Arusha Campus News – 6 Nov 2022

Our unbeaten Girls’ U17 and Open Football teams celebrate their points at St Constantine’s earlier this week.

The Boys’ Open Football team played games this week against Braeburn (2-0 win), Jaffrey (3-1 loss) and SCIS (0-0 draw).

Sport seems to have been the theme of this particular week as many of our teams engaged in some sort of competition.

Our swim teams (image above was from the Secondary Swim Gala at St Constantine’s today) enjoyed success by winning the Primary NTSAA Gala whilst our Secodary Team came second in their gala today. Well done to all who swam and especially to Miss Caitrin and Coach Kevin for preparing them so well.

Our football teams have played on three consecutive days. The last of these days saw our U15 teams, both girls and boys reach their respective finals, only for both to lose narrowly. Well done to Troy, Alvar and Aliabbas (all M5) who have coached the U15 boys as part of their service activities.

As we all know there is nothing like sport to draw out the emotion in competitors and we have learned some valuabe lessons this week about being gracious in defeat and displaying humility in victory. Not a bad reminder ahead of Moshi Sports Weekend in two weeks time.

Enjoy Sunday.

Phil

Some members of the triumphant Primary Swim Team – from left Ava, Lulu, Ingraham and Rowan.

The Association of International Schools in Africa is supporting UWC East Africa Arusha Campus to host the Global Issues Service Summit (GISS) from January 19th to 21st 2023. The Summit is a three day intensive conference where 200 student delegates will be visiting from international schools from across the continent to discuss sustainability initiatives.

The usual practice is for the student delegates to stay with UWC East Africa Arusha parents who act as host families. Realistically we are asking families to consider hosting groups of two or more visiting students for four nights – arrival of students will be on 18th January and departure on 22nd January.  Lunch and dinner will be available at the school restaurant and we kindly ask host families to provide breakfast. Of course, host families are also welcome to invite their visiting students for other meals with them.

Apart from providing a place to sleep, the only requirements are to provide breakfast and that the students will need to be dropped off at school in the morning and picked up at the end of the day.

Please fill out the AISA-GISS Host Families survey via this link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vFy0RxCqsIlO83LMFnFJ-JioiqqZpqfpm8wMGiWPTDQ/edit

if you can help in hosting some of the visiting students. Once registrations are confirmed, we will reach out to all families who have expressed interest to coordinate the home stays.

For questions contact Anoek – anoekvandervinne@uwcea.org

Thank you very much in advance.

P4/5 visited Jack Rejman’s house to learn about simple machines. The students had an incredible time making lights. Thank you Jack.

Assessments
Parents often ask how we assess the students in the PYP and the answer is we are always assessing. Every activity we do in class assesses the students and helps us to plan the next lesson. Below are some of the ways we assess students.

Assessment can be achieved through a variety of different strategies
Feedback – Feedback on knowledge, conceptual understandings and approaches to learning supports students moving towards their desired learning goals.
Observation – Observing aspects of student learning as unplanned opportunities emerge in the classroom (informal observation) or observation of specific learning outcomes (formal
observation)
Rubrics – Rubrics are established sets of criteria used to score or rate student work. The descriptors tell the student what characteristics to look for in the work and then how to rate the work on a predetermined scale. Teachers benefit from rubrics, as they provide specific criteria for evaluating student performance.
Checklists – A list of criteria against which students are assessed, for example elements that should be present.
Anecdotal Records – These are written notes based on student observations. They should be completed regularly, systematic, and organized.
Continuums – These are visual representations of developmental stages of learning, which include descriptors. They describe a progression of achievement or identify where a student is in a process.
Self-Assessment – Reflection on a student’s own learning enables an understanding to grow in the future.
Peer feedback – a key activity through which students use the structure and language of success criteria to appraise and provide feedback on the learning of others.
Formal Assessment –  Formative and summative assessments including MAP and reading, writing and mathematics

Amanda

P6 spent a day this week as broadcast journalists, with mama Julius visiting to record news reports around the school. We reported on stories from M3 design to lunchtime football to Diploma drama performances. Here, Aarav interviews Isack about the OP programme.

P1 creating natural patterns. Charlee Mae with her pattern.

M3 lamp designers at work

Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world. Fortunately, the MYP curriculum framework provides lots of opportunities to connect what students learn in the classroom to our local context and community. This is exactly what our MYP classes did this week:

Ms Leah’s M1 English students learned about and read African folktales before writing and illustrating their own folktales. They ended their unit by reading their folktales to the P4/5 class.

Ms Maral’s M3 Design students are designing and making lamps for our classrooms. They use the design cycle to structure their project; after interviewing teachers to find out about the needs of a particular classroom and coming up with an appropriate design,they are now ready to start creating their upcycled lamps.

The M5 I&S class is learning about population growth and population structures. They connected what they have learned to the Tanzania 2022 census results and are now preparing for a debate about whether population growth offers mostly challenges or opportunities for development.

Anoek

New Month, New Plan, New Deadlines

As some of our D2s hit “Submit” and celebrate completing the early application round, we begin the planning phase for the next major application deadlines. It was a mad dash to the finish line for some, but quite a relief to have about twenty students complete their first official applications. (YAY!!) D2 students will now refine their “Applying” lists in Maia Learning, and plan for timely completion of applications well in advance of the next round of deadlines.

Thank you for joining our financial aid in the US session on Thursday. It was great to hear from Mr. Lund from Luther College who shared decades of expertise with our families. Mr. Lund is available for follow up questions via email at lundjon@luther.edu. In addition, if you are in the process of completing the CSS Profile or one of the international financial aid forms, Dr. Kitomary (Moshi campus) is leading a session on Tuesday at 8:30PM to assist with the completion process.

Financial Aid recorded event access (please excuse some technical issues): luther.zoom.us/rec/share/TPvrJ_nn5SnytQthBRiA_yJTxLTCQ41b3KfpmQ3bb5pVT_PbeTj30-dCNyGq7pxh.xhsmqz9YbFdJ1_ol
Passcode: Xj2@^Tnf

Tuesday, November 8th from 8:30-9:30 pm EAT, Financial Aid: Part II: FAQ on the CSS Profile and ISFAF for US schools. Highly Recommended to Attend.

This session will focus on frequently asked questions regarding filling out the CSS Profile, ISFAA, or school-specific financial aid forms that may be required from US colleges/universities. This is a general overview of the US financial aid forms with attention to the meaning of how certain questions are asked.  Although these documents are for international applicants, they have very American-centered questions. For specific questions regarding your circumstances, an appointment can be made with the College Counselor or you can email your questions. Help can also be sought from your local Education USA Office.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4095574237
Meeting ID: 409 557 4237

In addition, please take a look at what is coming our way…

UPCOMING College and University Events

30 October: If you missed Virtually Orange: Discover the Netherlands virtual university fair, you can still access resources via their website – meetyoo.live/start/1/virtually-orange-2022
6 November: 8:00 PM EAT International College Fair with informative sessions on financial aid, scholarships, and standardized testing available (see Education Sessions at bottom of link) – https://www.nacacattend.org/22VirtualNov6
8 November: 3:00 PM EAT Bennington College on Arusha campus (Art studio)
8 November: 7:30 PM EAT Writing Supplemental Essays with Hamilton College
8 November: 8:30 PM EAT US Financial Aid form completion session
10 November: 7:30PM EAT Lake Forest College (virtual)

Thank you for your consideration of these events and more to come!

Cassandra Ford
College and Career Counselor