modules. If you would like to register reach out to Mr. Will or email sustainabilitymoshi@uwcea.org!
We are currently also setting the foundation for a sustainability framework to guide our initiatives, keeping us accountable and consistent. This framework will help shape all future sustainability decisions on campus and ensure we stay aligned with our environmental goals.
Awareness – The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
We’re excited to share that four of our dedicated teachers, Baden and Jamie from the Moshi campus, along with Gift and Christabel from the Arusha campus, are currently in Cape Town, South Africa, attending the 2024 AISA Conference. They traveled on October 30th to join educators from across Africa and beyond in an event focused on advancing international education and promoting best practices in teaching and leadership.
AISA, the Association of International Schools in Africa, plays a vital role in supporting our educators through valuable professional development opportunities. The conference offers workshops, networking sessions, and learning experiences that our teachers can bring back to UWCEA, enriching our school community and enhancing student learning.
We look forward to hearing about the insights they gain and the innovative ideas they’ll share with us upon their return!
Kiswahili Conference
“Cooperation is the Key to Success” – UWCEA Kiswahili Teachers Join International Conference.
On October 25-26, 2024, Kiswahili teachers from UWC East Africa (UWCEA) joined educators from various international schools at the International School of Tanganyika for a conference centered around the theme “Ushirikiano ni Siri ya Ufanisi” — “Cooperation is the Key to Efficiency.” The conference emphasized modern teaching methods and approaches to Kiswahili education, aligning with 21st-century learning strategies.
The event featured prominent speakers, including IB Kiswahili examiners and content developers, who provided valuable insights into curriculum alignment and assessment. Renowned Tanzanian author Mr. Shafi Adam Shafi was also an honored guest. Shafi, celebrated for his novels and plays that explore Tanzanian culture, politics, and social issues, shared insights from his influential works. Among these is Vuta N’Kuvute, a novel offering profound reflections on Tanzanian society’s resilience during colonial and post-colonial eras. The conference provided a collaborative space for Kiswahili educators to enrich their teaching practices and strengthen cultural connections in language education. “The picture above shows a group of UWCEA teachers alongside Mr. Shafi Adam Shafi”.
