Welcome back to all of our returning students, parents, staff and community members. Also for our new members welcome to the school and Moshi. I hope everyone has had a great start to the new year and a relaxing break.
We start classes on Monday the 9th and residential students are returning this weekend so the campus is waking up for the new year as I write this. In preparation of the upcoming semester, this Friday teachers from both campuses are meeting in Arusha.
Please note that on Thursday January 12th there are no classes as that is a Public Holiday for the Zanzibar Revolution.
The next few months will feature many of the normal events on campus such as Outdoor Pursuits trips and sporting events as well as special events such as the play, Week Without Walls, Project Week D2 Mock exams and International Day. I suggest bookmarking our calendar (www.uwcea.org/calendar/) so that you can keep up to date on all campus and school events.
Please be aware that there are no after school activities the first week for PYP. For secondary the Wednesday service time will be in the first week and Mr Rihan will email students about the activity schedule.
I hope everyone has a great start to the semester.
Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
Ben’s Corner
I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and restful break and managed to reconnect with family and friends…or just enjoy some downtime. For our D2 students in particular, I trust that you used your time productively but also found moments to relax and sleep! Good luck with all that is to come and, at a time when everyone is full of words of wisdom or advice, be sure you do all that you can to ensure your results are a true reflection of your abilities.
One thing the last Quarter highlighted was the power of the collective over the individual and the wisdom of the crowd. No doubt 2023 will also throw challenges our way. However, if we remember to take advantage of our collaborative expertise, our shared passion and empathy, we will continue to thrive. As we move into Semester 2, let’s not forget to carry on listening to and supporting each other. After all, we continue to embrace a common and wholly positive goal.
With that, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and offer a particularly heartfelt “Karibu” to everyone who is new to our UWCEA community. We have so much to look forward to, so much to be thankful for and so much to be proud of.
Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus
Residential Life
It comes as quite a shock writing the first newsletter for the new year and after finishing a quick zoom call with our previous co-presidents only moments ago, it seems to be that time is going by too quickly.
To this regard, I hope everyone has had a well-deserved break and special time with loved ones, family, and friends. Here in Moshi, we have had students travel to all corners of the globe and at the same time, we have also had almost 40 Diploma students remain in Tanzania. It was special to spend Christmas with them and then a day of canyoning through the gorge only a few km’s up the road on boxing day. What a wonderful two days it was, and I cannot begin my first newsletter of the year without extending my gratitude to the many Uja Families who hosted countless students for weeks on end and made their time here away from home special and unique.
I also want to thank our ancillary staff who worked throughout the break to ensure our students were cared for, well-fed and looked after. Asante Sana to all.
This Saturday, 7 January, we officially open the Diploma residences at 9am and we will open our PYP and MYP residences on the 8th of January at 9am.
Personally, I am very much looking forward to not only seeing old faces, but also extending a warm welcome to our 5 new student residential arrivals, Ms Grace as our new assistant House Parent in Kijana and Kiongozi, Ms Silvia who is replacing Ms Margaret in PYP as our new Head Parent during maternity leave and of course, a warm welcome back to Ms Penny as Head Parent of Kijana and Kiongozi.
Quarter three will no doubt bring about its trials and tribulations, but nothing our extended family cannot embrace and support each other through out.
If your child or you have not sent through to me the details of their arrival, please do so as soon as possible so I can complete the logistics of all our arrivals.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
Simon Johnston – Head of Residential Life
Diploma News
Students are starting to return to campus ready for the new semester. Hopefully they have been balanced over the break and there has been a mixture of work and relaxation.
For D2 students it is an important semester, the last of their secondary education. Mock examinations start in February and final submissions are ongoing. The final examinations take place from the end of April to May 18th with graduation on May 19th. Time management and communication are important throughout this process.
For D1 there will be the final planning for project week which takes place from February 13th. They will be introduced to the Extended Essay and the TOK exhibition and start some IAs. They are hopefully familiar with the style of IB assessments and so some aspects of semester 2 should be easier than semester 1.
Margaret Brunt – Diploma Coordinator
Career and Skills Symposium Volunteers Needed
We are excited to begin planning the annual Career and Skills Symposium event for the upcoming third quarter. We are looking for alumni, parents, and friends of UWC in our community and abroad; to give time to speak with M4 to D1 students. This would be about your career path/job and/or the skills that are important to develop to be ready for employment and life. We will have in person and virtual presentation sessions available (large group), networking sessions (small group), and panel sessions.
We want to expose our students to as many careers as possible. We are also open to having college students give insight into what they are learning in a particular field.
Please keep watch on this newsletter, social media, and email communication regarding the date of the event and available volunteer signups.
Andrea Kitomary – University Counselor
Hash Event
On the 4th of December we went to one of my favourite hashes, the Lion King Rock hash. The Hash is a hike which takes place every other Sunday afternoon and is accessible to everyone who signs up without added cost. The school kitchen arranges for for water, juice and a snack and all you really have to bring is good shoes and a good mood!
