Moshi Campus News – 28 Sep 2019

On Friday morning I sat with some of our secondary students listening to the presentations from the Harvard and MIT representatives.  I have sat through many of these in the past but two things they said at this presentation stuck with me.  One was from the Harvard Representative who said that 80% of the applicants had the academic ability to succeed at Harvard and probably 50% had the ability to get Honors.  So, what they were looking for was much more than the academics but what a student could contribute to the school.  This was mirrored by the MIT statement when she said they asked themselves if this person would be a good roommate.

The second thing that stuck with me was that MIT has changed the way it is assessing first year students by making the courses pass fail and by making almost all work that year collaborative so that students are required to work together. The reasoning was that real-world issues require collaboration and people do not exist in a vacuum.  I followed this up with the representative later for more details and found that this has become a fundamental push within the Institute

Following the presentation was the students’ Climate Strike which, while mostly involving diploma students, did include a mix of primary students as well.  This and things like last week’s UWC Day I think are good examples of collaboration across the school.  I suspect Mr Morley would say that collaboration between students comes naturally at the primary level but less so at the secondary.  This makes me think, if it is becoming required in university, maybe we as teachers and students need to give this more thought at the secondary level as well.

Please note that on Friday, classes will end at break time, which is 9:40am for primary and 9am for secondary.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus

Conferences for PYP are this Wednesday from 7:30am to 3pm.  Please note that there are no scheduled classes during this day for primary students. 

Conferences for secondary are from 9am to noon on Friday.  There are no classes scheduled during those times.

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.” Henry James

There is a growing body of research that promotes the idea that kindness should be “taught” in schools. Patty O’Grady, the Associate Professor of Education at the University of Tampa, believes that “children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it. Kindness is an emotion that students feel and empathy is a strength that they share.”

In other words, kindness is something we all learn by feeling it for ourselves. The science seems to back this up. Experiencing kindness produces endorphins which, in turn, activate areas of our brains associated with pleasure, social connection and trust. What’s more, many believe kindness also releases the hormone oxytocin, which is said to have further health benefits, not least reducing stress. Research also shows that kindness increases our ability to form meaningful connections with others and helps us develop a sense of belonging.

As we come to the end of the first quarter of the year, our first quarter as UWCEA, a sense of belonging is certainly something many of us are exploring. It has been a long and memorable first quarter and so, so much has happened both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, as it were.

At times like this it is important to pause and consider. I put it to you that, if we can work together to celebrate kindness and promote compassion, not only will we help preserve and nurture our warm and inclusive community, we will realise that we all belong.

Let’s all strive to be kind whenever possible and, as the Dalai Lama said, “It is always possible.” #choosekindess

Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus

A focus for this week has been sport as we had the school athletics day on Tuesday. All diploma students were on the field either participating or helping out. It was good to see so many students running, jumping and throwing to support their house.

On Friday we have parent conferences allowing you to meet the teachers and see how your child is progressing. You should have received an email from Mr Cofer about the online sign up for these, please contact us if you need more information. If you are unable to make it to Moshi for this, then please check ManageBac for information about your child’s progress, you will also find the teacher’s email address there if you require more information.

The D2 students have remained busy with IA submissions, Extended Essay work and the TOK presentations alongside assessments and the regular schoolwork. Many of them are also working on their college admissions. It will remain busy for them over the break and beyond. It is however important that they remain balanced and find time to relax.  Their reports for the End of Quarter 1 will be issued on Thursday.

A group of D1 students initiated a climate strike on Friday. They walked around school initially collecting other students to be involved and then set to work. One group worked in the community garden sorting rubbish and creating a compost heap, others collected rubbish from around the campus. Congratulations to all involved, it is important that this is an on-going process.

Friday saw all of D1 and some D2 and M5 students in Rafiki for a talk by representatives from Harvard and MIT. Students were able to hear what makes these institutions unique but also general information about the application process. It was good to see so many insightful questions. On Monday we have our final university visit for a while with International Universities.

Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator

All good things must come to an end.

Taking a look at the calendar, it’s amazing to realize that we are quickly closing in on the end of the first quarter of the school year. This is an exciting time, but it also brings a lot more activity and energy to the campus. With all that is happening at the end of the quarter, it is easy to forget how exhausting it can be for our students, and staff, and the importance of finding balance in the midst of everything that is going on. For some students, the stress that they are dealing with now may seem overwhelming, but their ability to utilize coping skills (like healthy eating, appropriate amounts of sleep, exercise, etc.), will go a long way to ensure that they have the ability to handle more challenging life events as they come. While watching student demonstrate resilience during Athletics Day activities, it was apparent that our students know how to keep going in the face of adversity, but we have to help them reinforce important coping skills on and off the field. Building resiliency skills takes time and practice, and is a good thing to work on over the long break.

