What a wonderful day. First off let me express my congratulations to all the performers yesterday. They were truly fantastic. I must pass on to everyone involved the sentiments of visitors that I talked to who thoroughly enjoyed the visit to our campus and the ceremony itself. Time and time again, compliments were passed on to me for the efforts of everyone involved. I am passing those on to you and I have a long list of people that I would like to express my sincere gratitude to for yesterday:
All those behind the scenes that made the performances work; both the group songs and the individual performances
The group that transformed k-hall with a beautiful collection of flowers and decorations
The school staff that worked to get the grounds ready; prepare the food; and get people where they needed to be
I am quite sure that I missed people out in this. If so, please accept my apology.
For some of our visitors this is their first visit to Tanzania, however, for many, they will be back in late February for the UWC Governance meetings.
Bob Cofer
Some Opening Performances
Upcoming
PYP Halloween 1st November
Trunk or Treat
Parents – please sign up on the Primary Notice Board near Ben Morley’s office to decorate your car and hand out wrapped sweets to the children. You can also email deborahmills@uwcea.org to sign up for this event. Cars will have access to the top pitch from 2:30 on Friday.
Halloween Supper
Children can purchase tickets for a pizza dinner from Ms. Grace in the front reception. The ticket price is 4500 Tshillings and includes pizza, a drink and dessert. Please purchase tickets by 3pm on Wednesday, 30th October so that Ms. Tahera has the necessary information to plan the catering.
Donate wrapped candy
If your child is planning to attend the trunk or treat why not donate a bag of wrapped candy to be handed out at the event? The collection box is in the main reception.
Order of events
3:30 Children can gather in the PYP playground in their costumes.
3:45 Trunk or treating starts on the top pitch.
4:45 Costume parade on the breezeway.
5:00 Halloween supper in dining hall (for those that have purchased tickets.)
5:30 Halloween Disco.
6:00 Collect children from covered area behind Ms. Elisha and Ms. Mboka’s rooms.
Secondary Halloween
Friday the 1st of November UWCEA will celebrate Halloween.
For the secondary students and brave P5/6 students we will organise the yearly Halloween at three different locations: the scavenger hunt at school; Kishari House which is invaded by Aliens and another haunted house where you are invited to attend the Zombie wedding. The event starts at 6.30pm from UWCEA parking lot. Please dress up in a scary outfit! We rely on donations of candy to be handed out at these 3 venues. There is a box in the main office where donations of wrapped candy can be left.
Secondary boarders can sign up for a place on the bus or the truck, the sign up sheets are in the breezeway at school. Secondary day-students and very brave primary kids (P5/6): arrange your own transportation with parents (sign-up sheet for day-students in breezeway). After visiting the haunted houses the student council will organize events for the secondary students.
Parent Coffee Morning
Some advance warning that the next Parent Coffee Morning is scheduled for Tuesday November 5th at 7:45 am in the Social Center. We look forward to seeing you then.
Ben’s Corner
As I am sure you will have heard by now, representatives from our very own “Smokeless Kitchen” CAS team won first prize at the prestigious Young Aurora in Armenia over the break. Young Aurora is part of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and provides students from UWC schools with the opportunity to design projects that will drive positive change in their communities by addressing humanitarian concerns. Young Aurora’s mission is to encourage, support, and showcase student-driven projects which address concrete humanitarian issues and offer solutions through innovative and sustainable approaches.
Three UWC teams were selected for the final round, UWC Atlantic, Pearson College UWC and, of course, UWC East Africa. Each team presented their projects at the Humanitarianism in Education Conference to the final jury and around 300 audience members. The jury was composed of notable figures in the field of education and humanitarian work, including the CEO and Co-Founder of Teach for All, Wendy Kopp, the celebrated social entrepreneur and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Noubar Afeyan and the distinguished Finnish politician, Pär Stenbäck.
Kelvin, Nikoli and Yahaya shared their collective hope to reduce the instances of respiratory diseases among Chagga and Maasai households by sustainably sourcing and helping with the installation of smokeless stoves. Our team did themselves, their CAS team and teachers and the school proud.
Now, the real work begins! The team returned to share their victory with the rest of the team and supervising teachers, Ms Sollero and Ms Tarimo, who have supported the CAS since its inception. Looking forward, the team must now decide how to use the prize money to research and develop a more efficient, cost effective and sustainable stoves, to, hopefully, allow for the project to be scaled to even more kitchens in the region.
