Moshi Campus News – 9 June 2013

Dear Parents,

Two sets of congratulations for last week: firstly to our 22 M5 students who celebrated the end of their MYP years – we expect 18 of these to return for the diploma programme in August. Secondly to the Student Council (and especially Lisa, Paschalia and Mkami) for their excellent organisation of the “Knockout” events and entertainment day. Thanks also to all the staff involved in both events. We now look forward to the last week of school and to the holidays ahead – please ensure that your children remain in school until Friday so that we can complete activities fully and finish the year well.

All students from EC to M4 and in D1 will receive a full report this week. primary reports will be issued on Tuesday, 11th June, and secondary reports will be issued on Thursday, 13th June. We will not be able to issue any reports earlier than this. If you would like to receive digital copy (PDF) of your child’s report, please contact Totty Aris on

All students in EC to M4 and in D1 will finish school on Friday, 14th June. On that morning there will be a full school assembly at 9:00 in Karibu Hall at which we will make some presentations and will also say farewell to our leaving teachers. This will be followed by secondary parent-teacher meetings in Karibu Hall from 10:35am to 12 noon. Students will be free to leave school after 10:15am. Please do not withdraw your children earlier than this as early departures cause much disruption to our end of term plans.

If your child is a boarder and you have not yet informed us of travel arrangements, please do so by contacting Rosemary Bango on

All are welcome to a concert in Karibu Hall on Wednesday, 12th June at 7pm. This concert is given by the Clarinets for Conservation group comprised of solists from the USA and local clarinet students. Funds raised go towards conservation activities in this region, in particular planting blackwood trees. The group has just donated 30 mpingo trees to ISM and is looking to plant more soon. All are welcome – entrance is free for students and TSh 10,000/- for adults.

All library books must be returned to the library on Monday, 10th June. Missing books will incur a fine as well as a replacement charge. All students will need to ensure that they have returned all books and settled all other end of year matters before collecting their reports. Books for the holidays can be borrowed from Thursday, 13th June.

Students whose fees for the 2012/13 year have not yet been fully paid will not receive a report at the end of this term. Please ensure that all such matters are fully settled.

If your child is leaving ISM finally this month, please remember to complete the Refund of Deposit form to be found at www.uwcea.org/deposit and return it to me, Keiron White at

The first payment of fees for the new school year 2013/14 will be due in just a few weeks – before 1st July 2013.

This week will be our busy week with our MYP Focus days for the M1 to M4 students on Monday to Wednesday. This year we are looking at “Rights and Responsibilities” – students will be in groups of mixed year levels and they will be led by the M4 students. They will spend the next days reflecting on the topic and prepare performances that will reflect what their group think about this theme. In order to prepare their presentations, they will have to look at this issue through the lens of one Area of Interaction . They will present their skits on Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, 13th June secondary students will be competing in their houses in a football competition in school. The inter-house sports will start at 9am.

Please note that regular secondary CAS and Sports activities will end on Wednesday, 12th June. There are no Primary Clubs this week.

Our new edition of The Summit magazine will be distributed to all students with their reports to take home. If you would like extra copies to give to family members or friends, please request these from reception in the main office. A digital copy is also available to download from the school website at www.uwcea.org/summit.

Many of our Class of 2013 graduates have now secured their university places whilst others will need first to await the results next month of their diploma exams. Although a relatively small class, we will are proud to have students this year going to Harvard, Cornell, McGill and Amherst amongst others, and many students with full or significant scholarships. As at today, destinations or offers are as follows:
Shafeeq Codabux – UBC (Canada) or Aston (UK)
Jimmy Dale – offers from Liverpool, Bradford, Manchester Metropolitan and Kingston (UK)
Samwel Emmanuel – Harvard (USA)
Alia Jiwa – Brunel (UK)
Siobhan Kedian – Memorial (Canada)
Winnie Kibuta – Memorial (Canada)
Aika Lema – UBC (Canada)
Olais Loibooki – Memorial (Canada)
Samuel Magesa – Memorial (Canada)
Diana Matabwa – McGill (Canada)
Happiness Mgonja – Memorial (Canada)
Nayah Mullings – Amherst (USA)
Pooja Patel – offers from Greenwich, London Metropolitan and Hertfordshire (UK)
Rémy Pitot – Cape Town (S Africa)
Marielle Pol – Webster, Leiden (Netherlands)
Omar Ramadan – Cairo (Egypt)
Naomi Sallu – offers from Kent, Anglia Ruskin, Roehampton, Westminster and Salford (UK)
Ram Sisodiya – Exeter (UK)
Murisi Tarusenga – Cornell (USA)

Others are taking a gap year before starting university or are undecided in their plans.