One of the stressors that our students face is making the decision about what they want to study after their high school career ends, and where they will do it. This week, students received another dose of university reality when we were visited by representatives from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).  This was an important opportunity for students who are considering either of those institutions because it is critical to be able to ask key questions to those involved in the decision making process. If you are interested in hearing the Harvard and M.I.T. presentation that students received on Friday morning, feel free to participate in the Parent presentation in Dar Es Salaam on Sunday, 29 September at 15:00 at the Golden Tulip Hotel.

On Monday, we will once again welcome universities to campus via the International Universities Fair, which will run from 2:30-4:00PM in Rafiki Hall. There will be a diverse collection of universities represented, and our D2 students can bring their transcript and any other relevant information to have direct conversations with university representatives about their prospects. We truly encourage students to make the most of these visits as they spend time preparing for their future while their feet are planted firmly in the reality of the here and now. We truly want all students to Dream Big, but also understand the realities of their future aspirations so that they can make wise university decisions when it is time to apply. Once again, with a fair coming to campus, I wanted to share this resource with tips on how to best prepare for a University Fair.

Have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to a peaceful end to this first quarter of learning and growing.

If you are interested in meeting with Ms. Ford during conferences next week, feel free to schedule an appointment via her online calendar link at https://calendly.com/cassandraforduwcea.

Cassandra Ford   University and Socio-Emotional Counselor    

Emmanuel Kileo Counselor

M5 – 2019 eAssessment Transcripts and Certificates
The M5 eAssessment transcripts and certificates will be sent from the IB soon. Parents whose children/wards took the examinations in May 2019 are asked to collect these documents as from Thursday October 3. The document(s) will be issued from the school reception. A parent may send a representative other than the candidate who took the exam to collect the documents. If this happens, the representative must be sent with a formal letter bearing the parent’s name and signature.  In addition, the bearer of the letter must carry a legal identification document.

MAP Tests
The MAP tests for M1-M3 are nearly complete and results will be out within the next few weeks. We shall share these results with respective parents.

M5 – 2020 eAssessment Registration
We are thankful to all M5 parents who filled in and returned the registration forms by Friday September 27. After the students are registered, the details will be shared with both students and parents.

End of Quarter
This Quarter ends on Friday October 4 with a Parent/Teacher conference on the same day. We don’t issue reports to MYP students in Quarter 1 and instead encourage MYP parents to access student grades on Managebac in preparation for the conferences. Teachers will be available for conferences as from 9:00am. The conferences last about 10 mins and parents are encouraged to book appointments online at https://ismoshi.meettheteacher.com. In case a parent requires a longer session with a teacher, he/she should feel free to plan a with the teacher a different time. If a teacher indicates being absent on this day, parents are encouraged to communicate with the teacher in advance for matters that involve a student’s progress.

David Ochieng – MYP Coordinator

In math, I enjoyed it when we had to organize the whole school to make a peace-sign.

We started off measuring the green near K-hall to see how many people could fit. Compared to other groups who measured the width in meters, my group (Tabea, Imani and I) used our bodies to count how many people could fit.

We started off having Tabea spread her arms out as much as possible. We estimated how many people could fit in between her arms. We roughly calculated that about 3 people could fit. We measured the whole width like that, counting in 3’s. About 43 people could fit, which is half of the MYP’s.

Each group presented what they found out to the class. In conclusion to this, we all decided, as a class, that we would have MYP’s standing back to back making the middle line.

The other groups found out that the width is 20m, from K-hall to the music room. So, we put a rock in the middle (which is 10m from K-hall.) We cut a string to make it 10m and then we put one end of it on this rock (which Zuberi held), and one end near K-hall (that Aiden held.) Aiden walked around the rock to make a circle.

At every 2m, we put a rock, in total we put 8 rocks.
Therefore, we realized that 13 of us could fit between 2 rocks, and we still had space left for other people. We knew that there are 118 DP’s and divided by 8 it’s about 14.              

The whole class then had to draw the peace sign to scale. At the same time, some people went to see Mr. Patrick to see if he could help us with the chalking. And some people went to see Mr. Swai to see if he could set up microphones, so that we could easily tell the whole school where to stand.

