Moshi Campus News – 1 Sep 2019

Learning is not just for students, nor is it just for academic courses. This weekend 28 members of staff participated in the yearly Wilderness First Aid course held here on our campus.  A mixture of initial certification and recertification candidates, this training is designed to allow us to provide the Outdoor Pursuits and other off campus programs with a high degree of safety for students.  You can see from the pictures below some of the activities involved in the training. Please note that the newsletter is delayed as I too was at the training.

The Outdoor Pursuits program actually kicked off as well this weekend with the M1 students on the initial Campcraft trip which introduces them to the program.  The next trip is on the 14th of September to North Pare Mountains.

This past week we held the “Meet the Teacher” evening for the primary classes.  There was an impressive turnout, so thank you to all those that came. 

For our older students on Monday the 9th we have our initial university visit with a number of representatives from UK universities.  As your can see in Cassandra’s section these visits are regular through the month ahead. 

And finally, I hope to see as many of you as possible at the 24 Hour Run event.  It is a fun time for a great cause.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus

NEXT FRIDAY AT 2PM, DO NOT MISS…

If you are interested in finding out more about being a “Link Parent” for our new D1 students that are far from home, please come to an informational meeting held at the Social Center on Tuesday September 3rd at 7:45am.

Saturday September 21st is UWC Day in conjunction with World Peace Day.  This year the theme will be “Climate of Change.”

A group of students is currently looking at the structure of the day.  Stay tuned here for more information.

The September session for MAP testing will be from Monday September 16th to Friday September 27th.  The testing will start with the P3 to P6 classes and the M1 to M3 classes will follow. If you have any questions please see a Coordinator, Ben or Bob.

As a reminder, horse riding lessons are available on campus at the stables.  If you are interested in arranging lessons or would just like more information, please contact Mr Obadia via phone or WhatsApp at 0752071491.

“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend.” Albert Camus

The inaugural D1 Walk last weekend was an unmitigated success. 76 D1 students from Moshi, 53 students from Arusha and over 100 Maasai students, meeting together for a weekend of fun, celebration, outdoor education and service learning.

The Moshi team met bright and early on Saturday morning, packed everything we needed and headed out in the irreplaceable truck, one small bus and one brand, spanking new big bus. 76 students, 7 tireless members of staff and 3 drivers. Our destination was, literally, the end of the tarmac road, out past Sanya Juu. Here we stopped for a packed lunch and a pep talk before heading out across the Maasai steppe, towards Mt Meru, our destination, the wonderful Pamoja School. At the same time, 53 D1 students from Arusha were leaving the foothills of Mt Meru heading towards Mt Kilimanjaro. The plan was for each campus to walk 9kms and meet on the plains in the middle of the two iconic mountains, where we would celebrate an aggregate distance of 18kms to mark our arrival as the 18th UWC in the world.

In reality, the Moshi stretch may have been slightly more than 9km but each and every student made it to the finish…and some of them were still smiling! The walk was a wonderful opportunity for us all to get to know each other away from the classrooms and enjoy the breath-taking Tanzanian scenery at the same time. Our Maasai guides did a fantastic job in setting the pace and we reached our destination in good spirits.

At Pamoja School, we were greeted with a wonderful Maasai welcome by our gracious hosts and enjoyed a delicious dinner and disco together. When darkness fell, we gathered around the campfires (all five of them!), exchanging stories and playing games before collapsing into our beds, tired but happy.

It was an early start on Sunday for everyone and a morning of service. We planted trees, helped lay the foundations for a new dormitory and dug two giant refuse pits…and we even managed to do the washing up! Before we left, we gathered together to say our farewells, donating 200 textbooks to the school by way of saying “asante sana.”

An enormous thank you to everyone at Pamoja School and the Amini Life trust that runs the school. Thank you also to the team of UWCEA teachers and support staff who gave up their weekend to come along and be part of the experience.

Same again next year?

Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus

This week D1 students have been continuing to work hard and have made their final subject choices.  An email has been sent to all parents and students who have made a change with the updated information. Some of them have been having assessments; information about these will be on ManageBac. Please let us know if you are not able to access ManageBac.

