This Friday we had the M5 Ceremony to celebrate those completing the MYP and on Monday at 7:30am the P6 will be celebrating their end of PYP. These celebrations are great opportunities for us to mark the transitions as students develop and grow, but they are also times that invite us to look back and remember the past. I know as I am watching these ceremonies, I think back when I first met the students and the changes they have undergone.
The end of the school year in general is like this, a time to reflect back. This year in particular has been a time of reflection for the school as we have had undergone the accreditation and we are preparing the next strategic plan.
Reflection, while fun, is also a tool to look ahead. So, while you enjoy your memories of the past few years, I hope you as well also recall few things that guide your personal development and growth in the following year.
Before I end this section, I would be remiss if I did not thank everyone that helped prepare Rafiki on Friday. It looked fantastic so thank you for your work.
Bob Cofer
Upcoming
Coffee Morning
All parents, are welcome to join me on Tuesday at 7:45am in the social center for the last coffee morning of they year. It is an opportunity to talk about the year past and the year ahead.
Congratulations to our M5 cohort who celebrated their last day as MYP students in a wonderful ceremony that portrayed their MYP journey!
M5 During MYP
M5 After MYP
It has been a wonderful roller coastar ride with this creative group. We will definitely miss your energy in our MYP division on campus. For those of you leaving us to explore a new journey, we wish you a beautiful adventure, and we will always have you in our hearts! For those of you transitioning to the DP, we wish you the best of luck, and we will always be here to support you. When it gets tough, always remember:
You have a stubborn determination that makes you game changers.
Time and space do not bind you to achievements. You have a powerful energy that does not let anything turn it down.
Your caring nature towards each other is a superpower!
You speak up no matter what the circumstances, the consequences and the response.
You have integrity and this is highly needed in a world that tends to pressure us over and over again to bend, to break, to change who we are at the core.
You are negotiators by nature, sometimes a bit too much, but this is a great sign of selflessness and a huge component of success.
You have a unique sense of humor. You made us laugh, and cry I must say, and no matter what, through thick and thin, you always found a reason to be happy and make others happy.
Farah Fawaz
Ben’s Corner
The aim of any assessment is to support and encourage student learning. By providing constant feedback, assessments should be part of the constant reflective process of learning. Assessment should not only be seen as a method of measuring student achievement but more as an integral part of the learning process. MYP assessment is ongoing, rigorous, varied and integrated into the curriculum. Summative assessments evaluate the criteria and strands that correspond to the objectives of a given MYP unit.
Summative assessments are usually administered at the end of a MYP unit. Summative assessments might also address certain Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills that teachers have been focusing on during the unit. Over the last two weeks, our M4 and M5 students have sat timed summative assessments under ‘exam conditions.’
These assessments have the same weighting as other summatives when it comes to report grades but we wanted the students to experience the seen and unseen pressures of writing these under time constraints. At the same time, the experience of preparing for these summatives gave the students opportunities to consider and, hopefully, develop their self-management and research skills.
The students have certainly found it an experience with some days more ‘rewarding’ than others. Of course, we are never defined by any single result from an assessment or an exam but we hope they have learnt from the experience and will have developed strategies and techniques that will benefit them in the future.
Ben Morley
Residential Life
This week has been a rollercoaster of events and experiences across the houses and as I have said multiple times before, there is never a dull moment.
Firstly, I want to congratulate our Diploma students for successfully completing their mock examinations. With our D2 students having, ‘left the building’ and our D1’s studying, I have never heard our dorms so quiet before. Some say it was daunting and sad, whilst others embraced the new norm. Needless to say, the peace and quiet was well-received by parents and mentors!
With such a heavy academic focus in the Diploma dorms it allowed us to shuffle our attention to our departing M5 students. This consisted of a wonderful dinner at Jackfruit with all M5 students in both Kivuli and Kiongozi on Tuesday night. The feedback was wonderful, and it was so great to see so many smiles with students and teachers sharing an evening of joy together. The week has continued with countless outings to get hair ready for their graduation and more. In addition to the ceremony this weekend, I am pleased to see our M4 students organise their own outing to the Blue Heron Café and Arusha this coming Sunday. M3’s will follow suit next weekend on their own personalised adventure.
However, with all that said, undoubtedly, the most fun must be awarded to our PYP, M1 and M2 students who are heading to the hot springs and Uhuru hostel for a special outing. Thank you to all the staff volunteering to help with chaperoning on the multiple trips. Without you, this would not be possible.
As we near the end of the year, the beginning of a new year and its planning has commenced. Orientation, Zoom meetings and so much more is quietly happening behind the scenes and the excitement is starting to show itself as we prepare to welcome our new arrivals into the all-encompassing residential environment as highlighted above.