The next day, Mr. Patrick came to help us chalk the circle. Again, Zuberi held the string, and Aiden walked around to make a circle. Mr. Patrick followed him so we had a perfect circle. For the middle line, Mr. Patrick followed the string we had put on the grass. For the two angles on the side (where the PYP’s would stand back to back,) Zuberi measured how many steps he took from the bottom of the middle line, round to where we thought the first angle should be. He did the same on the other side. The next step was to chalk the lines from the middle rock. We lay a string on the ground that Mr. Patrick followed to make it straight.     

WE FINALLY HAD OUR PEACE-SIGN DRAWN!!!
But we weren’t finished – We still had the opening day!!!

On the opening day, we started off having an assembly. When it was time to organize everyone, Tabea and Prisca told them where to stand. We then realized that teachers had to be involved. This was a big disaster because we did not plan this. Therefore, we had to do some improv.

We ended up telling the teachers to stand with the DP’s. They were suppose to stand shoulder to shoulder, but with the teachers included they had to turn around and stand facing each other’s back.

The drone took several pictures.
I WAS SOOO HAPPY I HAD FINALLY FINISHED!

UNTIL WE GOT ASSIGNED THIS…

Camille

The range of different activities which we manage to fit into an average school week continues to astound me and this week has been no different with a whole host of events taking place most of which involved members of our Residential Life community.

Monday began with a whole-school Assembly during which Mrs. Pantlin, our Music teacher, took the opportunity to help all the students and staff practice their song for inclusion in our UWC Opening Ceremony. The ceremony is planned to happen at both of our campuses during the first Friday of Quarter 2 and promises to be a memorable occasion.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the MYP/DP and PYP Athletics Days took place with most of our students taking place in throwing and jumping field events, many track events as well as some less formal fun games and events for our younger PYP students. A great day was had by all with some really impressive performances from all year groups.

Thursday saw the P6 Explorers Presentation in Karibu Hall and D2 Economics students visited the NEI Factory for a Field Trip.

On Friday there were visits and presentation from Harvard and MIT Universities and a large number of student residents left for a 3-day OP Trip to Longido.

This week our PYP student residents in Kimbilio House have an action-packed weekend planned. Today (Friday) they played dodge-ball and then watched ‘Chicken Little’ the movie. On Saturday morning the boys plan to play soccer and in the afternoon all PYP students will be doing some tidying of personal items. In the evening the PYP students will be cooking dinner around at Kacey Buckley’s House, our Learning Support teacher, and will then return for a disco in Kimbilio House. On Sunday our PYP students will attend services as usual and will then have a relaxing afternoon swim.

Last Saturday evening I was very grateful to be invited by Ms. Clara and Ms. Margaret to the PYP students’ bonfire in the newly tidied Community Garden, where the students watched an outdoor movie and were treated to maize roasted over the fire. The maize was really tasty and I was lucky enough to sample it!

I wonder how many events we will be able to squeeze into our final week of this Quarter next week?!!

Ian Horne – Head of Residential Life

The sports calendar has well and truly kicked off this year.  What a week of fun and games. Our U9 and U11 soccer teams did very well at the tournament in St Constantine’s, with both boys’ teams getting 3rd place and our U11 girls (really a U9 and U11 combined team) taking out the tournament, thanks to some great leadership from Eunice in P6.  Honourable mention to Reuben in P6 who was voted as Player of the Tournament from all the coaches. Yesterday the Primary and U13 swimmers were at Kennedy House, more information about that next week.

UWCEA Moshi are hosting the U9 and U11 Rounder’s on Tuesday the 1st of October. Good luck to our 2 teams.  Please come down to watch the action from 12.30pm.

We have had 2 very good athletics days this week with some super close results. Fantastic way to start the inter house competition.

Secondary

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

Primary

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

Don’t forget the Rugby World Cup has started. Most pools are still to be decided so don’t miss out on the action. Keep up with all the scores here https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/.

Robin Marsh
Athletics & Activities Coordinator

This week has seen the end of our first unit and it has been rewarding to see how different classes are celebrating their learning. The P6 students gave an impressive presentation on Explorers. Their costumes, information shared and the way they delivered to the audience was amazing. The P3s also visited the P4s to conduct a survey about how different children spend their free time.

We additionally had a very successful and fun Athletics day. There was something for each child to engage in while keeping the competition healthy.

Next week we will have our end of quarter assembly on Monday, in K-Hall from 10:30 a.m.

The Student, Parent, Teacher Conferences will run on Wednesday. Please sign up for an appointment online if you have not done so already. There will be no clubs on Wednesday due to the 3-Way conferences.

On Friday 7:30 a.m., we will be joined by some special guests for our end the quarter gathering which will be led by Mr. Ben.

