Welcome back to our returning families and welcome to the many new families joining our community this term. I hope everyone had a safe a restful holiday. While we were away the school was not entirely quiet, there was work continuing on campus on both small and larger projects. The extention in the MYP girls residence was completed and we are very happy with the work. This project is also part of our focus on making the buildings more ecologically designed. If you would like to know more, please ask me.
For our D2 students this is a big term as it is really their last one with classes, they also have their final submitted work and mock exams. For other students we also have the continuation of Outdoor Pursuits, clubs, activities, service and also sports. More details on the afterschool programs will be coming out soon. For our MYP and D1 students, the end of January/ start of February has the scheduled Project week/MYP trip week. Our first week back in an interesting one with the holiday on Wednesday and the 24-Hour Run on Friday. Please use this link to access the school calendar and keep up with events.
This term we also have an accreditation visit by CIS/MSA and the IB. This virtual visit is part of the 5-year accreditation cycle that focuses on school self-improvement and staff have been busy working towards this visit for the last year.
As a school we ask that families remain vigilant of the COVID situation. Please follow school guidelines and do not send students to school who display symptoms. The self-checklist can be accessed here and the school guidelines can be accessed here.
Once again, welcome back and I wish everyone a fun, stimulating and of course educational term.
For many of us, this holiday was the first opportunity in a long time to reconnect with family and friends in person, myself included. I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and restful break and made some wonderful memories together…even if the journey back to Moshi was most likely anything but restful!
The year ahead promises to be another eventful one as, like many people across the world, we continue to face uncertainty and complexity in equal measure. When so much remains unsure and seemingly out of our control, one thing we can depend on is each other.
As I am sure I have referenced in newsletters of old, one thing that the ongoing global uncertainty highlights is the power of the collective. As the world keeps asking us to socially distance, let us not forget to support each other, stay connected and remember that we continue to share a common and wholly positive goal, “To make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.” As the late Desmond Tutu so eloquently said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
…and, with that, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and, as is often the case at the start of Semester 2, offer a particularly heartfelt “Karibu” to everyone who is new to our UWCEA community. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to be proud of.
Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus
Residential Life
A new year, a new beginning.
Happy new year to you all and I am thrilled to be welcoming back all our residential students over the coming days and/or weeks for that matter. I am conscious some of you are struggling with your travel plans and we are understanding of the various complications that arise in this unpredictable world. To this regard, please contact me directly should there be any changes to your child’s itinerary, and we will ensure we have everything arranged from our end.
Over the summer break, our residential houses have been a hive of different activities. Our ancillary staff have done a fantastic job cleaning, painting, and upkeeping the dorms. In addition to this we are pleased to open the new Kiongozi extension which officially joins the two MYP female dorms as one. The extension has focused on sustainability with solar heating, new materials and higher ceilings to save on energy.
We have an array of new MYP and PYP students joining us and I know their new peers and residential parents will make them feel at home away from home.
Karibu Sana all.
Simon Johnston – Head of Residential Life
Diploma News
I am looking forward to seeing all the DP students as they return from the break. I hope they have all had a good time with a balance of work and rest.
For D2 students there were some IAs to work on and preparation for the mock exams that take place at the end of January. The timetable will be shared with them in a few days.
For D1 there was a chance to review the work covered, catch up any missed work and prepare for semester 2. The next big event for them is project week at the end of January.
During school time the KCMC service group, takes food to KCMC at the weekend. Thanks to the students who were staying in Kishari for continuing this work over the break.
I would like to thank all the ujaparents who supported our students over the break. Some had students to stay, others had them for meals. Many thanks to the ujaparents and staff who contributed so that students could go to the cinema.
With the new year kicking in and our MYP programme growing rapidly with new learning and new experiences, here’s our MYP resolution list. We hope the MYP team (learners, educators and parents) fulfill them all one day at a time.
MYP New Year Resolutions
Approach experiences with a growth mindset
Inquire, inquire, inquire
Celebrate achievements and not count grades
Engage in experiences to serve our community
Find links and transfer knowledge
Link the real world to our day-to-day learning journey
Embrace change
Approach failure with an open mind as an attempt to better learning
Reflect more often
Work on our personal growth
Practice accountability
Our list is not set in stone. As a matter of fact, our first MYP homework is to read the above and reflect. What can we add to this as an MYP team? How do we grow better in 2022? Give it a thought!