The D2 students all had a CAS interview. This was to allow them to review what they have done in each of the strands – Creativity, Activity and Service and to reflect on their experiences. They talked about the highlight of the time; for many of them this was making someone smile. Students also talked about what they had learned and what their biggest challenge – these two were related and were often about time management and team work. Next we moved on to what they hope to achieve this year and what they will remember in 5 years time. Again working with others and making people smile were a common theme. They now need to work on their portfolios. They have submitted the first reflection on the Extended Essay and will soon receive feedback on their draft.

As mentioned last week, all diploma students have started a weekly service project. Here are more details about some of them.

Simba’s Footprint Foundation.
For the short term, we will visit the children at Simba after every other week and run different activities with them such as board games and reading them stories. In the long term, we plan to raise money through an activity (more details to come) and use the money to buy reusable sanitary napkins/menstrual cups for the girls there.

Sparkling Elephant
This has kicked off with a strong start this year. We are currently working on four projects.

1. Planting a nursery and an “Adopt a Kweme” initiative this is to encourage sustainability by giving the local community another income source instead of cutting trees to clear land for agriculture.
2. Fundraising for trips to Uru Mountains for Kweme planting with the community
3. Fixing Tumaini (the elephant made by this project before who lives by the entrance) before school closes
4. Creating ideas to make the beehive shade and water well. We are looking forward to a great year while continuing to make the world a better place.

Memory Project
This is a combination of service and creativity. These students are liaising with the Memory Project non- profit organisation, where a group of artistic students are given a portrait picture of children facing varying testing and/or traumatic circumstances around the world. After students produce their interpretation of these portraits, they are sent back to the children in hopes to brighten up their spirits through the knowledge that somewhere, be it the other side of the world; there are people that recognize them and all their beauty. This year we were offered portraits of children from Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia and former USSR countries and are currently waiting for the images so that we can begin.

Think Global; Act Local with the Environmental Service Project
We want to make a difference to environmental issues, starting here on Moshi campus. So far we have several ideas including reducing and reusing the food waste from the dining hall; using the water spilt from water fountains; developing sustainable recycling schemes for various types of trash. We have decided to start by raising funds, and awareness at the next Farmers Market. Watch out for notices!

Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC)
This project works with children who are going through long-term medical stays due to injuries such as burns and spinal cord injuries. A team of 15 UWCEA students and 2 teachers visited the hospital in regards to planning our services for them and how we will work with them to make their stay at the hospital more comfortable. We were welcomed by Dr. Marieke and Dr. Minja who work with these children and we discussed different topics regarding the children’s stay, how they eat, visiting hours, how they study and many other ideas/questions arose from the group of UWCEA students. We met a few children during their class time and they were very welcoming and excited to see new people. We cannot wait for a future of donations, fun and activities with these children and the doctors at KCMC.

Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator

I can’t believe it is already September, and time to start welcoming some wonderful visitors to our campus from around the world. This month we begin hosting universities who are interested in sharing with our students a variety of options for life after UWC East Africa. It is so important that students attend these sessions to learn more about the university experience, and to help determine the best options to pursue to begin to create the life they desire.

Here is the schedule of visits this month with some links to learn more:

• 9 September: UK Universities Fair 2:30pm in Rafiki Hall
• 16 September: Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, and Yale Universities (United States)
• 27 September: Harvard and M.I.T. (United States)
• 30 September: International Universities (more details forthcoming)

All events will take place in Rafiki Hall with additional starting times to be announced soon.

Preparation is key, and here are some links to help students make the most of these university representative visits:

• College Board: Making the Most of Visits from College Representatives
• Princeton Review: What to do at College Fairs?
• BridgeU: How to Prepare Students for University Representative Visits

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Enjoy the week ahead!
Cassandra Ford – University & Socio-umotional Counselor

New MYP Students Orientation
The new students in M5, were introduced to the Personal Project and have since written their project goals for submission and review by the PP coordinator. They will then receive their supervisors in the course of the week.

All new students this week will do activities involving key words (command terms) used in their assessments.

Service Learning and Action in the MYP
All MYP students began their service programmes in earnest this week. The day care centre team embarked on making reading charts. The community garden team was busy with slashers and water pipes tending flowers and trees. The bee keeping team members were engaged in designing hives. The Karanga River team kept itself busy brainstorming on how to tackle and prioritise its programmes and so was the Eco-Club which explored various fund-raising options among other issues. The Pamoja Tunaweza group was off campus visiting their hosts for an inaugural meeting.