We will be sorry to say good bye to our leaving teachers at the end of this week and will do so more formally at the assembly on Friday. The following will be moving on to teach elsewhere:
Kurt Ebsary has worked for one year as a volunteer in the Music department. He has been involved in music classes, individual music teaching and support for many different events.

Mark Hoffman only came to ISM a year ago but in that short time has done much within our PE and Sports department including the management of many varied sporting events.

Kim Huninck has been the school’s Dutch teacher for the last three years working with the Dutch-speaking students on both campuses from primary through to diploma.

Magda Johnson joined Kiongozi as the girls’ boarding parent three years ago and has been strongly involved in many aspect of boarding.

Paul Johnson has been the IT and Technology teacher at ISM for four years. He has been involved in many areas of school life including the Visiting Schools Programme, Hard Labour trips, Model United Nations, Student Council and many more.

Dan Quinlan joined us full-time last August as the school’s ESL teacher after previousl helping in my diferent areas of school life.

Jaimala Quinlan arrived at ISM four years ago as our MYP Coordinator – a post that she has fulfilled and developed enormously. She has also taught French and Geography in the school.

Dominique Turner also joined us in 2009 as our principle French teacher. Dominique has taught both French A and B in both secondary and primary and has been a committed tutor to the M4 class.

Cindy van den Heuvel is another member of the “Group of 09” who initially came to ISM as our P5/P6 teacher. She soon became the Head of Primary and has also been an active and engaged member of the campus management team for three years.

We wish them all well for the future.

And we also look forward to welcoming our new teachers in August. There are some photos and details of our new teachers on the school website at www.uwcea.org/newt. Welccme to:
Eric Barrows (Technology), Ruth Barrows (Kiongozi boarding), Kacey Buckley (P2/3 Teacher), Ingrid Chavez (ESL), Marika Farrell (PE & Sports), Merijn Mook (Dutch), Tiana Rozencwajg (French), and Valérie Veillon (French).

We also have four new internal appointments for the new school year startng in August:
Scott Hawkins will become the school’s PYP Coordintor, whilst also continuing as the P5/P6 class teacher.
Charlie Reilly is taking on the role of MYP Coordinator.
Madeline Leno will be the CAS Coordinator responsible for all secondary CAS activities.
Totty Aris becomes the Deputy Head of Campus, taking on responsibility for the organisation and management of the Primary section as well as continuing her Head of Secondary role.

We wish all well for the year ahead.

Due to rising costs we will, as usual, need to increase some charges for the new school year. These increases come into effect from 1st August.
Lunch/Supper tickets for day students: TSh 5000/- per meal.
Breakfast tickets for day students: TSh 2500/- per meal.
Mid-morning snack for day students: TSh 10 000/- per week.
Music individual lessons: TSh 15 000/- per half hour.

Charges for transport to/from KIA remain the same at $30 per trip on the first and last days of school or $60 per trip on other dates.
Parents can continue to use the ISM swimming pool free of charge, but the fees for other users have also been increased.

During the school holidays, the main office will be open daily, Monday to Friday, from 7:30am to 5pm, except on public holidays. However, if you have any questions, it would be best to communicate by email:
Fees or financial issues – Accounts office:
Campus site concerns – HR Manager:
Admissions – Keiron White:
Student Issues – Keiron White: .

We will also have a number of visiting schools staying on the campus during the holidays and we look forward to welcoming our first visitors on 15th June.

We look forward to welcoming our students back next term and also meeting the many new students who will be joining us. Our enrolment is expected to be larger again next term with over 130 students in boarding and many classes close to capacity.

Boarders should return to school on Sunday, 11th August
Day students will start classes at 7:30am on Monday, 12th August.

