Moshi Campus News – 11 Sep 2021

Moshi Campus News – 11 September 2021

Contents

Upcoming Events

Ujafamily Update

Board Meeting

Ben’s Corner

Spirit Week

Diploma News

Residential Life

MYP News

Outdoor Pursuits

From the Counselors

Sports Update

PYP News

EC/P1 Class

P2 Class

P3/4 Class

P5 Class

P6 Class

Getting Involved

One of the great things about being here is the opportunity to get involved. This can be as a student, teacher or parent. As you can see reading through the newsletter there are all sorts of activities to choose from.

If you are a student, I cannot see a reason to be bored here, no matter your interests, from sports to nature to politics and cooking (my favorite), there are activities that are there to suit your tastes. And if per chance they are not there, you can always start a student run club. 

For parents there are also more opportunities for you as well to get involved either as a community member enjoying activities, or to learn more about the education program here.  If you think that there is something you would like to get involved in as well, please let me know and we can see if we can help make it happen.

For teachers I think the challenge is not getting involved in everything.  We join or run clubs, go on OP trips, have evening classes and other activities allowing us to learn more about our students and hopefully have fun.

Please, as you read through the newsletter, note the various activities going on and how you can get involved.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
bobcofer@uwcea.org

Upcoming Events

In addition to those events listed below we have our UWC Day events themed on “Reimagining Tomorrow” on September 25th. While more information will be coming separately please save the date.

Thank you to everyone who applied for tickets, we are all sold out. For those who have tickets we look forward to seeing you Sunday September 19th at 5pm.

Ujafamily Update

The Ujafamilies are important part of life for our residential students and are a feature of UWCs. Ujafamiles or link families are people from the community who provide a home away from home for our students. For some students it is just someone outside of school to talk to, for others it is a chance to travel and anything in between. The term ujafamily comes from the Swahili term Ujaama meaning togetherness and students have their ujamamas and ujababas along with ujasiblings. The connections made are strong and the experience in other UWCs is they last long past the time in school.

We have many families who have been providing this support for the last two years and we are very grateful for that. We are sure there are others in the community who are willing to help as well. If you are able to help or you know someone who might be please fill in this questionnaire. If you would like more information, please contact us at dp_moshi@uwcea.org.

We would like to invite everyone involved in the Ujafamily programme to an information meeting on Tuesday 14th September at 6:30 pm in the new art room. We will share the presentation for those unable to attend.

Thank you,
Margaret Brunt and Simon Johnston
 

Board Meeting

This past Thursday was the first board meeting of the year. More information will be coming out separately from Tine, our Board Chair and Anna, the Director.

Ben’s Corner

There are countless benefits to being part of such a deliberately diverse community. At the same time, there are many occasions when we need to be mindful of the nuances of otherness and how the way we perceive the world may differ from those around us.

This week, our D2s have been unpacking the notion of boundaries in Life Skills. They started by exploring uncommon things they have in common(!) and moved onto the idea that boundaries keep us safe, healthy and respected. At the other end of the school, our P5s are inquiring into how rights and responsibilities protect our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others.

In any community, everyone has the right to enjoy healthy and equitable relationships that are free from violence. In order to support this, communities establish boundaries, rules or agreements. On a more individual level, boundaries are the guidelines, rules or limits each person has for themselves to keep them safe, healthy and respected. Everybody has their own set of boundaries. A line, a limit of subjects you are willing to talk about or a limit of things you are willing to do.

It is everyone’s right to set their own boundaries and for those boundaries to be respected. It is important to acknowledge that what is acceptable may be different around the world. Everyone’s boundaries are valid and need to be respected.

Saying “no” is not necessarily a mean thing to say and it does not mean you are harsh or rude. In fact, saying “no” can sometimes be the kindest thing to say if you care about a person. People are often reluctant to set boundaries because they are afraid of being (or being perceived as being) mean, guilty and/or scared and, understandably, they want to prevent themselves from feeling uncomfortable. Effective communication is vital no matter how old you are and it should never be acceptable to disrespect someone else’s boundaries or to have yours disrespected.

Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus

Spirit Week

Dear UWC Community,

We hope everyone is well.

The Student Government and the Student Voice are organizing a Spirit Week for YOU! This is a week where you unleash your school spirit and step out of your comfort zone.

This will run from 13th-17th September.

Below are the following themes:

  • 13th Monday – Mentor Theme Day – Decide on a unique theme with your mentor group. (MYP & DP)
  • 14th Tuesday – Twin Day – Get your friend and dress exactly like each other! (MYP, DP and PYP Optional)
  • 15th Wednesday – Pajama Day – Don’t bother dressing up for school, just show up in your pajamas! Hope not to sleep in class…(MYP, DP and PYP Optional)
  • 16th Thursday – Gratitude Day – Go out of your way and thank someone or simply be caring (MYP & DP)
  • 17th Friday – When I Grow Up….Day – What do you want to be when you grow up? (All school)

Please note that primaries are welcome to dress up for the entire spirit week.

