In this case it is not JRR Tolken’s The Hobbit, it is the story of a trip to the UWC Congress in Thailand. This past week a group of students and staff from both campuses joined about 450 members of the UWC community to look ahead. The purpose of the Congress, and the work that preceded it, is to build a strategic vision for the next 6 years of UWC. The Congress had pillars that looked at curriculum, admissions, finance, leadership & partnerships and wellbeing as the main driving areas for strategic development. I am sure you will hear more about this trip from the students and staff involved.
Closer to home we have entered book week and today was the book character dress up day. Through this week there are other events including our traditional book doors, get caught reading photos and, at PYP, the mystery readers.
Parents, please be on the lookout for the conference signup emails this week. We have both PYP and secondary conferences in March and we encourage parents to get involved.
Please read through the newsletter to see what has happened over the last week and what is coming soon to the campus.
Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
Please Note
Diploma News
We have just had two short weeks with the long weekend in the middle. The long weekend was a chance to recover from the mocks and project week but for D2 it was also a time to catch up on submissions. The deadline date of March 15th is approaching where we need to submit various essays for language A and the core and portfolios for the arts subjects. Students have been working on these for a while but are often reluctant to make the final step of clicking submit and filling in the forms.
On Thursday D1 presented about project week. They had a limit of four slides – what we did, what went well, what challenges we faced and some photos and could only speak for 3 minutes. It was a very interesting session.
Margaret Brunt – Diploma Coordinator
Global Politics
UWCEA parent Karene Melloul visited the D1 Global Politics class last Friday. Karene met with the students to discuss her decades of experience in international relations which has led her to lead projects in Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia, and Thailand, all while working for groups like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the European Union. Karene helped the students understand the real world implications of their post-conflict and development studies and she answered their questions on how to pursue a career in international relations.
MYP News
I was fortunate enough to take part in attending the UWC International Congress 2024 as part of the online delegates’ panel in the Curriculum, Teaching & Learning Track. One of the participants said something on Friday that stuck with me and has been on my mind: the value of progress over perfection. This resonates well with what we do in the MYP program, we believe in focusing on progress, not perfection. That means we care more about students getting better each day than being perfect right away. We translate this commitment into action through:
Embracing Mistakes: we encourage students to see mistakes as stepping stones to success.
Reflective Practices: regular reflections on both successes and challenges provide students with the opportunity to assess their progress.
Diverse Assessment Methods: we employ a range of assessment offering students multiple chances to showcase their understanding and skills.
Constant Support: recognizing that every student has a unique learning journey, we provide support to address individual needs.
Celebrating Achievements: acknowledging and celebrating small victories is very important.
We’re not after perfection. We want each student to keep improving, step by step. By focusing on progress, we help them become awesome learners and good people who are well-rounded, resilient, and compassionate. The true value of education lies not in achieving perfection but in the continuous journey of growth and self-discovery.
M1 Drama: Street Art Performances
M1 students are very busy learning about “Street Art Performances” in their Drama unit. One of their activities was exploring the art of Miming. After exploring the elements of this genre of performance, they were given a task to create their own “mime face”.
Thank you M1 and Mr. Ramy!
MYP Assembly
On Thursday, MYP students gathered in Rafiki to showcase short videos they collated about their Week Without Walls Trips.
They all did and wonderful job, and we will share the video link with parents/guardian as soon as we have them organized.
I must give a huge shout-out to M2 because this class loves the camera and the spotlight! They probably have a future in the cinema/acting/ film production industry! Well done everyone!
M5 Mock Assessments/ Formative Assessments
the mocks are not summative assessments, we will consider them formative assessments
the mocks are going to be marked and feedback will be given and shared on Learn so that we can identify strengths and work on what students might need to work on to ensure success in the actual assessments in May
the grades WILL NOT be reported as part of the semester grades, they will however be reported on Learn for parents/guardians and students to know how the students performed
the mocks are going to simply give the “real feel” of what to expect and what is expected
those not sitting for e-assessments in May, will also use the mock assessments as a formative tool.
When students are not sitting for the mock assessments, they are to attend their normal classes as per schedule.