Meanwhile – have a great break!

ISM is now tweeting regularly on Twitter. Follow us on www.twitter.com/uwcea. If you are a Twitter user, it is simple to follow @uwcea. If you have never used Twitter before, set up an account and give it a try!

This past week saw D1 students diligently working on their Extended Essay in preparation for their presentations to peers slated for Monday June 10th. These presentations should help students focus their efforts as they move into the holiday break – a time in which they must write their whole Extended Essay for it is due shortly after they return in mid-August. D1 Geography students participated in a wonderful field study aimed at evaluating the change in air temperature as one moves out from the central business district in Moshi town. D1 History students continued their intensive individual work on their research investigation on their topic of choice. D1 Math Higher level students took a major test on their final unit of the year. DP teachers finished marking and wrote reports evaluating D1 students’ work in the January to June 2013 semester. Additionally DP students are gearing up for the final parent-teacher meeting on Friday June 14th. Parents of DP students should find a way to attend this meeting if you are in East Africa.

We start the 2013-2014 academic year on Monday August 12th at 7:30 am. Help us to get the year off to a super start by ensuring your child in the Diploma program is back on time. The same goes for any/all future vacations. Not missing any days of ISM DP education is critical to success.

As the ISM IB DP history teacher, we cover in-depth the Mau Mau Rebellion and this landmark news for Kenyan History is very significant and perhaps may be of interest to you – www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/world/europe/britain-colonial-torture-kenya.html.

ISM DP class-of-2013-students are encouraged to use this upcoming holiday wisely. Rest and play for sure but also 1) write your Extended Essay; 2) keep fit; 3) volunteer; 4) read books or 5) follow the world news.

ISM College Counselor Daryl Rustad addressed all D1 students on the key tasks that they ought to do in order to be ready to apply for universities early in the coming school year. D1 parents who have yet to meet or have a phone conversation with Daryl ought to write to him () and set up a meeting to do that.

For me, it has been a tremendous experience working with your D1 son/daughter this academic year. I look forward to helping them in the 2013-2014 school year. I hope you are able to spend quality time with your child during their school holiday. Your support is pivotal to their successful development. I will be back on August 5th and will be off email during our holiday. This coming week and next school year feel free to contact me regarding any/all Diploma issues.

Sincerely,
Rick Fitzpatrick – (Diploma Coordinator)

Our M5 ceremony was a success and I would like to thank all the parents who have made it so. A special thanks to Mrs Geraldine Pitot who came all the way to help us with the flowers, our M5 girls enjoyed a flower arrangement crash course on Thursday, Mrs Jackie Brice-Bennett who is always there giving her assistance where needed.

Our M5 students said their farewell last Friday and now they are all off on a well deserved holiday before they carry on with their studies either at ISM or in an another school. I wish them all the best and I am sure that most of them will be very focused and will achieve high grades in their Diploma. These students have struck me as being very responsible and committed to all that they did, their work experience went on very well and we got very positive feedback for most of them. They are a very versatile group that has many hidden talents and now by supporting each other, they will be able to meet the challenges of the next two years.

M4 students – I have asked all of them to see me before the holidays so that we can have one last conversation about the Personal Project. They have been very focused and have already been thinking about their topics and I am sure they will be able to produce an excellent project for next year. I wish them all the best in their M5 – they have developed excellent learning skills which I would advise them to apply in all their other subjects.

Parents’ conferences on Friday – We would like to remind parents of our last meeting this academic year. I hope to see as many parents as possible and discuss your child’s progress. As usual there will be an assembly at 9:00 am where we will be giving end of the year awards and certificates to our Middle school students. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for all the support that the parents have given me during my 4 years at ISM. It is always hard to leave but as we always say, “life goes on”. The greatest part is that we have the memories to take with us. I wish all the students and the parents happy holidays and I hope to see most of you at the parents’ conferences.

One though for the week:
“Love what you do until you do what you love.” (Anonymous)

An excellent week to all!!!
Jaimala Quinlan (MYP Coordinator)

Afternoon Clubs
A reminder that our afternoon programme ended last Thursday, so there will be no afternoon clubs the last week of term. Thanks so much to parents and teachers who gave up their time to make our clubs a huge success. Without you and your support we would never have survived.
If you’d like to offer a club next school year, please see Mrs Totty Aris or contact her on .