Hope you can support and dress up with us!

Thank you!!

Diploma News

Mentor time this week was handed over to the D2 students to talk with the D1 students about planning and balance. This seeemed to go very well as the D2 students are of course the experts on how to handle D1.

It has been a quiet week on campus as students are starting with assessments and the other minutae of school life. As D1 students get their first results they need to reflect on what the grades mean. Any grade is a snapshot of your performance at that time and does not reflect on your overall ability.

In some subjects the work starts with fairly easy topics and gets harder. There are others where questions will often assume knowledge of many topics and so initially it is hard to get top grades. The grade boundaries are different for each subject and level and so getting a 7 in Mathematics Anlaysis and Approaches HL will require a different mark to getting a 7 in Economics SL for example. Getting a 7 is unusual and globally most years less than 10% of grades are a 7.

It is lovely to see the involvement of students in the various parts of CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service). Every Wednesday all students take part in their service groups and we are hoping to have some going off campus for this next week. There are so many student led clubs taking place after school, the list is impressive and keeps growing. After school there are always students playing various sports many of which are coached by DP students. This weekend a large group of diploma students are going off on OP trips both peaks and plains. Good luck to all of them and I hope they enjoy it.

Margaret Brunt – Diploma Coordinator

Residential Life

Residential Life has settled into routine, activities, and academics.

For this week’s focus, I would like to highlight our primary gathering next Friday and invite our parents and community members of primary students to come and explore the home of our Kimbilio students. Please come and enjoy the performances outside of our new residences and personalised tour on Friday 17th September. Our students are working hard to decorate the facilities and will be dressed as who they want to be when they grow up.

In MYP we are encouraging all of our students to embrace the opportunities on offer afterschool and the inspiring extra activities throughout the weekend. When reviewing the clubs, sports, activities, and service opportunities, we are fortunate to have such an array of staff ready and willing to push them out of their comfort zone, take risks and embrace their curiosity and surroundings. For that, I am grateful to all involved.

Perhaps what has impressed me the most this week is seeing the involvement with our Diploma students mentoring each other in the evenings, making the most of the array of teacher support and getting involved in coaching, leading and running activities for all ages. The KCMC food delivery this week was also a highlight.

The week ahead brings new opportunities, and I would like to take this moment to ask members of our community to send me through ideas or activities you have in mind that we would be able to offer to all our students in the weekends ahead. In such a beautiful part of the world, I would like to start formalising a programme for the remaining quarter and year ahead of what, and where we can take our students.

For our Uja Family community, I look forward to seeing you at our special evening on Tuesday the 21st.

Simon Johnston – Head of Residential Life

MYP News

“When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world”
Carol S. Dweck

The MYP team (students, teacher and parents) is all about a “growth mindset” and we are loving it! Our learning journey is all about abilities and talents evolving, changing and growing over time. We are all about embracing challenges with an open mind and viewing all our obstacles as learning experiences with ample room for celebrating successes.

MYP Induction – On Campus

The team is busy with exploring and learning all the MYP updates. We had our first of many MYP collaborative team building session this past week. The sessions are focused on the MYP framework, unit planning on Managebac, assessments, grading and promoting the idea of lifelong learning that extends beyond the walls of the classrooms by fitting our concepts into global explorations and answering the rhetorical question: “when am I ever going to use this outside school?”.

Formative and Summative Assessments

MYP students are engaging in a series of Formative and Summative assessments in all their subject groups.

It is important to highlight the value of the latter in terms of the learning journey. Since MYP is a concept-based curriculum, it is highly dependent on the assessment of skills, rather than content using a criteria-based model to determine our students’ achievement levels.
It’s not about “the how much” or “the what”; it is about the “how”. That’s our growth mindset.

Service as Action Recap and Updates

MYP Service as Action is taking place every Wednesday.

According to the IB, “IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.”

IB Service requirements are for students to participate in at least 2 service activities in every year of MYP (Service learning for a class and service outside of class, either with school or in the community), meet the 7 service-learning outcomes, document in Managebac with reflections & evidence and above all have fun.

M4 and M5 students joined D1 and D2 students (who are working on their CAS requirements). The students have come up with some wonderful catchphrases to link their Service/CAS activity to how and why it is meaningful. Here are this week’s selection!