“All three projects presenting today touched each of us, both intellectually and emotionally. This made for an extremely tough decision and we did not reach a consensus immediately, which is a reflection of the remarkable quality of each of the projects and presentations. We can’t wait to see where the teams will take their projects next with the prize money and recognition you received today.” Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and jury member
Hongera sana to the whole team…we are proud of you!
Ben Morley
Diploma News
It is hard to find words to express the amazing ceremony I have just witnessed that celebrates our 50 years as ISM and our opening as a UWC. The students who acted as MCs spoke confidently and we had information given in both Kiswahili and English. There were singers, dancers and poets who showed their talents on stage. The students who spoke about their experience at the school gave me much hope for the future. The students who were came on stage to welcome the guests in multiple languages showed the incredible diversity of the school, the older students who took care of the younger students in their groups emphasised how much of a family our school is. Congratulations to all involved.
In other news this has not been an easy week for the D2 students as they have had submissions for both the final extended essay and the mathematics IA draft. I am impressed by the maturity they have shown me when discussing any problems with the submissions and for the majority it shows how they are working on their time management skills. The deadlines continue for them over the next few weeks not just for their diploma work but also for the college applications. I hope they continue to do as well.
A group of students from D1 and D2 will be attempting to reach Uhuru peak over the next few days. They have progressed through the levels of the Outdoor Pursuits programme going on successive harder treks in order to reach this level. Good luck to all of them.
The D1 students are back at work after the break, assessments are looming for some. They continue to work hard at CAS and we will spend some time over the next few weeks working on their CAS portfolios.
Margaret Brunt
From the Counselor
There is no way of easing into the second quarter as there are always multiple events on this campus to keep everyone engaged in an array of activities, which included having our first college visit on Monday. Dr. Matthew Beatty of Concordia College (Minnesota, USA) came by after he and I had the pleasure of meeting in Johannesburg earlier this month at the International ACAC Sub-Saharan African Regional Institute. He spent time introducing students to the concept of a small liberal arts college, the benefits of learning in that type of environment, and finding the best fit institution. We learned that we have a connection through the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and that he currently has a student from Arusha on his campus. Later in the week we had our first virtual meeting with a university representative from Colgate University (New York, USA). This presentation was very informative and included a very engaging senior from Russia who helped paint a very clear picture for the students about her university search process and how she is making the most of life on the Colgate campus. Both she and the Colgate admissions specialists spoke of the strong connection between the rigor and structure of the IB curriculum to the type of work that students participate in at Colgate.
It is important to note that both of these universities are among the 99 Davis United World College Scholar Program Partner Institutions, which are colleges/universities in the US who provide scholarships specifically for UWC students. Although they are both small, and relatively unknown to many of our students, these are the types of institutions that can be the perfect fit for a student who may not have even realized they existed. Next week, we will continue with opportunities to meet virtually with an admissions specialist and former ISM student representing University of Toronto.
We continue to observe the levels of stress that some of our students are dealing with, especially at the D2 level. Being able to identify the way stress affects your body is essential to learning how to implement healthy coping skills that address the negative impact that stress can have, especially on a developing body. We are also aware that our students continue to have issues with being able to completely relax in the evenings and consistently get a good night’s sleep. Since the M5 students have been delving into the topic of stress and unhealthy strategies that young people employ to deal with difficult aspects of life, we are beginning a new unit to teach them essential life skills. Ms. Marissa Lipovsky is being very generous with her time and expertise, and has begun teaching a unit on mindfulness activities to help our M5s engage in healthy ways to deal with stress as they also encourage each other through positive peer pressure. The first mini-session went very well, and we are looking forward to learning more about how to utilize mindfulness techniques to deal with the difficulties that occur in life.
Please remember that Mr. Kileo and I continue to be available for parent consultation and student support as issues arise, or resurface. Please feel free to reach out to us if the well being of your child is an area of concern.
Cassandra Ford
MYP News
MAP Test Results MAP® Growth™ reports which summarise how M1-3 students performed on the most recent test and in comparison to previous tests, were sent out last Thursday to parents by email. These tests and scores help teachers to check student performance by measuring student achievement and growth. Teachers use results to tailor classroom lessons and set goals for students. We ask parents to go through these results. In case there are any questions please feel free to contact the MYP Coordinator.
IDU Trip The M4 will go to Kili West for an interdisciplinary learning expedition in November with the trip information to be sent home soon. The trip is an interdisciplinary trip coordinated by Mathematics and Science departments. The students will be exploring biomass, temperature and soil quality at various altitudes to see how these affect each other. They will also analyse rainfall records and use their results when speaking to the farmers.
