As you can see through the newsletter, we have had a full week capped off with a visit from major UWC supporters Shelby and Gale Davis. They were able to meet the staff, get an introduction to the Primary school from some of our PYP students and then get a wider tour of the school and residences from our MYP and DP students. Following this there was a welcome assembly featuring our Community Choir, the Afro Dance club and a song by the entire PYP. Shelby and Gale then answered a few questions about their work with UWC.
Following this they sat down to lunch with those that have received direct support to be at UWC East Africa, or will receive support to attend university through a Davis grant – a group of 34 of our Diploma Students. While all of this was happening, we also had a Farmers’ Market and two OP trips out.
In previous years Gale and Shelby have visited the other 17 UWCs. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic meant that Gale and Shelby were not able to visit us until now. On Monday Gale and Shelby will get to see the Arusha campus and this will mean that once again they will have seen all the UWC schools.
Please note that the upcoming weeks have several events. Of course a highlight is our production of Beauty & the Beast on Thursday and Friday, but there are also sports fixtures for football and basketball both here and in Arusha; Mock Exams for D2 students; Project week for D1; and Week-without-Walls for MYP coming up in the weeks ahead.
One last note is that you will see some new faces around campus. We have student teachers joining us from Norway for the remainder of the quarter.
Please read through all below so you get a full picture of all that is happening.
Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
Upcoming
Ben’s Corner
There has been a phenomenal response to Beauty and the Beast and both nights have already sold out!! However, fear not. If you have not already managed to get hold of a much coveted ticket for either Thursday 2nd or Friday 3rd, we are adding a limited number of extra seats across both performances to accommodate the unprecedented demand. So, do not be the one to miss out. Be sure to drop by the Front Office early next week to get your tickets from Ms. Agnes before they really do all disappear…even Shelby and Gale Davis are thinking of flying back in for the occasion!!
Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus
From the PTA
Hi everyone, my name is Mandy Stein, and I am the new Chairman for the PTA. To put a face with the name, you may have seen me selling bags at the farmer’s markets for my nonprofit Neema International or running around with my son Baraka who is in P4. If I haven’t met you yet, I hope to do so in the near future! From here on out, PTA will have a little blurb in the newsletter each week so that we can reach ALL parents and not just those in the WhatsApp group. Please remember that even if you live far away, there are ways to get involved and help out!
IMPORTANT: The PTA will be selling snacks and beverages both Thursday and Friday nights at the Beauty and the Beast production, from about 6:00pm to 9:15pm. The drama department is in need of our help with some items that were not in the play’s budget, so we have decided to lend a hand and put the money raised from sales towards their needs! Many parents have already offered to bake or buy food or drinks, and others have offered cash or their time to help with the sales! Please feel free to message me at +255712015821 (number is on Whatsapp) or email me at mandy@neemainternational.org to let me know if you want to contribute in some way! Looking forward hearing from you guys! Thanks so much!
Diploma News
On Monday the diploma mentor groups paired off and played fun games. There was Pictionary, quizzes and games on the field amongst many others although heat proved too much for some groups. Such activities are important for a few reasons – the students were the ones who planned this, they had to work together and of course they had fun.
For D1, Project Week plans have been a priority and we ask that parents log in to Life to see the trip details and then approve the trip. This is a student led project and so your child is the one to ask for more information, Thank you to those of you who have done so already.
Last weekend the D2 students were focussed on the remaining submissions. They are taking this seriously and the majority have good plans of how to organise their time. The mocks are also a focus, they start on February 8th. The timetable is here. Please discuss revision strategies and examination techniques with your child.
On Friday we had a visit from Gale and Shelby Davis. It was a pleasure to meet them, not just because they are major donors to our students but also because they are such genuinely nice people. Shelby emphasised how grateful he was to the students because they will make a difference to the world.
The Humans of UWCEA group interviewed Shelby and Gale and I will share the link to this when it is ready. Students who are supported by Shelby and Gale, either through the Dare to Dream foundation or with a university scholarship, had lunch with them and had the opportunity to ask them questions.
After the lunch, Rafiki Hall was reorganised ready for the Spelling Bee. This was another student organised event and was a lot of fun. Students had to spell words from different categories. For the final places students had the same word and the other student waited outside.
The winner was Nayem, Josephine came second and Shamsher came third. Congratulations to the organisers and everyone who took part.
Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator
Residential Life
On Thursday 26th January, Kisiwa was very fortunate to have hosted the first residential dinner of the year that brought together all the PYP, MYP, and Diploma boarding students. The theme of the evening was murder mystery which added an element of intrigue and excitement through the different activities. Students were first invited into the eerie environment of the Diploma common area, where they were awoken to life with a sudden bang, cries for help from their HORL and then tasked to solve such a terrible crime.
Students were mixed into their houses and provided riddles and clues to progress through each stage. Such stages involved a water balloon fight in the top field, which alluded to the clue of drowning and then a chaotic display of ‘flour throwing’ (hence the requirement to wear clothes you did not mind getting dirty,) which were all part of the clues which led up to the discovery of the murderer.