  • Campus Beautification: The playground, instead of telling a child what to do, becomes a place for endless exploration, of endless opportunity for changing play.
  • Educational Enrichment: Raising the voice of education
  • Courage Café: Advocating to save girls’ futures
  • Femmezania: Helping to raise awareness of personal and sexual health in our community
  • Day Care: Join us in the nurturing of the young generation of Tanzania (Moshi)
  • Community Garden: Aiming to create a green space where students can grow their own food and enjoy the natural world. To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

More on service coming up next week.

I would like to conclude with an anecdote…. A student asked, “Miss are you preparing us to be employees or bosses at school”. We say, “Neither! We are preparing you to be leaders in a constantly changing world to make informed decisions to be exactly who you set your mind out to be.”

Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator

Outdoor Pursuits

Another huge weekend of OP trips ahead, we have a very full Level 1B Peaks trip to North Pare Mountains where several D1 students will have their first taste of our OP program. At the same time the second Plains level 1 trip will go out to Monduli. Moshi campus alone will have over 40 students out on these trips. Our staff and equipment stores are getting a good work out this quarter. Here is some comments from one of our M4 students who completed the Plains level 1 trip last weekend.

On the plains level one trip, there was an outstanding view and beautiful scenery, though seeming a simple walk it still felt like a good op trip. We were able to see people taking their livestock such as donkeys, cows, goats and sheep to graze on grass and this was very interesting. There were many steep hills and some people struggled, but we were all able to walk it the whole way. I think we had great teamwork on this trip especially when it came to preparing food. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip, and this was a good opportunity to get to know other students from the school.

Nina M4

Please note the dates for the Uhuru trip have changed to October 6th to the 11th.

Robin Marsh – Experiential Learning Coordinator

Recent Campcraft OP trip for M1 students

From the Counselors

… whether you are a brother, daughter, grandmother, teacher, friend or neighbour… Whoever you are – You are!

I would like to send a friendly message of encouragement to our community to stay safe, show gratitude and enjoy the journey of life. Believe in yourself, practice self-care & take time to do what makes you happy!

Frida Marealle
Socio-emotional Counselor
fridamarealle@uwcea.org
calendly.com/fridamarealle

College Preparation News!

UWCEA 10th (M5), 11th (D1), and 12th (D2) students participated in the CIS Exploration Day-Africa this past Wednesday, 9/8/21. In total 120 UWCEA, students were able to engage with a student panel, which included a former UWCEA student who is now at the University of Alberta, listen to an educational session of choice, and meet with college representatives to ask interest questions or clarify details in preparation for applications being submitted. Thank you to the teaching staff and DP and MYP Coordinators for your flexibility in allowing students to take part in this event.

Upcoming College Fairs

  • Canadian Virtual College Fair, Sept 17 (6:30 pm), 22nd (9:30 pm), or 29th (8:30 pm) Universities in attendance include the University of Alberta, York University, Memorial University, and Concordia University.
  • UK Virtual Week, Sept 20-25th (various times) – 17 universities will be available to share with students about a wide range of topics from financial aid to the application process. Students can select which sessions to attend. Multiple opportunities during the day and evening to attend sessions.
  • Harvard, Pomona, Stanford, Wellesley Universities Virtual Application Review and Financial Aid Workshop on Sept, 27th (4:00 pm)
  • Davis Scholar Partner Institution Virtual Fair, Sept 14th and Sept 20th  (4-6 pm & 8-10 pm both days). Students can meet with over 80+ Davis Scholar Colleges in the United States. Each day will have different colleges so students should plan to attend both, if possible.

Andrea Kitomary – University Counselor

andreakitomary@uwcea.org

Sports Update

This week, UWCEA’s sports and activities have continued to flourish, thanks to our diverse group of club supervisors and the enthusiasm of our students.

Our friendly matches with Hope which had been scheduled for last Friday were postponed to the 17th of September due to unforeseen circumstances.

Here are some important sports dates for your calendar:

  • Friday 17th of September: Under 15s Mixed Football friendlies with Hope International School at UWCEA Moshi
  • Saturday 25th of September: Under 19 Boys and Girls Football friendly with UWCEA Arusha at UWCEA Moshi
  • Tuesday 5th of October: UWCEA Moshi Secondary Athletics Day
  • Wednesday 6th of October: UWCEA Moshi PYP Athletics Day
  • Monday 27th of September: Under 15 Boys and Girls Football friendly with Rafiki School at UWCEA Moshi
  • Friday 5th of November: NTSAA Secondary Athletics at UWCEA Arusha
  • Saturday 6th of November: NTSAA Secondary Athletics Day at UWCEA Arusha
  • Friday November 19th to Sunday November: UWCEA Sports Weekend at UWCEA Moshi.