May 2020 eAssessment The M5 candidates expect partial French Language Acquisition and Arts ePortfolio units from the IB on or before November 1. These units will form the basis of assessments in these particular subjects that will be submitted to the IB for the May 2020 examination session. In addition, the M5 students have just come back from the break after extensive work on their Personal Projects. We expect them to upload their write-ups on how they took action on their projects by November 4 while their draft reports are due by November 22.
It’s important to note that all M5 students will have the same learning experiences and assessments throughout the year regardless of whether they opted for the eAssessment examinations or not.
David Ochieng
Residential Life
This week a lot of focus has gone towards preparation for the ceremony yesterday. Residential students were involved in performances as well as being the Masters of Ceremony for the day. Other students worked as greeters and ushers who introduced our visitors to the campus with tours around to see the different facilities and residences.
After our ceremony here, our secondary students traveled to Arusha to view the second half of the day. They were able to spend the evening bonding with their friends from the other campus
This next Friday we have our annual Halloween festival. Some of the secondary students are representing their house and designing “trunks” for the Primary Trunk-or-treat. Of course, the primary students will get involved in the actual festivities listed above.
This week we also have some of our older students heading up Kilimanjaro with plans to summit later in the week. We wish them good weather and the best of luck.
Sports Report
I am constantly amazed at how much time and effort people will give up for not only the sports they love but sports in general. Last weekend was a fine example of this and of people wanting to develop and improve their knowledge of sport. We had several staff members and students taking part in Level 1 Refereeing for Touch Rugby (Johannes, Benjamin, Sally, Faith, Renata, Lorena, Mr Patrick, Mr T, Mr Ally and Isaac Foya) and Netball (Maria Chauhan), Level 1 Coaching (Johannes, Benjamin, Mr Patrick, Mr T, Mr Ally and Isaac Foya) in Touch Rugby and Level 2 Coaching (Miss O’Brien and Mr Marsh) in Touch Rugby. The courses were very well run and the participants performed brilliantly, we look forward to seeing all the improvements this deeper knowledge will bring out on the fields and courts.
Good Luck to our U9 and U11 soccer teams who travel to Braeburn, Arusha on Tuesday for the 2nd NTSAA soccer tournament. We also have a very strong Athletics team heading to UWCEA Arusha next Friday (Primary) and Saturday (Secondary) to compete in the Athletics tournament.
Upcoming Events
Community Events
Look out for a new activity for all those who want to keep fit. Boot camp/interval training will start on Monday and Wednesdays with our very own Ms Aman. This will be run as a fundraiser for the school service program with a donation asked for attending the sessions. So book in 4.30pm to 5.30pm, get fit and help our students deliver more effective service to the community and environment.
Rugby World Cup is into semifinals now. Saturday has England playing New Zealand and Sunday Wales take on South Africa. Will it be a Southern Hemisphere final again, can the North dominate for the first time in history, our will the final be a mixed bag, don’t miss out on the action. Keep up with all the scores here https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/.
Go Leopards Robin Marsh
PYP News
It has been great to see so much enthusiasm in the children as they settled into the second quarter. The excitement in the air continued to build up as we neared the day of the opening ceremony. The ceremony itself was a beautiful event. Thank you to all for making it so memorable. The collaboration between the TPC mums, ancillary staff, Educational Assistants and all teams that helped towards the success of this day, was amazing.
The confidence in the children as they shared different presentations made me so proud. This comes from the Learner Profile, which is key in developing the attributes that our children need in all aspects of their life. In our units, children are getting opportunities to express their different perspectives, try out different strategies to solve problems and make decisions based on informed choices. Student Agency is really thriving in our classrooms. Building on this, I encourage you to give your child/ren more ownership at home. Ask for their opinions, involve them in decision making, validate them and give them more responsibility for their actions. Ask them provoking questions that will help them reflect on their behavior and actions and come up with possible solutions.
Coming up next week Tuesday – Football tournament in Arusha Friday – Halloween celebrations – Athletics meet in Arusha – P3 Gathering
Cathy Wambua
EC Class
This week we have been working on understanding our Central Idea:
The diversity of life on earth creates opportunities for different interactions.
There are some big words here… By naming as many animals, plants and insects as we could think of, we began to imagine the myriad forms of life on our planet. We decided that we could fill whole walls with names if we liked, and that the world is indeed a very diverse place.