MYP Dates to Remember:
March 4th to 8th – Book Week
March 12th to 14th – M5 Mock Assessments (for all)
March 19th – Secondary PTC Day 1 (1:00-5:00)
March 21st – Secondary PTC Day 2 (7:30-11:00)
April 17th – All-day set up for PP M5 (Please do not plan for any assessments)
April 18th – PPX
April 30th to May 3rd – MYP MAP Tests Round 2
May 6th to 17th – MYP e-Assessments (details and plans to follow)
May 25th – M5 Ceremony
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
Swimming
Five of our leopard sharks, Patrick, Delhem, Aiden, Sahil & Rhea, participated in the Taliss-IST Invitational swimming championships last weekend in Dar es Salaam. They had many personal bests, some achieved qualifying times for the nationals and a few medals. Bronze metals to Rhea in the 50m backstroke and Delham in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle. Silver metals to Delhem in the 50m backstroke and 100m IM.
Congratulations swimmers!
Music
March is among us which means it is “Music in our Schools” month. If you are a musician in the community and would like to come show off your skills to the Primary students, karibu! The goal is to show students that ANYONE can be a musician, even if your career isn’t in music. Last week we had Mr. Will Taylor (MYP Science and DP Geography/ESS teacher) show the EC/P1 class Trumpet and French Horn.
The Environmental Service Groups have been hard at work in the garden and sorting out the bins on campus. Here are some M1-M3 students gardening (and some growth) and sorting out the bins out front. A gentle reminder to all members of the community to please be mindful of where you put your trash so that the sorting process is quick and less messy for our environmental ambassadors!
PYP News
It was lovely to see the children return to school on Wednesday and hear about their adventures over the long weekend. On Friday, our swim team went to Arusha for a swim meet at SCIS. The results will be shared by the PE department but I am told that the children spent lots of time in the water and thoroughly enjoyed the event. The coming week is a busy one as Book Week starts on Monday. The week will be filled with a costume parade, reading new picture books and choosing our favourite, sharing Get Caught Reading photos and listening to mystery readers. The children are participating in a story writing contest and the photo shows Adrian and Eliza working on their entries during break time! On Friday, the EC/P1 class will present in the Primary Gathering at 7:40am in the space behind Ms. Mboka’s classroom. Later this same Friday, at 3:00 – 4:30pm the Student Voice will host a Smarty Party in Rafiki Hall. This is a free event to which our Daycare friends have been invited. Be sure to wear your smart clothes!
Dates to remember:
Friday, 8th March – Primary Gathering (EC/P1) behind the EC/P1 classroom and the Smarty Party 3:00 pm in Rafiki
Friday, 15th March – Primary Gathering (French)
Wednesday, 20th and Thursday, 21st March – P6 PYP Exhibition
Wednesday 27th – March Student Led Conferences
Thursday 28th – March Primary Gathering (Swahili) and last day of classes
Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator
EC/P1 Class
We returned to school with energy, ready to practice for our coming primary gathering. This coming Friday, we will be performing a well-known story with our very own EC/P1 twist. We hope you can join us at the back of our classroom Friday morning.
This coming week, home learning will be sent home as usual since we will be back to a full week of school.
Reading is Magic T-shirts were placed in your child’s bag on Thursday, I hope everyone who bought one has received them.
Book week is one of the most exciting weeks of school in primary. Apart from dressing up on Monday, we will be receiving mystery readers. I have sent a signup sheet for you to fill out if you will be able to come in and read to the class. They are always very happy to receive guests.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
For a short week, we sure packed in a lot of learning and fun! The highlight for P2/3 was welcoming our 2 new students- Jiyu and Woohyeon! These siblings join us from the Arusha campus and settled in so nicely with our busy classroom. Their picture will be part of our Book Week Door that is featuring The Magic School Bus!
We have all enjoyed the focusing of our Exploration Unit onto the theme of Space. The children seem very excited about the chance to make a poster about a planet. This poster is coming in the Home Learning folder, and it will be expected back next week on Wednesday March 13th. It is likely that students may need help with researching their planet. Please let me know if this won’t be possible at home and we can make arrangements at school.
It’s not too late to send in Get Caught Reading photos of your child reading! And we’re still very happy to sign up Mystery Readers to help us celebrate Book Week!