Gilbert Kaburu – Sports and Activities Coordinator

Community Activities

Student Activities

PYP News

Please note that there are some MYP and DP  spirit days next week that PYP students can join in with if they wish. Tuesday is Twins Day (dress the same as your friend or friends)  and Wednesday is Pajama Day (come to school in your PJs). Our main focus in the PYP is the spirit day on Friday 17th September.  The Primary Student Voice chose the theme for this day: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” All students are encouraged to dress up as their future selves.

Friday, 17th September is also the P5 primary gathering. This will take place at the Kimbilio Dorm. All parents are welcome to attend – please wear a face mask.

Mboke Mwasongwe & Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinators

Student Voice

The Secondary Student Government will be holding a Spirit Week next week (please see the Student Government’s notice for their Spirit Week earlier in the newsletter), which will culminate in the Primary Student Voice organized Spirit day “When I Grow Up…”.

We encourage Primary Students to dress up as who/what you’d like to be when you grow up.

EC/P1 Class

The EC students were looking at the number one this week. They explored one of everything around them. They created two posters of items in the sky, on the ground and in the water. Understanding the concept of a number is important. Recognising and correctly forming the number comes next.

The P1 students read words formed by the sounds they have learned so far. They blended the sounds to form words using magnetic letters as well as letter blocks. They are very excited to be reading three letter words on their own. Next week, we add two more sounds to our growing knowledge and build our treasure trove of words that we can read easily.

Please note the Spirit day coming up on Friday. We would love for you to visit this coming week and talk to the children about your work. As they dress up on Friday, they might have a better understanding of the many professions in the community. 

Mboka Mwasongwe

P2 Class

The P2 students have definitely found a groove! They’ve been working hard on their guided reading texts, inquiring into nouns, graphing, continuing to work on their odd and even numbers, and are beginning to wrap their heads around the different food groups. We have two weeks left in the current unit of inquiry in which time we’re hoping to write an instructional writing piece for washing hands and brushing teeth, as well as discuss the hygiene hypothesis. I will be sharing a song and its lyrics with parents in the coming week, I ask that you please play it for your child frequently so they can begin learning the words for our Primary Gathering.

A big thank you to Adiele – Mama Florence, for coming in this week and sharing some sweets with us to celebrate Rosh Hashanah.

Elisha Jaffer

P3/4 Class

Our class has learned so much about Heroes of History this week- men and women who have done courageous things to stand up for what is right. The questions have been childlike and sincere. “But why would people ever segregate others?” “Who decided women couldn’t vote back then?” I think that all of the students will enjoy learning more about a hero while making their posters.

We were very fortunate this week to be joined by 2 teachers who shared stories. Ms. Julia wrote an allegorical story about her dog who stood up for the rights of all female dogs! The children were quick to understand her meaning and proud of the brave dog’s actions. Mr. Simon shared about his grandfather whose bravery in World War II was remarkable. We would still be happy to have more guest speakers next week if anyone is able to join us!

Next week is special with the Spirit Days. As you have read, there are 3 dress-up days for Primary. Tuesday- Twin Day, Wednesday- Pajama Day and Friday- What you want to be when you grow up day. As always, don’t forget these days:

  • Monday- library               
  • Tuesday- swimming       
  • Thursday- PE

Kacey Buckley

P5 Class

Thank you to everyone who donated shoes and clothes for the Mwereni Integrated School and food and soap for the Amani Centre for Street Children (see photo). Next week we will be visiting both of these locations to deliver the donations and learn more about the work that they do.

This week we have been developing research skills. We have been reading information, understanding it, highlighting key words and then writing it in our own words. We have been learning about the challenges faced by child soldiers. In maths we have been learning about different ways to display data and have made simple pie graphs.

Friday, 17th September, is our primary gathering. We will be focusing on everybody’s right to have a safe and comfortable place to call home. During the week ahead we will be busy learning a poem, completing art  and organising our thoughts about the importance of a home, ready to share with you on Friday. This gathering will take place at Kimbilio dorm (where the nurse’s office used to be). Parents are welcome to attend – please wear a face mask if you plan to enter the dorm.

Please note the spirit day on Friday, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

Deborah Mills

P6 Class

It was another terrific week in the P6 room full of learning, assessments, and fun. The class shared their Lines of Inquiry posters today to end our Plant Unit. To celebrate everyone brought in a delicious dish or drink to show all the ways we can enjoy plants in our diet. Everyone loved the guacamole and coleslaw. I thought it was all delicious, and a great way to end a week of hard work as a community. Next week they will get a cookbook of all the recipes that were used to make the food.

We start our new unit about Media next week which is always a favorite in the P6. The class has already come up with a great idea for action and that is to share our Peace Tray by making a bulletin board, hanging posters, advertising it to classes, and sharing a variety of versions with the different levels of the PYP. Together they thought of this idea during our Friday meeting last week. They will also create a model of a product and advertisement for it. It is going to be another great unit.

Sarah Brummel