Head Lice
We have been advised again by parents that they have found lice on their children’s hair. Sometimes these are very small and can only be seen with a magnifying glass. Please could you check your child’s hair and treat it if you find something, to prevent an outbreak.

Reports
These will be handed out to all students on Tuesday.

Grade level Handbooks
Our primary staff have worked very hard on creating the Grade-level Handbooks for next school year. These will be emailed to parents the end of the school year.

Last day of school arrangements
As you are aware, school closes for the long holidays and our last day of school will be Friday 14th June. We’ll be having a special assembly at 9am in Karibu Hall which all parents are invited to attend. P6 students will receive their special graduation from the PYP certificates and each class teacher will be giving out Learner Profile and Attitudes certificates. You may take your children home after the assembly. However, teachers will be on duty in their classrooms until 12 should you be meeting with your older children’s secondary teachers.

Farewell
The time has come. This is my last newsletter as Head of Primary at ISM. I’m not very good at goodbyes, so if you see me nodding at you with my jaw clenched as you say goodbye, it’s because I am holding back the tears. I have enjoyed my time at ISM and relished the many opportunities I was given to grow and develop in my chosen profession. The support and care from staff and management has been amazing, especially through some of the trying health problems I battled with the past year. The children at ISM are some of the loveliest little personalities I have encountered in my 27 years of teaching, and I shall miss them all dearly. The primary team consisting of both teachers and teaching assistants has been a pleasure to work with. Their dedication and commitment to the students has been inspirational.

ISM is a great school. You don’t know what you had until it’s gone. While I doubt I’ll miss slow internet, power cuts, ants, geckos, barking whining dogs, cocks crowing, boom-boom music, ants, yelping dogs (have I mentioned them again?), I will surely miss the magnificent mountain that peeps out from behind its cloud from time to time, the friends I have made, students and parents, the staff at ISM – all of which make this a very special place to be.

I wish all at ISM the best of luck for the future, and if you ever find yourselves in Kiev in the Ukraine, please be sure to visit.
Thank you for the memories. That’s all folks! Miss Cindy

Early Childhood Preview

Literacy
This week we will focus on writing letters to our friends in the UK school who we have been corresponding with. They have just written letters to us, asking lots of questions about our life here so we will read them all and try to answer their questions. They are enjoying finding out about life in Tanzania.

Numeracy
This week we will focus on mental maths; counting forwards and backwards, counting in 2s. estimating, adding one and taking away one and adding two. We will also play lots of number games.

There is some work to complete on the portfolios too!

Don’t forget to sign up for party food on Monday on the list outside the classroom. There will be no PE on Thursday due to the party.
Many thanks
Annalee

P1/2 Preview

Message from Miss Nina
I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year of teaching at ISM. It has been jolly hard work but extremely rewarding. In my teaching career, this is the 13th class I have taught. Each class has been unique and special. I will certainly remember the class of 2012-13 with very fond memories. Thank you to parents and carers for all your support. Thank you to children for being great students.

Class Café
So much fun! Thank you for being such good customers. The children thoroughly enjoyed serving you. Great teamwork!

Outline for the Week
We will be wrapping up this week. We will revise handwriting and spellings taught throughout the year. We will play maths and literacy games.
Children can bring their own board and card games to share in class Wednesday and Thursday.
Please return all reading books (and any outstanding library books) on Monday.
Please return all library bags. These will be labelled and handed out at the beginning of next year.
Portfolios and most other work will come home on Tuesday.
End of Semester 2 reports will come home on Tuesday.
We will have a Class Party on Thursday. More details will follow.

Last Day
School will finish on Friday. Please see the main notices from the Head of Primary for times.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone!
Miss Nina, Alice and Sophia.

P3/4 Preview

Week 10…… it’s here! The last week of term and the current academic year!

Thank you to everyone for your support over the past one or two years. I have loved my time in P3/4 and will really miss the P4s who are moving on to P5. I wish them all every success and look forward to hearing about all the great things they are achieving in their new class.
To those who are leaving ISM – Lucas, Elsie and Jasmijn – never forget the wonderful experiences you have had in Africa and at ISM and all the best as you move back to your home/new countries and your old/new schools. We will miss you too and I am glad to have had the opportunity to share a part of your lives with you.

