Arusha Campus News – 19 Aug 2017

Almost there everybody! The changing rooms are almost ready. We are all in school over this weekend to try to finish off and make the area safe before re-filling the swimming pool at the end of the week. Fingers crossed!

Its been great to be back into the swing of things at ISMAC this week and to hear all the wonderful stories of holiday exploits. Several people have commented on the super atmosphere that is prevailing on campus at the moment and that augurs well for the future.

We have some important decisions ahead of us in the coming months, not least that of our United World College candidacy. For new parents who are unaware of the UWC and our journey to become a UWC school, I would suggest you visit this link https://www.uwc.org/about In watching the short film on that page, it is very easy to visualise ISM in the UWC stable. We should be and will be a UWC school. The events that have taken place in Charlotesville and Barcelona this week can only harden our resolve to complete this journey. We received terrific news on Friday when Mr Laurence Nodder, Rektor of Robert Bosch UWC in Germany, informed our Director Anna that he would like to visit us. Laurence once said “How can we, through education, build a broad coalition of people who despite their differences commit to a future that does not involve the building of walls of separation or the turning to arms, commit to a future that regards the environment as our common-wealth and to be sustained?“ 

I wonder if he could have ever imagined how relevant those words would be today.

Phil

Friday Share-time/Assemblies

On Friday we hosted an assembly and this will be a regular weekly feature in the Primary School this year. If there is no class share-time then we will still meet for a story, quiz or similar event just to bring everyone togerher at the end of the week. Pictured left is Mr Phil recounting a story about the importance of being kind to your colleagues.

 

PYP Class Welcome Meetings

Friday saw the first of our class welcome meetings, with P4/5. This was a great success and we thank all those parents who attended. As we move into next week, we will host welcome meetings on the following days:

P3 – 08.00, Tuesday 22 August
P2 – 14.00, Tuesday 22 August
EC – 08.00, Wednesday 23 August
P1 & P6 – 08.00, Thursday 24 August

These meetings will be followed up by a PYP workshop for new and returning parents on Wednesday 30 August at 08.00.

Primary & Secondary Schedule
Our schedule in primary and secondary remains the same as in previous years: we begin lessons at 08.00, finish at 14.30 on Monday to Thursday and 14.00 on Friday. Students are expected to be in class no later than 08.00 in primary and 07.50 in secondary.

Darren

MYP News
On Thursday, an MYP information session was held from 14.30 to 16.00 to present the Middle Years Programme and explain MYP assessment including eAssessments for M5 students. Parents also had the opportunity to meet with tutors and teachers and an MYP information booklet was handed out with details on the MYP curriculum, timetable, teachers’ contact details, along with other information. If you were unable to join this MYP session, you can still come and pick-up the information booklet from Florence Larpent, our MYP Coordinator or make an appointment to meet with her, tutors and teachers.

Managebac Parent Introduction Session
Managebac is our Virtual Learning Environment, with areas where teachers can post work and resources, students can submit work, and parents can track grades.

All parents in secondary have access to Managebac. New parents and M1 have been added, and should have received a welcome email to set a password. If you have not received this/cannot access Managebac please email darrena@ismac.ac.tz

On Wednesday 30 August, at 14.30, we will be offering an introductory training to Managebac for parents. If you would like to attend please reserve a place by emailing me on the address above.

University Application Session
On Tuesday we will be hosting a university application workshop session with our college counsellor, Mr Daryl Rustad. This is aimed at parents and students of M5, but is open to anyone who has an interest and wishes to find out more.

DP Open Days
On Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 August, ISMAC will be opening its doors to students interested in experiencing the IB Diploma programme. Students will spend time in our DP classes and take part in discussion groups. They will equally be invited to attend the university session detailed above.

M5 DP Day
On Wednesday 23 August, our M5 students will join the DP open days and spend a day in our D2 classes. This experience is aimed at raising awareness of the next stage of education and readying students for what comes next, either here at ISM or further afield.

Each week for the next few weeks we will introduce one of our new teachers. This week we get to know our new Head of Learnng Support, Katrina Stanford, pictured above with son Thomas who is in P6.

My name is Katrina Stanford and I am from the UK. I am married to Mark and have a son, Thomas who is ten years old.  We also have an extended family including an Ethiopian street dog and a Tanzanian cat. We have lived in Arusha since August 2015 and I have just about (but not completely) got used to not living in a big city!
I worked as a primary school teacher for ten years in London before moving to Uganda in 2000 where I met and married my husband. During my five years in Uganda I also completed my Master’s Degree with York University on Teaching English to Young Learners.  Through my husband’s work we have lived in Sudan, Vietnam and most recently Ethiopia. I have enjoyed working in lots of interesting and challenging schools where there have always been many children requiring support for their learning.
When not helping out at ISMAC or walking our dog I enjoy reading, watching the news or planning our next holiday although my time would be much better spent learning more Swahili!

Tell us if you like the new look.

https://www.uwcea.org

The ‘new’ library at ISMAC

Our wonderful PTA, led by Chair Maral Sarkis, spent much of the holiday period improving our reading space. There will be a full feature on this project in next week’s newsletter for now, I will leave you with some quotes of the week.

“If my children see this they will never want to leave” A new parent who was being shown around the school on Thurssday

“It feels like there is more space” M2 Student

“It feels more airy” M2 Student

 “I don’t want to get too spiritual but it has a better vibe.” Sarah Aggarwal

“Wow! What happened?” Jack (D2)

The Outdoor Pursuits programme at ISM provides students with opportunities for healthy outdoor recreation, leadership development and experiential learning. Currently the OP programme consists of a graded hiking programme intented to allow students to progress progressively through challenging levels, starting with an overnight Camp-Craft trip for M1 students to learn OP basics followed up with trips from Level 1 to Level 5 – a six day trip to summit Mt Kilimanjaro. We are also planning to introduce an OP Mountain Biking trip this semester- watch this space!

Signing-up for an OP trip:
Sign-ups for OP trip will start on Monday 21st of August. OP information with cost and dates has been emailed to students and posted on ManageBac. It will also be presented to students through tutors on Monday and throughout next week as well as posted on the OP notice board at school. To sign-up, it is the students’ responsibility to inform Ms Larpent, the OP Coordinator, of their interest in an OP trip, upon which they will receive the sign-up letter for parents. Payment can then be made directly at the accounts’ department in order to secure a spot for the trip. As there are limited places, priority will be given to students who are the first to make full payment.
Please note that the Tanzanian government is applying the VAT tax on tourism activities and unfortunately this tax is affecting the cost of our OP trips. The differing prices for Tanzanian and expatriate students reflect differing charges from the National Parks.
Please do encourage your son/daughter to take this opportunity to experience the wonderful environment here in Tanzania.

Below is an overview of the OP trips for Semester 1:
 

My name is Gabriel Kalamata. I have been teaching Piano and Music theory following the ABRSM curriculum from the UK at ISM- Arusha Campus since 2008.

Piano and Theory Students can take part of the ABRSM Exams where there are two theory Exams and One Practical Exam in a year.

The Schedule for Piano/Theory Lessons is as follows:

Day               Start Time          Finish Time

Tuesday         2:30pm               4:40 pm
Wednesday    2:00pm               4:30 pm
Thursday       2:30pm               4:30pm

Tuition Fee  is Tsh 20,000tsh per lesson for half an hour.

Parents who are interested to develop the talent of the children;

Contact Gabriel at : +255 753 341076
                  
                   Email: kalamata734@gmail.com.