Kacey Buckley
P4/5 Class
Last week the children looked at maps of a chosen country and identified the major geographical features. In the coming week they will consider how people’s lives are affected by geography. Book week is here so the week will have a strong literary focus. In the Book Week assembly the children presented a performance of the Calabash Cat, which they have been working on with Ms. Jamie. The children made their own costumes in the design lab (see photo). We have planned our “book door” on the theme of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and will commence work on this on Tuesday. The children have started writing stories as part of the writing competition for book week. We will spend a lot of time considering story structure and figurative language as well as considering the importance of illustrations in books. We look forward to listening to a variety of mystery readers – thank you to everyone who has signed up to come and read to the class.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
I hope you had a great long weekend! Who’s excited for Book Week? P6 certainly is! We’ve already begun decorating our door for the book door competition, and last Friday, we enjoyed reading a beautiful picture book titled ‘Nana Akua Goes to School’ by Tricia Elam Walker. Ask your child to share their thoughts about it. Next week, during Home Learning, P6 will start writing their short stories with a magic theme. Monday brings the much-anticipated dress-up Book Week assembly, and the photos for the ‘get caught reading’ activity are looking awesome. We are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Mystery Readers who will come and share their stories with us. P6 can’t wait to discover who will drop by and when they will come!
Book Week promises to be a week full of fun, as we all come together to celebrate the joy of reading and the magic of books. We can’t wait!
Natasha Berri
Outdoor Pursuits
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
With this title that goes back to the famous story written by the American writer Ernest Hemingway is that I want to start my chronicle of my latest trip with the school. This was a trip that left its bruises on every member of it, bruises that tell stories of hard work, of suffering, and finally, of success.
I was lucky enough to form part of this selected group of people that decided to tackle this enormous challenge, conquering the roof of Africa, summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, highest peak of Africa and member of the Seven Summits.
This is a small chronicle that will try to show the inner feelings and emotions that I as a member of the crew could experience previously on the trip, during the trip, and finally on the way back from it.
We started on the past Wednesday our adventure, with a hike that would start from 1800 amsl to the first hut, about 2720 amsl. This hike showed us a beautiful rainforest, with its leafy trees and plants that protected our sight and bodies from the blazing sun. In the end, it was an enjoyable hike, the laughs were high and the motivation strong. Nothing bothered the crew and, in our minds, there was nothing but the strong ambition of succeeding in our ultimate goal.
Night arrived in the first hut and the first rest took place, more laughs and conversation happened. Clearly, altitude was not affecting us yet, and the physical exercise was the one of that only day.
As the sun rose, our backs and legs did as well, ready to tackle another hike with another one kilometer of elevation to the second hut, Horombo huts. These were located around 3720 amsl. The environment changed, and from a rainforest we started to go into moorland, where the lack of trees left us at the mercy of the wind and sun, plus the constant threat of rain. In the end, it was a straightforward and quick hike. The huts were nice and were waiting for us with hot tea and some nutritious snacks. We were ready for the following day of acclimatization and rest, preparation for the big day and night.
As I mentioned before, on Friday we went up to 4100 amsl to Zebra rock, to acclimatize. It was an actual quite relaxing and more calm day, necessary for the following steps onto our way to the summit. Nevertheless, it was possible to see the real power of the wind, even at a not so high altitude, considering that we were to climb around 1800 metres more.
Saturday started and our minds were the final conviction of success. We began our hike from Horombo huts (3720 amsl) to the Kibo huts, at 4700 amsl, and soon we could see the moorland be replaced by a more arduous alpine desert. The altitude started to affect some of us, with bearable headaches that just put more difficulties to our walk. We managed to achieve it, although in the last 300 metres of the hike we had to pass through a mist full of wind and water, whose friction with the cheeks made it burn. This was a real taste of what was to come.
We tried to calm down, eat something and unsuccessfully go to sleep before the ascend, bound to happen in the next hours. At the moment of doing it, our hearts were filled with a tenacity and persistence renowned after the efforts of the previous days. We started the hike to soon realize that it was not going to be as straightforward as we expected. Besides the incessant headache, now we could add a persistent nausea that would follow us even on the way to the top. The path from Kibo hut to the peak was characterized by a feeling of just trying to keep walking, of not letting ourselves and the rest of the team down by quitting. Wind, snow, ice and cold were the elements in charge of deciding those that were to make it. After hours of mental fighting to keep ourselves on the right track, a little bit more than half of the team made it to Gilman’s Point, 5685 amsl.