M2 IDU Trip
From September 17 to 20, the M2 class will be off to Pangani for an Interdisciplinary learning trip coordinated by the Mathematics and the Individuals and Societies departments from both Moshi and Arusha. In Mathematics, students will cover scale drawing, estimation of cliff heights using special equipment and graphing. In Individuals and Societies, they will study the rich history of Pangani Coast and learn coastal features.

David Ochieng – MYP Coordinator

Having the privilege to work with our students during both their academic and residential lives in school gives me a unique overview of their general progress. There is most definitely a perceptible and very positive ‘buzz’ around the school campus this year. I am really pleased with the way in which our new students, from a whole array of different countries, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, have begun to find their feet, settle into our school campus and have begun to integrate and form new friendships

In line with UWC policy resident Diploma students have been deliberately roomed in shared rooms with other students from different countries and in Residential Houses containing mixed year groups. Shared residential accommodation is an exercise in friendship, unity, understanding and tolerance, and I have been really impressed with the way in which our resident students have done just this.

Walking around the school campus during the daytime and evening I have seen numerous examples of students, who having only really just got to know each other, have begun to integrate, collaborate and form new and probably long-lasting friendships, which are benefitting both their academic and social skills. Students engaging themselves in study and discussion groups, creative, service and sporting activities, OP trips, trips to town, the mosque and church, participating in whole-school assemblies and debates are all good examples of this.

Meal times give resident students of all year groups the chance to talk over their days, exchange ideas and relax a little with friends between their more formal academic studies. We deliberately mix students of different age-groups together during these meal times with our PYP, MYP and DP resident students all eating together, and it is wonderful to see this positive interaction taking place, especially between some of our eldest Diploma students and our youngest PYP students.

If within our school and Residential Life programme we can continue to promote the ideas of friendship, collaboration, tolerance and unity, while at the same time promoting an understanding celebration of the diversity of our students’ personalities and backgrounds, then I’m sure that we will be creating well-rounded and successful students. Amongst them perhaps there might already be some prominent leaders of the future?

Ian Horne – Head of Residential Life

It has been great seeing the fields, courts and pool busy for the last week and a half with students and community members getting active.  Now we need to start thinking about the upcoming tournaments we are training for.  Below is the schedule for quarter 1 & 2. Note: some details are still to be finalised.

Community Activities

Saturday Soccer
For the football fans out there don’t forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9am to 10.30am for PYP students.

Thank you to all the staff, parents and students who have volunteered their time to continue build on the successes of last year.

Go Leopards
Robin Marsh
Athletics & Activities Coordinator

Thank you to all the parents who made it for the “Meet the Teacher” evening. We hope the information shared was useful in helping you to understand the set up and activities in your child’s classroom.

The Primary team of teachers meet up every Tuesday for continuous professional development. This week we looked at Student Agency which is all about giving the learners a voice, choice and ownership. We shared great examples of how they empower, enable and open up opportunities for the children to take the lead in learning. This ties in especially well with student action. If you notice your child doing something at home as a result of their learning, do take a picture and send it to the Homeroom teacher. This way we can celebrate their initiatives both at home and in school.

Swimming lessons for some classes have begun. Do ensure that your child carries their swimming costume on the scheduled day.

Remember to send your child with a hat, a drinking bottle and a healthy snack everyday.

Pick up times – we also remind you to pick your child promptly at 1:10 p.m if they have no clubs and at 3:00 if they have a club.

Primary Gathering
We welcome you to our upcoming gathering on the Sept 6th. It will be led by the EC class.

Cathy Wambua-Saha – PYP Coordinator

Bonjour! Hello!

The students call me Madame Pearl. I teach French from P3 to P6 in 40 minutes sessions, twice a week.

French is taught through play, songs, dance, show and tell, stories, books, writing sentences and short stories.

To further develop their understanding and as part of their home learning assignment, P4 to P6 are encouraged to borrow French books from the library every fortnight, in which they can proudly identify 3-5 words or more. At times, they will bring their notebooks to share their knowledge with you.  The students will also get 2-3 words to practise at home for quizzes we do in class. Please support their learning by listening to them.

Thank you for your collaboration.
If you need further information, please do not hesitate to reach me at pearlfonsing@uwcea.org.

