Moshi Campus News – 24 May 15

24 May 2015
Dear Parents,

We held a thoroughly enjoyable Graduation Ceremony yesterday as we said farewell to our 36 diploma graduates. But school goes on and tomorrow our D1 students begin their important end-of-year examinations. This coming week also sees the P1/P2 Camp, and many D1 students will additionally be taking TOEFL paper-based tests in school next Saturday. Also next weekend we are hosting a netball tournament in Moshi and our primary sports teams will be travelling to IST in Dar es Salaam for the Tanzanian international schools sports tournament. We wish them all well.
Back to top
Dr Siva Kumari
It was a great privilege for ISM to welcome Dr Siva Kumari to the school this weekend. Dr Kumari took up the position of Director General of the International Baccalaureate in January 2014 and is the first woman to hold this post. During her visit to ISM, Dr Kumari attended a primary gathering and watched presentations from all the primary classes; she joined P6 to hear about their exhibition and the issues they had become passionate about during this unit; she led a question-answer session with our M4, M5 and D1 students; she attended a dinner with our D2 graduates and their families, and she presented the address at our Graduation Ceremony. On Friday evening, Dr Kumari tweeted: “In awe of PYP students (Moshi, TZ) discussing their passion projects and teachers who ignite such learning.” [twitter.com/siva_kumari]
Back to top
Graduation
This weekend we celebrated with our 36 graduating D2 students and their families the end of their school career and their transition to the next stage of their education. It was an occasion of much happiness but was also tinged with sadness as we will miss the huge contributions that the Class of 2015 have made to ISM. In addition to introducing each graduate individually at the ceremony, we were also pleased to present four awards to students who have stood out in various ways. Twan Duinmaijer was presented with the Award for Outstanding Academic Progress, and Jasper Kajiru won the Award for Academic Achievement. The Chibber Award is presented for loyalty to the School, promotion of the School’s best interests, and above all, an active concern for others both within and outside the School, and this year’s recipient was Sammota Chungu. And the AISA Award for Excellence from the Association of International Schools in Africa which is given to a student who promotes a school environment characterised by a sense of friendliness and community, who demonstrates by example the concept of service to the human family, who actively seeks to understand and appreciate other cultures and who embraces a world view celebrating human unity and diversity was presented to Komal Mudher.
We hope to post pictures of the ceremony and students shortly.
Back to top
October 2015 Holiday
A number of concerns have been expressed within our community of the close juxtaposition of the national elections on 25th October 2015 and the school’s October break. In the light of these concerns, we have decided that it is in the school’s best interests to change the date of the holiday from that previously advertised.
The October 2015 holiday will now be from Friday, October 16th (after classes end at 12:35) to Sunday, November 1st. Boarders should return to school on Sunday, 1st November and classes will restart on Monday, 2nd November. Thus the holiday has been moved forward by one week so that the election date falls in the middle of the holiday. The total number of school days for the school year thus remains almost the same. We do recognise that changing the date at this stage will cause inconvenience for some families, but felt that in current circumstances this was necessary when taking all factors into consideration.
Closer to the time, we will of course be monitoring the local situation in Arusha and Moshi and will make any further decisions if and when necessary.
Back to top
D1 Tests
Our D1 students commence their end-of-year examinations this Monday. These include many written papers designed to model the format of the final diploma examinations. They help to assess our D1 students in each of their diploma subjects and provide an indication of their readiness to proceed to D2 in August. D1 students are expected to meet minimum standards or will be asked to restructure their programmes or to repeat the D1 year. In addition to these end of year examinations, many D1 students also need to take a number of other tests to meet university entry requirements. Two weeks ago many took IELTS English language tests conducted by the British Council. Most students have now received the results of their IELTS test with a few more results expected this week. The following tests are scheduled in the next few weeks
TOEFL: The Test of English as a Foreign Language is a paper based test examined in Moshi on Saturday, 30th May. It is required for many students going to universities in the USA, Canada or elsewhere.
SAT: SAT tests are set by the College Board in the USA and is scheduled in Moshi on Saturday, 6th June. This test in English and Mathematics is required by universities in the USA for students who have not taken an ACT test.
ACT: The ACT is scheduled to take place in school on Saturday, 13th June. This test in Science, Mathematics and English is required by universities in the USA for students who have not taken an SAT test.
Registrations for all these tests have now closed. However, it may be still possible to register for a test as a standby candidate at an additional fee from the regular charges. Any D1 student who wishes to make a late registration should see Keiron White as soon as possible.
Back to top
Flight to Innovation
One of our D1 scholarship students, Angel Ngulumbi, has won a scholarship to attend the Yale Young Global Scholars Program in the US in July. Unfortunately the scholarship does not include air fare costs which she cannot afford herself and so she is seeking alternative solutions. Read her story at www.gogetfunding.com/flight-to-innovation
Back to top
Mwanza Swimming
Last weekend, 14 swimmers travelled to Mwanza to compete in the ISAMILO Invitational, a highly competitive event that saw all of the swimmers achieve best-times in at least one event. Most, in fact, achieved best times in all of their events. Some of the notable results were as follows: Sanne – 5 Gold Medals – Age Group Aggregate Winner – 7 personal best times Fred – Bronze (100 Free) – 6 personal best times Shawn – Gold (100 Breast) Silver (50 Breast) – 6 personal best times Kyle – 3 x Bronze (50 Free/ 100 Back/ 50 Back) – 7 personal best times Ndashi – 5/5 personal best times/ swims Sara Kruidering – Bronze (50 Breast/ 100 Back) – 5 personal best times Nandi – Bronze (50 Free/ 50 Fly) – 5 personal best times Kimali – Silver (50 Breast) Bronze (100 Breast/ 100 Free) Laura – Bronze (50 Breast) – 4 personal best times Alicia – Gold (100 Back – missed pool record by 1 second) – Bronze (100 IM/ 400 Free) Philemon – 4/4 personal best times/ swims Noga – Bronze (50 Back) – 5 personal best times Emily – 5/5 personal best times/ swims Oshin – 3 personal best times
ISM athletes stood out for much more than swimming performances; the athletes also displayed character, unity, and cooperation outside the competition venue. Their maturity and sportsmanship was noted by the Meet Coordinator in an email to the coaches the day after the competition ended. All of the swimmers were willing to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, to attempt races they had never done before, and for this reason, the future of ISM swimming in Moshi looks poised to enter a new era of preparation, competition, and team building. It is certainly an exciting time to be a swimmer and a coach at ISM!