To all our departing students, I wish you a safe and restful break.
Simon Johnston
PYP News
Well done to all the campers who participated in various camps this past week.
We will be honouring our P6 students this coming Monday, the 6th of June. They will be performing for us as we wish them well in their preparation for M1. Parents are welcome to attend this Monday morning assembly which will take place from 7:45am. After the P6 ceremony, P6s will spend their whole day with M1s. The rest of primary will be taking part in the Primary move up day where students spend an hour with the current teacher for the year above.
Please note that Clubs and Activities end this coming week. There will be none in the last week of the semester.
There will be Touch Rugby tournament on the 8th of June on our campus. If you are able, come and support.
Dates for your Diary
13 June – Final Assembly
15 June – Fun sports day
17 June – Last day of classes (normal finishing time)
Mboka Mwasongwe & Deborah Mills
The Arusha P6 Exhibition our students attended.
P6 Class
Tuesday saw P6 travel to Arusha Campus to watch their P6 class present their PYP Exhibitions. Our children were really impressed by the depth of their knowledge and the variety of their activities. It brought back good memories of the presentations of their own exhibitions. In class, we are working on our final Unit of Inquiry: Life Skills including Healthy Bodies and Choices. Ms Jackie and Mr Ben took half the class each to talk about puberty this week. We are looking at Organisational Techniques to help us in MYP too. On Monday, the children will spend the day with M1 pupils experiencing their days so they can experience what they have to look forward to in MYP school year. Please see the email and letter sent home Friday for more details. Monday starts with the P6 Moving Up Ceremony in Rafiki, celebrating their time in PYP. We’ll be delighted if you can join us.
Hywel Davies
P5 Class
The highlight of our week was visiting the P4/5 class on Arusha campus on Monday. We played maths games, went on a nature walk and in the evening Mr. Ali led us through a variety of campfire songs. On Tuesday, the children had the opportunity to watch the Arusha P6 class present their Exhibition which will hopefully give them some inspiration for next year, when they present their own. Thank you very much to Mr. Ali, Ms. Esperance and the Arusha PYP team for making us so welcome. Back in class we have been revising multiplication and division – two connected skills which will be used a lot next year in P6. The children also played with the airpuck, used chopsticks to pick up cubes of jelly covered in oil (see photo) and rolled cars down different surfaces as part of their inquiries into friction. On Monday we have the P6 leaving ceremony and Primary move up day to look forward to. The children will visit the current P6 teacher, Mr. Hywel and spend some time with him, before returning to me to continue our activities. On Wednesday, some of the P5 class will be participating in a Touch Rugby tournament – letters have been sent home.
Deborah Mills
P3/4 Class
All of the class was shocked when we began JUNE- how has it already come? There’s still plenty to fit in these last two weeks. The highlight will be Friday- Market Day! We will be prepare our ‘shops’ next week with names, logos, prices and slogans. Please let me know if your child needs support during school time in order to make their products. The plan is that students will bring their products in on Friday (before is ok if that’s helpful for the family). Shops will open on Friday for the class- we will be using fake money but taking home fun goods.
The class had a wonderful outing to Ms Rosie’s fruit and veg stand in order to try out the Kiswahili vocabulary in a buying/shop situation. They had a great time and returned with healthy snacks to share!
Can I remind you of Swimming on Tuesday? It has been a chilly week but it would be nice to wrap up our semester of becoming stronger swimmers with as many students as possible back in the pool!
Kacey Buckley
P2 Class
This week P2 has been exploring how our facial expressions and body language send messages. They have looked at different scenarios and how they would react during them, as well as created different scenes where they would express particular feelings. The P2s cumulated the week with their day camp where they learned to set up and take down a tent – Thank you Ms. Mboka for hosting us in your class for this. They went to Uhuru Park to work with some artists on how to create Tanzanian themed art pieces. We’re now awaiting a time to collect these paintings from the artists once they have dried. Thank you to Mr. Emmanuel and Ms. Kay for facilitating this trip!
Elish Jaffer
EC/P1 Class
It started off cloudy and rainy but ended with the sun shining. In between these two extremes of weather, we had fun.
We started off the day with setting up tents in our classroom and spending time playing in them. Once the rains stopped and we had our snack, we trekked around the school, stopping to explore various places. We found the goats and horses all warm in their stalls and the children made plans to visit them every week in the coming school year. The upper pitch looked amazing in the cold and we said a good loud hello to the sky because it looked beautifully gray. We visited the Kimbilio garden and the community garden as well.