Our picture this week is another great ‘action shot’ from our classroom photographer, the amazing Miss Grace. She always manages to capture interesting individual and group ‘moments’ that make up our days. Look at the EC Platoon- in arrowhead formation no less.
Speaking of a team, thanks to everyone who participated in our opening celebrations. The EC children sat for almost two hours, managing this mainly because of the great entertainment and atmosphere.
Swimming starts Tuesday next week, weather allowing.
Owain Evans
P 1/2 Class
First week of second quarter and we have already gotten into it. After talking through our unit, the children have given me a list of things they would like to start with and the list is long. They are very excited about the unit, especially with the prospect of traveling out of school. More information will be sent out to you as we move deeper into our unit. This coming week, the children have requested detailed tours of all the primary classes so they can find out what they do. They will be comparing these classes with their own.
P1s have been exploring number bonds this week. They have looked at number bonds for numbers 5 to 7. For example which two numbers add up to make 5? Next week, they will continue exploring numbers to 10. P2’s looked at different strategies for adding 10’s. They are still deciding whether using the number square or drawing base ten blocks is easier to use. Next week, they will look at adding 2 digit numbers using the column method.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P3 Class
It’s always surprising when the week is about to end and a newsletter entry has to be sent in. We’re already done with week 1 of quarter 2, and so much has happened, with so much more coming up! The students were excitedly waiting to perform their rendition of Africa during the opening ceremony this week. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony, and we spent a long time discussing the significance of UWCEA, as well as how we can be ambassadors of the school.
In class, we have jumped right into our new unit of inquiry with students choosing a home from the past to look into. We have also been looking at shapes with different numbers of sides, and what they are called. The students have also found out that Ms. Elisha is a terrible drawer of any shape with more than 4 sides! P3s have been working on when to use “a” and “an” in their writing, with many of them coming up with creative sentences to show the usage of “a” or “an”.
A reminder that swimming for P3 is now on Mondays, please bring in your swim kit on this day. Also, P3 will be performing at Primary Gathering on Friday 1st November, please come and enjoy their hard work!
Elisha Jaffer
P4 Class
It has been very lively in our classroom as we discussed many things related to our inquiries. We reviewed different units of measurement and where they are used. The children noticed that not all measurements are whole numbers and sometimes we need to represent numbers in decimals. We will continue to explore fractions and decimals in measurent as the children also find area and perimeter of squares and rectangles.
We will be starting literature circles with chapter books suited to different groups and our comprehension strategy this week will be summarizing. In our unit, the students have started looking at materials and matter; and learned about matter occupying space and having weight. We found out about air and proved that air occupies space. We will continue to look at different states of matter and how they change then move on to force and energy.
Do remember to send in money for the Halloween supper and help your child prepare for this fun celebration.
Cathy Wambua
P5 Class
This week was full of activity and energy. We began our new unit on Migration, so the class created their questions and made up skits with small groups to show the risks, challenges, and opportunities found during migration. Next week, they will begin to research their own family’s migration history and where different generations lived in your family tree. Please support them by encouraging communication with extended family members. We will take this information to create a family migration story to share with the class.
Next week, there are sports activities on two days. I encouraged those invited to both to choose one, so they do not miss too much class time. Next Friday afternoon is the annual Halloween celebration. The class is lucky that our new student teacher brought candy from USA to share for the real holiday! Please introduce yourself to Ms. Abby, as she is a great addition to our classroom.
Sarah Brummel
P6 Class
The P6 children did a superb job during the opening ceremony. Well done to all of the children for their performance during the Africa song. Congratulations to Ms. Catherine, Raymond, Mithra, Faraja and Tanya for their individual performances and thanks to Julian for his work behind the scenes. The children worked hard to brighten up our stretch of the breezeway in preparation for Friday’s guests on campus. They have created a wonderful display of pencil self portraits and “Where I’m From” poems on the theme of identify. They have also made a class book, inspired by “Only One” by Mark Harshman, which shows how single things can combine to make something new and wonderful. Next week we will continue with our inquiry into energy transformation and will be making Vitamin C powered rockets and learning how to write up an investigation. In maths we will be rounding numbers and revising addition strategies. Many of the children plan to attend the PYP Halloween celebration on Friday afternoon. Please read the details of this event elsewhere in this newsletter. I hope the children enjoy a relaxing weekend after a week filled with such anticipation and energy.