Special thanks to Annalee Horton for chaperoning (and for taking the hotel room opposite the kitchen), and to Coach Noah, Coach Sabini, and Coach Mary who continue to play an integral part in the daily running of the program. And to parents, the following sign hangs at the pool where I learned to swim. “Your child’s success or lack of success in sport does not indicate what kind of parent you are. But having an athlete that is coachable, respectful, a great teammate, mentally tough, resilient, and tries their best is a direct reflection of your parenting.” All of our swimmers fit this description.
Parents of MYP and Diploma swimmers can expect a full competition and practice schedule for the 2015-2016 season before the end of this academic year. I will be working closely with ISM Arusha Campus to offer a very similar program for those who are willing to make the same commitment as the Arusha swimmers. This will involve team tryouts, the nomination of team captains, periodization training for key competitions, monthly competitions with Arusha, and much, much more! Please see Coach Sullivan for more details, or contact him via email – – or via telephone – 0766300454.
Yours in swimming,
Coach Sullivan
Back to top
Primary Tag Rugby
Last Tuesday, 24 Primary students went off to Kennedy House to play Tag Rugby. This is a fairly new sport to many of our students and their coach was so impressed by the skill-level and commitment shown by all. We played a mini-tournament against the Kennedy House students and are yet to learn the final results, but it is fair to say that we won some games, and lost some games in both age categories (P3/4 and P5/6). Students from both schools played with excellent spirit, demonstrating the importance of having fun, rather than winning. It was an enjoyable day and a very valuable learning experience.
Back to top
Primary Netball, Swimming & Football
Primary School Netball Tournament
Our Netball team will be going to Usa River to compete at Kennedy House on Wednesday 27th May. They will be accompanied by Coach Noah and Mrs Anton.
Primary Football and Swimming On Friday 29th May our primary swimming and football teams will be flying to Dar Es Salaam to attend the primary sports tournament at IST. Our team will be accompanied by Ms Annalee, Mrs Aris, Coach Noah & Coach Sabini. They will return Sunday morning.
We wish our ISM Leopards all the best as they have been training hard for quite a while in preparation for these events.
Back to top
P1/2 Football
The P1/2 children had a great time at St. Constantine’s for football on Thursday. ISM took two teams, and the school was well represented with a couple of wins and a draw. It was a fun day of teamwork and getting to know some children from the seven other schools in attendance. Go Leopards!
Back to top
Brownies: Garage Sale
On Saturday, June 13th the brownies are holding a garage sale in Karibu Hall from 10am til 12.30pm. If you are leaving Moshi this year, this is an ideal opportunity to sell unwanted items. Tables will cost TSh 20,000 and should be paid for in advance in the school office.
Back to top
P6 Transition Day
P6 Transition Day – Wednesday June 3rd The Secondary School is looking forward to welcoming the current P6 class for a trial day in M1, on Wednesday June 3rd. Students will join Ms. Farrell for a workshop on an Introduction to the MYP, and then will join the M1s in some of their classes for the day.
Please note that students will be following a Secondary timetable, so will finish school at 2:30pm on that day.
At 3:30pm, we welcome parents to join us for an MYP Question and Answer session over Coffee and Tea. We will be happy to answer any questions you have regarding this transition from the PYP/Primary to MYP/Secondary. We hope you will join us! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this Introduction to the MYP and Transition Day. Marika Farrell
Back to top
M5 Ceremony
We instigated the journey of our education, and we will continue to advance on that journey. Without our parents, teachers and the rest of the ISM Community, we would not have reached so far. In our gratitude, we would like to invite you to celebrate, not the end of our educational expedition, but rather a milestone. Mark it on your calendars and join us on the 12th of June, at Karibu Hall, to celebrate the end of our MYP years, a paved path for our future.
Back to top
Exchange Rates
At this time of fast changing exchange rates, we would ike you to know how the school establishes its rates for currency conversion. All school fees are set in US dollars but parents living in Tanzania are welcome to pay fees in Tanzanian shillings. Each month the school sets the USD/TZS exchange rate as the mean commercial bank rate on the 1st of the month. Fees paid in shillings are then converted to dollars at this rate when they are received by us. The current ISM rate for May is $1 = TSh 2013, although the commercial bank rate today is quite a bit higher than this. We will next adjust our rate on 1st June. The current ISM rate is displayed on our website fees page at www.uwcea.org/fees.
Back to top
Early Childhood Preview
Unit Of Inquiry We will continue to think about how sounds help us. The children have already discovered that sounds can warn us, for example fire alarms, ambulances, house and car alarms. The children will also make their own instruments using recycled materials. We will go on a sound walk around campus and graph sounds we hear.