Thank you Mr. Isaac and Mr. Salim for showing us how to set up tents and for setting up three of them in our classroom. Thank you Ms. Debbie for giving all the children a finger torch. Thank you Baba and Mama Hugo for sharing Hugo’s birthday cake with us to end our amazing day.
Mboka Mwasongwe
Sports Update
Sports this week
There is a lot in store for the last 2 weeks of the school year. The U15 Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament is scheduled for this weekend. This will be followed by a friendly match between our U11 and U13 netball teams on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, we host St. Connies, Kennedy House and UWCEA Arusha here for the NTSAA PYP Touch Rugby Tournament. On Saturday, we will host a volleyball friendly, while our U15 & U19 teams will travel to St. Connies for the NTSAA U15 and U19 Touch Tournament. Please come and cheer on the athletes if you can.
End of Semester awards
Please join us Tuesday June 14th from 4:30pm to 6pm for the semester 2 sports awards.
Upcoming events
Saturday 4th June – U15 Boys & Girls Basketball Tournament at UWCEA Moshi; 9am – 4pm
Tuesday 7th June – U11 & U13 Netball Friendly at UWCEA Moshi; 4.30 – 6pm
Wednesday 8th June – NTSAA U9/U11 Touch Rugby Tournament at UWCEA Moshi
Saturday 11th June – U13, U15 & U19 Touch Rugby Tournament at St. Connies
Saturday 11th June – Volleyball Friendly vs Mawenzi HS and Born To Play at UWCEA Moshi
Saturday 11th June – Last day for afternoon sports and activities
Program for end of school Please note that all afternoon sports and activities will end on Saturday, June 11th.
Gilbert Kaburu
Diploma News
The D1 students have spent this week doing their end of Year Examinations. The purpose of these exams is partly to assess their knowledge, understanding and application of the topics covered so far but also to expose them to the formality of the IBDP examinations. As such we have had seating plans, the actual instructions and so on. These do make the experience a little more stressful but the familiarity of them by the final examinations will relieve the stress then.
The majority of the next two weeks they will be on a collapsed timetable. Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th June – Students will be receiving their examination papers back and discussing their results. Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th June – Students who take Biology, Chemistry or Physics will be participating in the group 4 project. This is a chance for them to collaborate with students from other sciences to solve problems. They will also have time to work on pilot studies for their science Internal Assessments. The students who take Environmental Systems and Societies will be working on field work techniques and will go on a field trip. They will also be having their second CAS interview; this is a chance to review their progress and plan what they need to do for next year.
Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th June – Students will be working on their TOK exhibition. In this students present three objects and talk about how they are related to a Knowledge Prompt such as “Is present knowledge built on past knowledge”. Apart from presenting this information they also have to write 950 words explaining their ideas. This commentary counts for 1/3 of their TOK grade.
Wednesday 15th June – Students will get a chance to meet with their teachers and Extended Essay supervisors to check what they need to do over the break. It is important that D1 students use the break wisely. A student who does no work will find D2 very difficult but equally a student who does not take time to recharge and relax will find D2 very difficult. A good plan is needed and that is something we will work on, on this day.
Thursday 16th June and Friday 17th June – there will be a sports day and other activities to celebrate the end of the school year.
Margaret Brunt
Outdoor Pursuits
WOW!! What a year!!! I would like to start of by thanking our tremendous OP team, Mr Isaac, Mr Salim and Mr Isack from Arusha Campus, who have work their socks off all year to make sure that equipment was maintained and organised so we could accommodate the hundreds of students on trips, for their planning and preparation of some of the best trips we have ever run, for the support and kind words they have given to all our students and for the countless weekends they have given up away from their family and friends. A massive effort which has facilitated the busiest and best year of Outdoor Pursuits to date for UWCEA and helped build one of the best programs in the world. Secondly, a huge thank you to teachers, drivers and staff who have given up their weekends to take students on these great trips. Your enthusiasm and support have made memories for these students that will stay with them for the rest of their lives and, in some cases, have shaped what they want to do in the future. Thirdly, to Ms Tahera and all her kitchen staff, thank you for your flexibility and the great food you organise and prepare for our trips, without the fuel we would not be able to take on the challenges we do!
This year has been such a success. We have, for the first time, had one of the largest groups we have ever taken ALL successfully summit Kilimanjaro. We have now 4 certified rescue divers and over 40 open water and advanced divers who have created 3 new artificial reefs for sea life to live in. We have had students walk in the great migration on the edges of the Serengeti, something people only dream of seeing let alone get to hike through. Truly incredible. I am going to stop writing now, as I could go on and on, and a picture is meant to say a thousand words, so here are a few thousand words for you to reflect on.
The last trip of the year for our OP department – Reefs Level 2 – Friday 10th June to Monday the 13th June – Note date change