This evening concluded with houses gathering outside the green for dinner on a beautiful evening to work out who indeed, ‘killed’ Mr Johnston…..
Dinners like this provide the opportunity for all boarding students young and old to bond and have fun together. In the end, it was a memorable and enjoyable experience, and well, something different to break up the week. Congratulations to Kiongozi for solving the mystery and we are excited to see what Kiota has to offer at the next residential dinner!
*A disclaimer* No one was hurt during this themed dinner and Mr Johnston will still be available to answer emails and WhatsApp messages.
Micah – D2 Student
From me, thank you to all of those in Kisiwa who contributed to this fantastic evening of inclusivity and engagement.
Simon Johnston – Head of Residential Life
MYP News
The excitement is around the corner for our annual Week Without Walls on February 13th-17th, 2023!
This is our biggest cross campus collaboration which has proven to be an amazing opportunity for deep, experiential and contextual learning over a sustained period of time for both our students and staff alike, and an opportunity to really get to know the students on a different level.
Our goals are: experiential learning and getting out of the school context to learn differently.
Week Without Walls:
allows the students to have local experiences beyond the classroom that are experiential, challenging, and inclusive.
promotes international mindedness in which our students see how they are connected beyond the school campus to the global community and the responsibility that comes with that connection
allows the students to develop a greater understanding of themselves and others while challenging themselves socially, emotionally, physically, and mentally
Creates authentic experiences that build capacity for students to develop local, global and intercultural perspectives that will help students to understand and appreciate the diverse world.
Opens pathways for students to connect with each other in deeper and meaningful ways understanding that effective relationships are built upon empathy.
M1 – Lake Eyasi experiencing the Hadzabe and Datoga tribe’s lifestyle, then visit Maasai boma to round out their Northern Tanzania tribal experience.
M2 – Learn how land is eroded by the sea, follow ancient Dhow routes along the coast, learn about the history of the Pangani/Tanga region and develop an appreciation for Marine conservation.
M3 – Will develop their cultural understanding of music and Swahili at the Arusha Cultural Arts Centre where they will take part in many activities.
M4 – Will be studying how biomass growth is affected at various altitudes in West Kilimanjaro. They will also be taking part in forest hikes, river swims and other outdoor activities.
M5 – Will look at how altitude affects the human body, measuring the reactions at various altitudes in Mtu wa Mbu. They will also be discovering the area on bike, hikes and other outdoor activities
Please make sure permission slips and all necessary information on UWC Life are completed and submitted for a successful implementation of this activity.
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
Swimming Club
Last semester the swim club was fortunate to be able to offer morning training sessions. This quarter (Jan-March) swimming is part of the PE curriculum for all students, in order to take advantage of the warm weather, and therefore the pool is in almost constant use during the day. Due to the increased usage of the pool it is necessary to clean the pool more frequently. This will necessitate cleaning early in the morning before anyone uses the pool and therefore 6am training sessions will not be offered in the 3rd quarter.
We are very grateful to have Sarah McGahan to lead swim training on Mondays and Thursdays during the regular school afternoon activities to infuse enthusiasm for both primary and secondary swimmers.
If your child participated in early morning training session in the last semester, there was a fee involved as was known. Please pay the outstanding fees of 80 US$ per swimmer before 15th of February. If you are happy for your child to be a member of the Leopard Sharks Swim Club even without early morning training, the membership fee is 40 US$ per year. It will give your child a free swim cap and T-shirt and for some outside competitions, where starting fees are mandatory, the swim club will pay up to 50.000 TSH of these fees up to twice yearly. Please pay into the school account and label it “life guard fees for swimming”.
Leopard Sharks and School together plan on going to some swimming tournaments in the coming semester. Announcements will follow in further newsletters. All of this needs supporting parents! Welcome to anybody who wants to get involved. Either contact uwcleopard-sharks@gmail.com or either Volker or Tara directly.
Volker Rathke / Tara Mtuy for the Swim Club
Outdoor Pursuits
This past weekend the first Outdoor Pursuits trip of the new year spent 3 days hiking in the corridor behind Mt Meru heading towards Ngare Nanyuki. The weather was luckily dry, but there was a considerable amount of sun and heat to contend with. The walk took us through several different ecological areas and during the walk we were lucky to see giraffe, eland and gazelle. One interesting stop was at a well that had been damaged by elephants that were trying to access the water. A clear example of the type of animal and human conflicts in the area. Our last day took a twist when the bus home had to cross an irrigation ditch cut into the road and suffered some damage that slowed our return home. That did not take away however from a great trip.
From the Counselor
Skills for 21st Careers Symposium: Volunteers Needed
UWC East Africa is looking for parents, friends of UWCEA, and ISM/UWCEA alumni who are willing volunteers to help our M5 and D1 students understand what skill development is. Our theme for this year’s symposium is focused on how to help students understand the skill sets that are needed for certain careers, how they can acquire those skills, what extra-curriculars lead to gaining those skills, and how you use those skills on the job or in your career.