The quarter ends on Friday at 9:40 a.m. Kindly arrange to pick your child up promptly as there will be no supervision after this time.

Cathy Wambua-Saha – PYP Coordinator

This week we’ve enjoyed a fantastic sports day, getting to know more about ‘friends’, ‘best friends’, inclusion and how it feels to be left out of a game. We’ve been looking at ‘taking away’ with numbers up to 5. The older children are beginning to think about how they might show others what they have learned about their particular chosen subject. Next week we will meet up for a ‘goal setting’ discussion. I’ll share with you some of the objectives for maths and literacy over the year but we will be focusing particularly on the general development of each child in terms of happiness, independence, agency, focus and resilience. Your child should come along with you. Please choose a slot – you should have received the sign-up email by now. Let me know if you experience any issues.

Owain Evans

The children have been drawing booklets this week that they will use to encourage others to make good choices in their lives. We will complete them on Monday and you will be able to see them when we meet for the goal setting conferences. They worked hard on them and they are hoping to change and influence thoughts.

We delighted in a visit from Taliesen, Franziska, Marcus, Emilie and Evie this week. These wonderful doctors gave up their time and spent it with us. The children played doctor and examined each other. They measured various parts of their bodies like heights, weights, heartbeats and oxygen in the blood. Apart from the normal measuring items, the doctors showed them how to use a stethoscope and an oximeter. Some children also learned the different places where doctors look for a pulse. We all learned how precious our health should be to us.

As we move into our last week before the October break, please send in any reading books that are still at home. I am looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday so we can talk more about the wonderful things your child has been doing.

Mboka Mwasongwe

P3 students have been busily working on completing their summative assessments for our current unit. They have interviewed teachers, spent time completing Venn diagrams that show what after school activities they have in common with teachers, and then created a bar graph displaying this information. The students have also talked to each grade in PYP and looked at their screen time habits. This information has been graphed, and then interpreted in conjunction with their previous work on the benefits of being outdoors. All this has been done amidst two sport meets, and athletics day. Phew!

Speaking of Athletics day, it was a wonderful success with many students enjoying showcasing their talent on the track and field events. Thank you to the entire PE team who has worked so hard to prepare the students, as well as organize Athletics Day. The students are very proud of themselves, as they should be! House spirit has been very prevalent in class this week with some of us finding out we have an inner house spirit monster!

A reminder that the end of quarter assembly is on Monday at 10:30am, and that Wednesday is the goal setting meeting between parents, teachers, and students.

Elisha Jaffer

We had a great week in P4 where children went off with a home learning task to look for works done by heroes in the form of song, poem, stories etc. The children already had many ideas of different heroes and how their works had impacted society in positive ways.

We also reviewed concepts covered in Math, organized our work into our portfolios, worked on our goals for the year and prepared for our assembly presentation on Monday.

In the coming week, we will have the 3-Way Conferences. The students will be sharing their goals with their parents and myself. I hope you have signed up through the email sent to you by Mr. Cofer.

We welcome you to our end of unit celebration on Thursday 3rd of October from 8:00 a.m. which will run for an hour. The children have been designing superhero costumes for Art. They will use materials that are available at home or at school to put these together. We will dress up and share how our superpowers help us take positive action as well as how other heroes have inspired us along the way.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

It was awesome on Monday to hear how great the primary children are sounding in our mass choir rehearsal for the UWCEA Opening Ceremony. They are leading the school with their powerful voices. While we were missing many of our athletes this week in class, we still made progress on our Playground Rules Posters and summatives. We will hang up the playground posters next week.

The class is looking forward to sharing their personal summatives and group posters about rights next Thursday. We will start at 8:00 to learn about rights, then take a short break before individuals share their presentations. Their projects are looking great! The class discussed bringing in a healthy snack to share during our brief intermission. Please consider sending in a low sugar snack to share. We have a tree nut allergy in the class, so please let me know if it contains nuts. We hope to see you there!

Sarah Brummel

This was a busy week filled with soccer and swimming fixtures, Athletics Day (see photo) and our exploration presentation in K Hall. The children have worked hard on their Unit of Inquiry and did a super job of speaking in front of a large audience in the persona of their chosen explorers. Many thanks for all of the help from parents and boarding parents in getting the costumes together and for taking the time to attend the presentation. Next week we will take some time to work on creative writing and art activities and to practice areas of maths that need further work (these will be different for each child.) I am looking forward to seeing you and your child at the 3 way conferences on Wednesday where we will have the opportunity to look at the learning goals that the children have selected to work on over the coming quarter.

Deborah Mills