Literacy Last week we read ‘Peace at last’ by Jill Murphy. The children are now making their own books retelling the story and adding all the sounds that were included in the book.
EC1 will play sound lotto and other letter sounds and consolidate their recognition of letter sounds introduced this year. EC2 will concentrate on high frequency words.
Numeracy We are continuing to assess children for report writing. EC2 children are problem solving involving addition to 10. EC1 will work on addition to 5.
Back to top
P1/2 Preview
Information for Parents I hope your child had a good time in Arusha at the football tournament. I think it was a good experience for the children to have a fun, friendly competition. We had no tears, and the children represented our school and you very well.
Our next big event, of course, is camping on Thursday and Friday. I hope the form that I sent home was clear, but please contact me if you have any questions. We are hoping for a fun, dry night.
Literacy Focus for the Week We will continue to work on writing reports this week. The children really did a good job of working together and doing their jobs to produce some nice reports last week. It is fun to see them excited to work with these non-fiction books. We will also continue to read in our reading groups.
Maths Focus for the Week The Group 1 children will work on adding three numbers. The Group 2 children will continue their work with simple division.
Unit of Inquiry We will continue to learn about community helpers, and we will study what makes good teams and workers successful. We will compile our interviews of ISM staff members and try to get the children thinking about what type of job they may want to do some day.
What to Bring to School Children need a hat for playtime and a healthful snack every day.
Timetable Monday: Library (return your books) Wednesday: PE (please send proper shoes and house shirt) Thursday: PE (please send proper shoes) Friday: Show and Tell
Back to top
P3 Preview
The children have enjoyed exploring a range of graphs in Mathematics and have been designing and carrying out their own surveys, recording the results in tally charts and then representing the data in other ways. In English we got sidetracked by our reading of current issues and we went on to explain our understandings of the problems using discussion, diagrams and written explanations. They have now quite a thorough understanding of complex issues connected to both the Aral Sea and The Colorado River! The children have used their IT times well again this week to use the internet and get answers to questions relating to the unit.
Next week in English we do what we had planned to do this week: we will be explaining our observations in experiments linked to water, and will be continuing to read and understand news articles and information connected to the unit. In UOI the students will be working in small groups to collate their findings and start to look at ways of presenting their understandings using: maps, diagrams, posters, graphs and written explanations. They will be continuing with data handing in maths, collecting information relating to the unit.
What to bring to school Hat , Water-bottle , Communication book (every day please).
Timetable Monday: PE. Homework will be set. There is a trip for Animal Lovers Club members on this day. Wednesday: Netball Tournament at Kennedy House (for those invited to participate). Thursday: PE and Library. Friday: Spelling and mini-multiplication test. Homework due in.
Back to top
P4/5 Preview
Information for Parents Thank you to all the parents who allowed the children to bring items from home to create their egg drop container. The students enjoyed the process of creating something and testing it to see how it worked.
Language focus for the week We are continuing to write a report about an innovator or inventor. Students will work on a variety of writing and research skills to put the final project together. The final project will be a newspaper with stories about innovators and innovations they have learned about. Students have also taken well known stories and innovated them to make them better, or more modern. Groups will finish these stories this week and share them with the class.
Maths focus for the week This week will be spent working with fractions in a variety of ways. Some students will review comparing fractions and addition and subtraction strategies. Others will work on multiplying and dividing fractions.
Unit of Inquiry Students will begin to focus on their summative assessment this week. Our central idea is that innovations allow us to meet our needs and solve our problems. The children will examine problems and needs that people have and begin to develop their own idea for an innovation that will help. They will gather data from other people, take a look at some current innovations and identify what problems or needs they address, and begin the innovation process by developing a plan for their project.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday: PE (wear trainers and house shirt) Thursday: Library (bring books)     PE (wear trainers and house shirt)
Back to top
P5/6 Preview