A group of UWCEA students and KCMC nurses and doctors went earlier to set the trail, dotting two routes with bits of flour for the hikers to follow. Like in the fairytales! Around 3:00 pm everyone arrived, about 30 students from the school, and some other community members, and the hikers started walking. The climb caused sweat, a little bit of sunburn and some thorns for everyone, but it was definitely worth it for the view. From the top of the Lion King Rock we had an amazing view of the green ridge of the surrounding mountains, Kibosh and Mawenzi peaks, and it felt like the whole world is laid out front of us. After walking back, and getting a little bit lost and finding alternative roots to go back between the riverbeds, baobab trees and thorn bushes we finished with a lovely picnic. On a huge patched blanket, under the shade of two baobab trees, we enjoyed the golden afternoon light before we headed back to Moshi. I really enjoyed my time during this amazing hash, and I hope we can visit it again next quarter.
Thank you to the teachers Simon, Hywel and Ken and school driver who helped organise this trip! And thank you to the School Kitchen for providing (although this time around we forgot to collect the snacks!)
Rebeka
MYP News
Welcome back everyone! First and foremost, the MYP department wishes you a happy new year. We hope that 2023 is a year of success stories, smiles and adventures!
As we get read to march into our third quarter and second semester, I invite you all to remember that learning in MYP is a process and not a product. We are ready to explore new units through inquiry, self-discovery and reflection. We are coming back with a growth mindset that has reflected on what went well in our previous semester and why. We are moving onto what can we do to tweak a few elements of learning here and there to ensure a progressive MYP learning journey and achievement. Our self-directed, autonomous learners will have a lot to share in terms of their subject groups, interdisciplinary experiences, service activities and much more to showcase grit, self-management, knowledge and creativity at its best!
In the spirit of all of the above, I wish us all a wonderful second semester full of so much more to give and learn. As “scary” as change may seem at times, no change at all is even scarier! We always remember that we are an MYP community of open-minded thinkers who are ready to take the next leap as risk-takers!
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
PYP News
Happy New Year. We are looking forward to a fun filled and busy Semester 2. We have plenty of events to look forward to in the coming weeks:
Monday 16th – Tuesday 17th January P6 Exhibition retreat.
Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd February – Beauty and the Beast school production
Friday 24th – Monday 27th February – Long weekend
Tuesday 28th February – Friday 3rd March – Book Week
Saturday, 4th March – International Day
Tuesday 7th March – PYP Interhouse Swim
Thursday, 16th March – PYP Exhibition
Thursday, 23rd March – Student Led Conferences.
This list is not exhaustive and dates sometimes change so please keep checking the school calendar: https://www.uwcea.org/calendar/
Details of after school club sign ups will be shared by Mostafa Rihan. There will be no clubs for the first week back. All day students should leave campus promptly after classes end as no afternoon supervision will be provided.
As the date of the production approaches there will be extra rehearsals for production participants and the dates and details of these will be shared by the production team. Production rehearsals will take priority over after school clubs and there will be some Monday afternoon rehearsals (2-3pm) that will replace the PYP after school clubs on a Monday for the first few weeks of the semester, until the production performance. Your child should still sign up for their chosen clubs as normal as the regular Monday afternoon routine will resume once the production has finished.
This coming Thursday is a national holiday (Zanzibar Revolution Day).
Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator
EC/P1 Class
Happy New Year to you all. Welcome back to school and to the third quarter. I hope you have all had a well rested holiday.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone including our returning students who have not been with us for a while.
We will use the first week of school to review routines, class agreements as well as Language and Math skills we learned last semester.
Please note the slight change in our specialist timetable:
Monday – EC Library (Story Time) and Music
Tuesday – IT, Swahili and P.E.
Wednesday – Music and IT
Thursday – Swimming and P1 Library (Story Time)
Friday – Library (Change of Books), Swahili and Animal Visit
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday break. My family took a few small outings and had lots of Christmassy fun together. Now it’s time to look ahead to the new quarter and I’m excited about all the lessons and learning to come. We will deepen our look at Imagination in the first weeks back by considering wonderful stories and art.
Home Learning this week will only include reading- coming back after a long break can be a bit jarring! Please focus on getting good sleep and encouraging your child to look at reading as fun!
Our schedule remains much the same. The days we need support from parents are:
Monday- Home Learning sent home
Tuesday- PE swim
Thursday- PE shoes and return Library books
Friday- return Home Learning folder
We will be sharing about our break on Monday and Tuesday so have a chat with your child this weekend about the things they enjoyed most!
Kacey Buckley
P4/5 Class
I hope you and your children have enjoyed a relaxing December break.
Next week we will be inquiring into public speaking and considering the traits of an effective presentation. The children will share their Google Slides presentations with each other. We will also do some work on readers’ theatre.
Ms. Catherine and I are looking forward to seeing the children at 7:30am on Monday, 9th January.
Deborah Mills
P6 Class
Welcome back P6! Karibuni Tena P6! I hope everyone had a wonderful break and that we’re refreshed and ready for Semester 2. Our first week will be finishing off our Energy unit; completing and testing their self-powered vehicles. We’ll also share what we learnt with another class. We’ll continue with fractions too. We’ll do some reading comprehension and extended writing too. Let’s pick up where we finished off for your last semester in PYP! Talking of… here’s a photo from the last day party.
As shared by email, our retreat at Kishari House will take place January 16th – 17th. A letter and permission slip will come home early next week. We’ll stay overnight to discuss and plan the ideas for our PYP Exhibitions. We’ll also have team building activities like hikes and swim parties. Let’s go!
