Arusha Campus News – 14 Jan 2018

Miss Larpent trialling the new Mountain Bike Outdoor Pursuit option. Read more in this newsletter.

Rawan Dakik proudly holds the Tanzanian flag aloft Mt Aconcagua in Argentina.

Welcome back everyone! I have enjoyed listening to students and staff tales of holiday adventures. None more exciting than our former student, Rawan Dakik, who as you remember is aiming to be the first Lebanese lady to summit all the peaks in the Seven Summit Challenge (the highest peak on each of the seven continents) Rawan successfully achieved her fourth peak,  Mt.Aconcagua 6960m the highest mountain outside Asia and the highest Mt. in the Southern Hemisphere. Well done Rawan. Rawan climbs, partly to promote peace, and this demonstrates a synergy with our UWC ambitions.

I would like to welcome all the new families that have joined ISMAC this term. Karibuni sana and we look forward to getting to know you better over the next weeks.

Next week a group of us will be travelling to Nairobi to attend the Global Issues Services Summit. This is a first class event at which our older students showcase their service project that they have been working on in Kisimani, listen to guest speakers and engage in a service project in Nairobi itself. We will report back in two weeks!

Have a super week.

Phil

Dear Parents,

Welcome back and happy new year. It was amazing to see everyone return on Tuesday refreshed and ready for the challenges of Semester Two.

We have welcomed a number of new students into primary and secondary: I would like to thank all our students and parents for being so welcoming to the new members of our community.

Well done to our D2 students who started their mock examinations this week. These continue on Monday to Wednesday of next week.

Next week we have student-led protfolio conferences in MYP; please remember this means there will be no lessons for M1-5 students, just their individual appointments (see notes below).

CCAs begin on Monday: all students should now have signed up via Signup Genius. Please contact Miss Peterson if you have any qestions.

Wishing everyone a great start to Semester two.

Darren

This semester we are launching a mountain biking trip in Arusha area in order to expand our OP programme to other activities besides hiking. The MTB trip will take place on March 10-11. This is an introductory trip with a hope of more in the future to start an OP MTB programme.  With this in mind, it will not be strenuous riding, but it will be riding for parts of both days with a night camping.

The cost for the trip is 86,000 Tsh.  Riders are required to wear a helmet and bring a mountain bike.  If you do not have either a bike or a helmet we have contacts to help with rentals. If you would like to sign up or would like more information, please contact Florence Larpent, the OP Coordinator.

Our Outdoor Pursuits programme for Semester 2 has now been finalised and students have been informed of the various OP options via their tutors and ManageBac. In order to sign-up, students should inform Ms Larpent and payment should be made directly at the accounts department in order to secure a spot. The differing prices for Tanzanian, resident and non-resident students reflect differing charges from the National Parks. As there are limited places, priority will be given to students who are the first to make full payment.

Please do encourage your son/daughter to take this opportunity to experience the wonderful environment here in Tanzania. Our trips for this semester are indicated in the table below.

On Tuesday 16 January ISM Arusha will host Student-Led Portfolio Conferences for M1-M5 students and parents. These conferences will take place for all MYP students and there will be no lessons scheduled for MYP on this day. Students will present Semester One work to their parents.

Could all MYP parents please ensure thay have emailed their child(ren)’s tutor at their @ismac.ac.tz address (firstname plus initial, eg. darrena) and have arranged an appointment. 

Just before the holidays, M5 students submitted wonderful and creative personal project products. They have clearly put in efforts to accomplish this work, and we were glad to see the variety of projects they came up with. They now need to finalize their report. Please see below the upcoming deadlines to complete their PP journey:

29 January – First draft of the report due
26 February – Final report with appendices due
20 March – Exhibition on campus

We wish all the best to our M5 students and welcome parents and guardians to attend the Personal Project Exhibition on March 20.

At the end of Q2, M5 students focused on preparation for the May 2018 on-screen exams. They completed a two-hour on-screen exam in English, Maths, Sciences, I&S and Interdisciplinary learning in order to familiarize themselves with the format and content of on-screen examinations as well as with the IT tools required. Another set of on-screen examination will take place early in Q4 before the final exams in May.

This Quarter, M5s are focusing on their Personal Project as well as ePortfolios in Design, PHE, French, Music, Drama and Visual Arts. These willl be assessed throughout Quarter 3 and sent to the IB for external evaluation early in Q4. All assessment dates are posted on ManageBac.

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) is an examinations board and registered charity based in London, UK, which provides examinations in music at centres around the world.

ABRSM exam dates are being confirmed for “Spring” 2018. The most urgent deadline is registration for Theory exams in March. Registration for these must happen by Friday, January 12. The May or June Practical exams will have a later registration deadline. Please contact: davidaloysngasi@gmail.com for any information concerning the registration process.

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.