Pearl Fon Sing                                                                        
PYP French Teacher

This week Mr. Lennard came to plant flowers in our little EC garden. He really does have green fingers and the plants are already beginning to settle in as are our little ones. The older children were invited by Miss Mboka to visit P1 and hear all about how to wash our hands in an activity led by Dr. Mac.

Our UWCEA students benefit all the time from the open and collegial atmosphere here at our school and I want to thank everyone for their part, including all of our parents.

We have begun to think about ‘agency’. Essentially, this is the way in which students can begin to take control of their own learning. What do they want to learn? How might they go about achieving their goals? Who can help? What tools, skills or materials will they require?

Next week on Friday between 7.30 and 8.30 we will be running our own assembly. We’ll be taking action in our immediate surroundings by providing our own workshop about how to enjoy the playground safely and responsibly. Every day we can learn to do more for ourselves… and others too.

Owain Evans

Thank you to all the moms who made it to meet the teacher night and dads who popped in. I enjoyed the talks we had and I am looking forward to working with you this coming year. For those who did not manage to make it, if you wish to clarify any thoughts you have about this school year, please feel free to come and see me.

We have been asking ourselves some questions this week. Why do we brush our teeth, wash our hands before meals or take baths. Dr. Mac gave us a talk on good and bad germs and how fast they grow. The discussions that she had with the children were so engaging that she invited us to her lab for another session this coming week. Practical discussions also rose up from our talk. We had volunteers who wanted to teach us the best way to brush our teeth and wash our hands. Please send your child to school on Monday with a tooth brush and toothpaste that you prefer them to use. This should be a fun time for them to practice brushing teeth with each other.

Thank you Mama Eefke for coming to teach the children how to make paper as well as how to use acrylic paint to create marbled effects. What a great way to end an amazing week.

Mboka Mwasongwe

This week in P3, we have continued to look at place value, as well as some data collection. Students have been introduced to a new place value game that they are enjoying playing. Another part of this week has been creating stories with a beginning, middle and end. We have broken a story down into 3 parts over the course of the week and are working hard to think of a problem and solution.

There are loads of monster stories, as well as plenty of forest stories being created. It has been great seeing the vivid imagination that the students in P3 have. For unit, we have continued to look at what fun means, and students have created a drawing of what fun looks like for them.

We’d like to welcome Georgina into our class. Georgina will be with us for the next 5 weeks. Karibuni sana Georgina and family!

Elisha Jaffer

Sharing perspectives, questioning and working in groups is taking shape in our classroom. Students are grasping mental strategies for adding 10 and 9 and are already making connections on how to subtract using the same technique.

They have their writing samples coming along beautifully and are applying their typing skills to publish their work.

I would encourage you to continue to monitor your child’s daily reading and “Action diary.” Keep talking about the action your child can take towards improving the environment.

We will continue with our project on celebrating our UWCEA heroes and this week we will be taking some fun photos of them.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

This week was full of activity to prepare for Meet the Teacher night. The class painted warm and cool color art pieces, completed their first personal narrative, and made posters for our current unit. The room is already full of work reflecting their creativity. A highlight for the week was a science lesson about rules where students had to follow steps to get a certain outcome. There were squeals of excitement as their reactions bubbled over.

For our unit, the class researched rights, rules, and responsibilities of children in other countries. Then, each group created a poster to share with the class. Next week they will dive deeper into rights. Each student will be asked to find a personal hero from history who stood up for the rights of others.

Thank you to the parents who came in for Meet the Teacher evening. It was great to share information with you. If you missed it, your child has a packet to share with you.

Sarah Brummel

It was lovely to meet so many P6 parents at the meet the teacher evening on Thursday. I know that some of you were unable to attend due to prior commitments – you will find the handout from the evening in your child’s schoolbag. If you have any questions about the overview for the year please email me. We have been busy in maths consolidating vocabulary. The children have been working with square numbers, square roots, factors and prime numbers. Next week we will identify the prime numbers up to 100 and will also carry out some problem solving activities. The class enjoys free writing time and we will continue with this, incorporating the points of grammar, punctuation rules etc. that are covered in our mini lessons. This week the children looked at a hoax website to reinforce the idea that not all information on the internet can be trusted when carrying out research. Next week we will make timelines and put events in chronological order.

Deborah Mills