On the Moshi campus, both events are on Wednesday, March 29th:
In-Person Sessions 7:35-10:05 am EAT
Virtual Sessions 7:30-9 pm EAT
If you have great advice and want to help educate future leaders on the skills needed to be successful in college or on the job, please use this link to sign up: https://forms.gle/uhnwVmniaqUXdiDd8
College Application Submission Updates
The majority of college application submissions are completed for the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. There are a few rolling admissions opportunities still available, but the bulk of our work is complete. Now, we just wait. Most regular admission decisions will happen during the month of March with the latest being in early April. Please congratulate your child for their hard work in applying to college.
We had a total of 61 students out of 67 individuals apply to college somewhere in the world. two thirds of these students (40) applied during the early application round with the majority receiving an acceptance (78%) from at least one institution. Given that early application round international applications increased significantly again this year, we should be super proud of those who were accepted.
Please help your student make a decision on their college choice to enroll sooner rather than later as the next step is to make a visa appointment.
MYP News In M4 and M5, we have begun our career and college readiness units in the Life Skills class. In M4, we will explore student interests and do some initial research into their interest areas alongside creative activities that help them think about possibilities for their future careers.
In M5, we are creating a Career Education Plan that helps students understand their skills, interests, values, and personality better. This unit is designed to help students learn about themselves and reflect on this information in terms of possible careers that fit with who they are. Students will also consider what courses fit with their career interests as they prepare for the IB Diploma Program.
Andrea Kitomary – University Counselor
PYP News
Congratulations to the PYP children on their wonderful performance of “Education” during the welcome assembly for Shelby and Gale Davis on Friday.
We have a busy week ahead in PYP. The children have an evening rehearsal for the production scheduled for Tuesday. On Thursday and Friday evening they will be participating in the performances of Beauty and the Beast. Therefore, on Tuesday and Thursday, we will not have afternoon clubs so that the children have an opportunity to rest before they return to school in the evening. There are 2 exceptions: on Tuesday, Tadpoles Swimming will go ahead for P1 children and on Thursday the EC 1 Swimming Club will run as normal.
As communicated by email, the playground is taped off and will be out of use from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. The rice husks in the playground are being treated and washed. Please supervise your children if they are on campus over the weekend and make sure they do not use the playground equipment.
Many thanks to the 22 members of staff that have signed up to mentor the P6 students during their PYP Exhibition. The children are very grateful for your generosity in giving up your time to support them.
Remember to buy tickets for Beauty and the Beast from the front office. It’s going to be a great performance!
Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator
EC/P1 Class
For the past two weeks, P1s have been exploring teen numbers. They have looked at them using various items: Base ten blocks, Numicons, multi link cubes, beads as well as pictures. In the coming week, they will be learning how to add and subtract single digit numbers to and from teen numbers. On Monday, they will come home with some of their work so you can play games with them as they consolidate their learning.
EC2 will also be venturing into adding and taking away from numbers below 10, looking for choosing their own best strategy whether mentally or using manipulatives.
Thank you to all who worked with the first group for ‘Show and Tell’. We will run through with the second group this coming Friday.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
Our imaginations were on display this week! The class enjoyed a study of Pablo Picasso and his cubist portraits. This combined well with our study of shapes in math. We will have some of our creations on the board in front of the class – come have a look!
We are all super excited about Beauty and the Beast next week! We’ve been practicing the songs in class and talking about how everything is coming together. Next week will involve such late nights that Home Learning has been cancelled across the Primary. I will still send home spelling words because this past week was such a success. We will work on the words during class time so please do not worry this week if there isn’t much time for looking over them together.
Kacey Buckley
P4/5 Class
It was great to see so many of you at Friday’s assembly to welcome Shelby and Gale Davis to UWCEA. Many thanks for the support that you have given the production rehearsals. This week the children have been working on a speech on a topic of their choice as part of our unit on Voice. We are focusing on using notes, rather than reading, and also making eye contact, projecting the voice and having a confident body posture. We will continue with this next week. We have also been making puppets and will present a puppet show to some of the younger children next week. In maths we are continuing on working on division. This will inform our work on fractions later on in the quarter. There will be no home learning next week as the children will be focusing their energies on the production. Reading is always beneficial so the children are welcome to continue reading at home.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
According to Chinese mythology, it’s the year of the rabbit and rabbits are good at thinking before acting. The P6 children spent the week framing their investigations for their PYP Exhibitions. They have considered which of the transdisciplinary themes best matched to their ideas then they’ve worded their investigation as a central idea and now they’re choosing lines of inquiry that they think will make for an interesting and positive experience. You can help with this. Ask them to share their ideas with you this weekend: you’re the audience, tell them which ones you’d be interested to hear about. On that note, please save the date of March 16th for their exhibition presentations but please also bear in mind: it’s all about the journey. Planning their own investigation; learning and executing research skills like creating a survey; conducting a formal interview: these are only some of the exhibition tasks. The exhibition in March will share what they have achieved but please, as I’m encouraging them to do, see it as just the end of the journey rather than the goal itself. In case this all sounds very heavy, here’s the children trying to pick up chocolate using chopsticks as part of a fun race this week.
