Arusha Campus News – 1 Dec 2019

Picture of the Week! The U9 and U11 footballers leave the field after Saturday’s tournament was finally abandoned! 

Tony (Diploma 1) in thoughtful pose for his excellent self-portrait.

D1’s were working on self-portraits this week and I thought they were incredible. The portraits were all of a terrifically high standard and credit must go to the student artists AND also to their teacher, Ms Kate Swope, who has really raised the profile of art in the school. The portraits and other Secomdary art were on display this weekend at the Arusha Christmas Fair (see image below) where they attracted lots of complements. Thank you Kate and to all your art students!

The Christmas Fair presented an opportunity to tell the community what we are all about. The name of UWC is still new to many and there are many conversations to be had before UWC attains the household name status of ISM!

One way in which people can find out about UWC East Africa is to come along to our Open Day on December 11th. If you have friends or work colleagues who you would like to join our school, please ask them to come along with their children for this day. Everyone is welcome.

Finally, we are so grateful for the rain that has meant we splash from class to class through the school day. I am aware that many of our readers are not in Arusha so may not know about the torrential downpours we have been experiencing in recent weeks.

Have a super week,

Phil

The triumphant Meru House Recyclers show off one of their animals made with recycled materials. 

Primary Inter-House Art Competition
The challenge – to create an African animal out of recycled materials.
The time limit – 40 minutes
The judging – creativity, animal, teamwork, colour, tidying up

The winners – Meru House

The collaboration between the students for this week’s inter-house art competition was great to see. The students worked together from EC to P6 to create models using recycled materials (see below). Collaboration is defined as the action of working with someone to produce something. Our students definitely showed they are capable of collaboration.

Amanda

On Wednesday, the Under 7 football team were all set to play their first ever competitive match against St Constantine’s. As the excitment built, word filtered through that the St Con’s team were not going to be able to make it for the fixture. So, the watching parents decided to take on the U7’s for themselves. In a nailbiting affair, the match swung from end to end. The U7’s superior skill matched only by the parents’ underhand tactics to target their own offspring and try and concuss the youngsters into submission. To no avail – the U7’s ended up resounding winners by 4 goals to 2. Superb coaching from Diploma Coaches Luanga and Ahmed. Parents will have to sharpen up for the return fixture.

One of the features of the MYP is its emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

Interdisciplinary learning is the process by which students come to understand bodies of knowledge and ways of knowing from two or more subjects and integrate them to create new understanding in a way that would have been unlikely through a single subject.

Our MYP curriculum trips provide great opportunities to foster interdisciplinary learning. The curriculum trips take place once a year and combine interdisciplinary tasks from two different subjects, enabling students to integrate disciplines in novel and creative ways.

In Semester 2, M1 students will go on an interdisciplinary trip to Lake Eyasi focussing on Design and I&S and M3 students will go to Makumira University for a trip focussing on Visual Arts, Drama, Design and Swahili.

The M4’s had a thoroughly enjoyable IDU trip to Simba Farm on West Kilimanjaro. The Interdisciplinary trip with a focus on Maths & Science investigated the changes in biomass, temperature and rainfall on the farm when compared to altitude. Students got to measure tree circumferences in reference quadrants and use this data to generate an estimate of biomass per unit area. They also got to discuss different types of graphical representations of data and work on their ability to draw conclusions. There was also a really engaging Q & A session with the farmer who gave us a glimpse into how they use data, especially satellite data,  to make decisions on the farm. There was a fantastic spirit of collaboration between the two campuses and many new friends were made

On Friday afternoon the University of Alberta attended UWCEA to give a short presentation to our diploma students. This is a university that a number of our graduates have attended in the past and is one of the top universities in Canada. If you would like to learn more about this institution, please visit their website: https://www.ualberta.ca/

Forthcoming DIploma Dates are listed below:

Sarah and Ornela discuss the use of a quadrat as a sampling tool in their biomass measurement.

This is a course that explores the dynamic interconnectedness between environmental systems and societies. The students need to keep a constant eye and ear on the topical environmental news that is going on in the world, whilst learning practical techniques and being able to write long structured answers to questions. Their practical work so far has included conducting an Environemental Impact Assessment on the new boarding house construction, setting camera traps for the rich wildlife that we live with on our campus, and learning how to carry out biomass measurements. This week, we will be receiving a talk by Professor Federico Rosei (alumnus of UWC Adriatic) on “Energy and Society: what kind of energy for the future of humanity” before sitting our summative assesment for the first two units.