Thank you to all the parents who supported the Muffins for Moms and Donuts for Dads assembly last week. I thought the kids were really great and just love it when the children are given an opportunity to showcase their learning.

Please have a good look at home and return any school readers, library books, library bags, zip bags and reading logs.
I am planning an end of year class party for Thursday. It would be great if each class member could bring along something to share.

On Friday there will be a final assembly at 9.00am. All parents are welcome to come along. School will finish for the Primary students at 10.15am. For those students who cannot be collected by then, or whose parents are involved in secondary parent-teacher interviews, there will be supervision in my classroom until 12.00 pm.

This is what our learning in class will look like this week as we wind down.
UOI – “Water, Water Everywhere”
Central Idea: Our planet has limited resources that are unevenly distributed.
Our guest speaker had to unfortunately cancel her visit last week, but I am still hoping she will be able to come and speak to our class this week. She will be able to share about a process of purifying water in areas where water has been contaminated and is unfit for drinking and why this has come about. We will also finish up this unit by looking at our responsibility for water conservation.

Writing – We will be finishing off bits and pieces of work and completing our portfolios. We will also be doing a hand writing sample and some reflections on our unit of inquiry, the learner profile and the attitudes.

Maths – P3 and P4 – Temperature. Reading thermometers. Positive and negative numbers. Finding the difference between two temperatures.

REMINDERS:
Every day: Hats and polo shirts/t- shirts
– Zip bags, spelling note books, reading books and reading logs. Most of these will stay at school over the holidays.
– Healthy snack for break time. Lunch if necessary.
MONDAY
Homework – No homework this week. Children may read books from their home libraries.
P.E. – wear house T-shirts, shorts and trainers. We will follow one last orienteering course around the school.
Library – All library books and book bags need to be returned on Monday
TUESDAY
School reports sent home.
THURSDAY
Portfolios sent home
Class Party – please bring something to share if you are able
P.E. – bring swimming gear.
FRIDAY
Full school assembly 9.00am
School breaks up at 10.15am

Thanks once again for all your support over the year. Have a wonderful, restful summer break and to those going away, travel safely. To those who are returning, I look forward to seeing you all again in August.
Miss Jann

P5 Preview

Maths
P5 will be joining P6 this week to solve problems involving probability and will learn abour range, mean and median.

Language
Students will complete their narratives about a child who led an unhealthy lifestyle and will finish off their portfolios to take home.
They will take notes from books on body systems for their end-of-unit presentation.

UOI
Whilst the P6 students are delving into puberty with Mr Scott and Miss Debbie, P5 students will be preparing a presentation about a body system to give to the P6 students. They have learnt so much about body systems the past few weeks and have made the connection between the choices we make and keeping our body systems in good shape.

P6 Preview

Well, we have come to the last week of term. The week will include a House football competition on Thursday morning and the final end of year assembly on Friday at which the P6s will be presented with their graduation certificates. I would like to conclude by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching both the P5s and P6s this year. I will certainly miss one set of children next year but very much looking forward to receiving the familiar faces of the new P6 in August as well as the new P5s.

UOI – Healthy Choices
Central Idea: Our health is affected by the choices we make
This week we will finish our inquiry into healthy choices and systems of the body. As a final part of this inquiry and before their entry into M1 next year I will have a discussion on puberty and its effects on the body with the P6 boys for approximately one hour on Monday or Tuesday. Ms Debbie Garbett will have the same discussion with the girls. The focus will be to invite the children’s questions on the subject, to answer them candidly and to erase any misconceptions that the children currently hold. If you have any questions about this discussion please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Reading, Writing and Drama
This week the children will finish formal explanation texts featuring parts of the body and describe the processes at work and the knowledge they have thus far accrued.

Maths
This week we will review a second assessment carried out on Wednesday and I will ask children to identify areas of Maths they would like to improve in during the summer and beyond.

P.E. – Swimming will not take place on Thursday due to the House football competition.
Library – All library books must be returned by Monday afternoon. Failure to return books may lead to reports being withheld.