We were there, on our last stand for our last fight. The elements and the altitude had left us with a smaller team, but as brave and fearless. That last hike, even though it was just going some 200 metres more up, was the hardest. More than ever being close together as a group was necessary. With small steps under the choir of Pole Pole by the guides, we managed to arrive at the famous Uhuru Peak, 5895 amsl. Even though not all of us managed to get there, all of us indeed contributed to the making of this trip. The whole motivation behind climbing must be based on the premise that even though it is the summit that pushes us forward, it is the climb that matters, as someone very wise once said, and that I could prove right on this last trip.
To finalise this small but emotionally charged chronicle, this whole trip and adventure could have never been possible without the organisation of our OP coordinators, staff, teachers, porters, and a lot more people behind. It was with their help and effort that the Snows of Kilimanjaro could be called our home for 6 short and powerful days.
I made to the summit and that will forever be printed in my skin, my mind and my soul,
Yours sincerely to all of those that will be reading this small story,
Amador
From the Counselors
We are grateful to the members of our community who have already signed up to share their expertise with our M5 and D1 students on the morning of 21 March. If you have forgotten to register, please do so via the link below so that we can prepare to properly host you during this important annual event, where our secondary students begin the process of understanding the world of work that they will soon be entering.
Class of 2025 Parent Meeting: Post-Secondary Planning – Part One
On Thursday afternoon we (virtually) hosted the US Consulate based in Dar Es Salaam as they walked our D2s through the process to apply for the F-1 Student Visa. This means our D2s are getting ready to leave for their next academic adventure, and our D1s are well underway with their post-secondary planning process. In order to help families understand their role and steps that they can take, we are hosting a two part series for D1 guardians/parents about how to support your child as they pursue post-secondary options. The first part of this series will take place on 13 March at 7:30PM EAT. Then the second part will be scheduled in May (after D2 graduation). Please see information about how to join this event on the UWCEA Careers website calendar, and feel free to reach out to Arusha – cassandraford@uwcea.org or Moshi – admissionsassist@uwcea.org if you have any questions.
Lastly, mark your calendars and keep checking the calendar on the UWCEA Careers website for…
UPCOMING College and University Events
13 March: 7:30 PM EAT D1 Parent/Guardian meeting: Preparing for the pursuit of post-secondary opportunities (Part I)
21 March: 7:45 – 10 AM M5/D1 Careers Symposium and D2 Post-Secondary Planning Fair
This is a summary of one groups experiences with Project Week. We will provide more in future weeks.
The Project Week at KCMC Hospital kicked off on Saturday, 10th February, with seven enthusiastic participants ready to delve into the intricacies of the medical world. In the first two days, our focus was on the Emergency Department, providing us with valuable insights into the dynamics of working in such a critical environment.
While the department’s atmosphere wasn’t overwhelmingly hectic, we gained a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and responsibilities associated with emergency care. Moving forward to day two, our exploration continued in the Biotechnology department. The morning session from 9 am to 11 am was dedicated to acquainting ourselves with various laboratories, including the molecular section and tuberculosis laboratories. We also received guidance on laboratory etiquettes.
Post the Biotechnology session, we were organized into three groups for rotations in distinct stations: Neuro Clinic, Pathology, and Obs/Gynecology Clinic. The highlight of the day emerged from the Obs and Gyn station, where we had the privilege of witnessing a live cesarean section. The experience was both fascinating and surreal, as many of us had only seen such procedures in movies. Witnessing it in real life felt like a dream come true.
At the Neuro Clinic, we observed diverse cases, with one particularly standing out: a young girl experiencing seizures four times a month due to a head injury sustained in kindergarten. In the Pathology department, our exposure extended to examining cancerous kidneys, placentas, and even visiting the mortuary to observe the handling of deceased bodies.
As the week progressed into days 3, 4, and 5, we continued our journey of exploration, this time in groups assigned to different departments like Radiology, Physiotherapy, and Cardiology Clinic. These experiences exposed us to unique and fascinating aspects of these medical disciplines, enriching our understanding of the broader healthcare landscape.
For many of us, participating in this project was driven by aspirations to pursue medicine in the future. Some remained uncertain, while others sought to gain insights into the hospital environment. Regardless of our initial motivations, we all ended the week feeling grateful for the privilege to immerse ourselves in such a valuable learning experience.