The students did a fantastic job of welcoming the Director General of the IB, Dr Siva Kumari, to our primary school. They worked in small groups to write a poem explaining all the different elements of school life and the different aspects of IB here at ISM Primary. They then performed it clearly and confidently in Primary Gathering on Friday morning.
Dr Kumari then accompanied us back to class where each Exhibition Group told her about their issues, actions and presentations. One group sang, one acted out a drama, one showed her their IT presentation, one showed her a film they had made and one spoke about their actions. The P5 students also explained their science experiments. Dr Kumari seemed very interested and asked lots of questions about their investigations.
As part of our unit the children have this week been inquiring into the effects of smoking and thinking about the choices they may be faced with as they get older. The compared pictures of a smoker’s lung with a non-smoker’s lung. They first debated and then wrote a balanced argument about whether cigarettes should be legal or illegal.
The students have also been considering how to live a balanced life. At the end of our Friday PE lessons the students have been enjoying going through a peaceful deep relaxation process. It has helped them understand the importance of quiet time.
Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: Who we are Central Idea: Our health is affected by the choices we make
Maths focus: Collecting data – the importance of writing good quality questions for questionnaires in order to obtain useful data to analyse.
English focus: Writing a balanced argument. Reading information books.
Science focus: The effect of sugary drinks on teeth. How smoking is harmful. Growing up and puberty.
Monday: Homework will be set | Library session Wednesday: PE lesson Friday: Homework due in | PE lesson
What to bring everyday: Please bring a bottle of water to keep on the desk. A healthy snack for break times. A hat for break times, lunchtimes and sport lessons. A change of shoes if it is muddy.
Back to top
IN THIS ISSUE
Dr Siva Kumari
Graduation
October Holiday
D1 Exams & Tests
Flight to Innovation
Mwanza Swimming
Tag Rugby
Primary Sports
P1/2 Football
Garage Sale
P6 Transition
M5 Ceremony
Exchange Rates
Primary Previews
CONTACT US International School Moshi
PO Box 733
Moshi, Tanzania
Tel: +255 27 2755005
Fax: +255 736 605320
Email:

Mobile:
+255 767 534766
NOTES This newsletter has been sent to you from International School Moshi. if your email address changes or if you would like me to add another email address to this mailing list.

Keiron White
Head of Moshi Campus

International School Moshi provides a world-class education through a challenging international curriculum in a dynamic environment. We are committed to developing balanced global citizens who are empowered to act responsibly in a complex world.
Do you know of somebody who would like to receive this newsletter, or is there an extra email address you would like me to send it to?
Email me, Keiron White, on to tell me. This newsletter published by International School Moshi (Moshi Campus) © 2015