We have a considerable number of new students joining us this term and we will be working with them in upcoming sessions to introduce them to the MYP. This will start in the second week back and continue through the term. The end of the month brings us to the MYP educational trips providing the MYP students the opportunity to learn outside of the classroom along with their Arusha counterparts. This year we are making some changes and all trips are planned for the same time starting January 31st and will be longer so students have more time to engage in learning activities. These trips are being planned from our past trips and building on those trip strengths. More information on specific trips will be coming out to parents soon.
Due to the holiday Wednesday our service program will not start until the 19th.
Welcome back and let’s have a beautiful 2022.
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
Sports Update
Dear students and families,
Welcome back to our new students. We hope you have had a restful break. This quarter promises to be a busy one for sports.
After-school Clubs and Activities The after school clubs and activities sign up forms for primary and secondary school students will be sent out as soon as possible. If you would like to sponsor an activity, please email me on gilbertkaburu@uwcea.org.
Secondary PE unit Our Secondary PE unit is Swimming and 5K Run preparation. Students are reminded to come prepared to swim.
Thank you,
Gilbert Kaburu – Sports and Activities Coordinator
PYP News
Happy New Year to all of you. We hope that you had a restful break. For our returning parents, welcome back to the third quarter of the year. For our new parents, welcome to our school community. We are looking forward to being with our students and getting back to school routines.
This will be a 4 day week with a holiday in between. Please do remember to send water bottles with your children and hats as the weather is still quite hot.
The clubs signup link will be sent to you this week. Make choices with your child(ren) for a fruitful experience.
New student voice representatives will be chosen this week as well. If your child is interested in being a rep, let them start preparing a short speech before we vote.
Happy New Year! Welcome back to school. We hope that you had a restful break. Ms. Dhurriyah, Ms. Neema and I are well rested and ready for a new semester. We are looking forward to being with the children again.
This coming week will be a 4 day week of getting back to class routines and sharing holiday news. We will not be sending home learning work this week as well as reading books. Please return any outstanding books to school as some are still at home. All specialist lessons will run as normal so your child will be able to borrow books on Friday.
As the sun is persistently shining and the temperature is still high, please remember to send in water bottles and labelled hats. We will be playing at the fields quite a bit this week.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2 Class
Happy new year! I hope you and your families have had a great holiday and have found time to relax. My family and I had a wonderful time in the Southern Highlands and are ready to tackle 2022!
Next week, the students in P2 will be sharing their holiday stories and getting reacclimatized to being back in school. I look forward to seeing all the children back on Monday.
Please remember we have swimming on Monday and to send in homework folders and books that may be at home.
Happy quarter 3, it’s a long one!
Elisha Jaffer
P3/4 Class
I hope your break was restful and joyful. I am looking forward to this next term of school. We will continue with our look at rituals and traditions around the world by considering New Year’s Eve traditions. We will also look at Chinese New Year – 2022 will be the year of the tiger.
Our first week back will involve settling into routines again. Do send in healthy snacks this week. I have found that children can have a difficult time readjusting to schedules, but I trust that we will soon find our rhythm and have a wonderful term of learning.
Kacey Buckley
P5 Class
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good break. Ms. Lydia and I are looking forward to seeing the children on Monday and are excited about working with them over the coming semester. Next week we will be sharing our holiday news, writing New Year’s Resolutions, looking at symmetry and continuing with our unit on human body systems. We will be following our normal schedule so on Monday the children will visit the library and on Tuesday they will have swimming. Wednesday is a national holiday and Friday afternoon will see the start of the 24 hour run for those children that have signed up to join a team. Please remind your child to bring any reading books or library books back to school on Monday.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday and enjoyed some time relaxing as well as having fun. It is time to jump into the second semester. We will start with one of the favorite units of the year- energy and electricity. I am looking forward to seeing their engineer brains in action. With this unit we will also resume our weekly schedule from the first two units. It will be nice to return to the old routines and explore learning together as a class.
The website for their PYPx work will soon be up and running. I will let you know when it is available so you can share it with friends and loved ones who were unable to come to the presentations. I am still so proud of all the work and dedication the class put into their PYPx.
