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| 28 August 08 (09:07 EAT) |
| International School Moshi |
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Letter from the CEO
April 8, 2008Dear Parents: Welcome back to an action-packed term 3 at ISM. I am confident that our D2 and S5 students will be studying very hard right up until their exams begin after enjoying a restful break. On Monday, all our teachers met in Moshi for a productive day of in-service focussed upon the delivery of our PYP and MYP curriculum as a whole school. The first thing I wanted to share with you is a letter I received from Gerry Percy, Director of Accreditation Services, Council of International Schools (CIS), on March 21st. Here is an excerpt from his letter: "CIS was impressed by the school's approach to the multiple aspects of the processes which are in keeping with the recommendations made in the May 2006 Visiting Team Report. The school has taken a positive attitude towards Special Issue Four - Governance and Management which, as you know, is due to be formally addressed in the Special Report from you in August 2008. Particularly noted are the following changes:
It is reassuring to know the school is headed in the right direction and that we have the full support of our accrediting bodies, who are, after all, made up of very experienced and objective professional educators. Although some of these changes were challenging, it has been worth the hard work and I would like to thank our Board members for supporting the process. Last month, I had the good fortune of visiting International School Kenya as part of an accreditation team for them. It is always great to visit another school, especially one in our region. On these visits you interview teachers, parents, administrators and Board members. Many of their issues and concerns are very similar to ours. We sometimes feel that the grass may be greener elsewhere, but it often does not prove to be true. Keiron White has also been invited to lead a team to visit the Machabeng school in Lesotho this month. I want to remind everyone of the Family Day on Arusha Campus on Saturday, April 19. This family fun day has been organized by the Parents' Association and I encourage all our families from Moshi and Arusha to try to attend. There will be more specific details about the games, raffles and BBQ, in the Heads of Campus newsletters, but I wanted to also mention it. Of course the biggest event of the year for ISM is the D2 Graduation held in Karibu Hall on Moshi Campus on Saturday, May 24. Teachers, family and guests will all be most welcome and I guarantee there will be a lot of great things to celebrate. The S5 ceremonies will be held on each campus on Friday, June 6. I have saved the best news for last: our ISM Scholarship student, Daniel Mundeva, who is part of this year's graduating class, has received a full scholarship to attend the University of British Columbia. I want to thank Beth Beveridge, our college counsellor, and Mr. Paul Courtright for their support of Daniel with all his applications during the past year. This is a great result and Daniel has made us very proud. Daniel comes from the Kahama region and without a full scholarship would not have attended ISM and would not be going to university abroad. All of our ISM Scholars require 100% funding for their tertiary education and we have many people working behind the scenes to help them secure that. This work is on-going and I hope that if you know of anyone willing to donate to the fund or assist in some other way that you will put them in contact with the school. I believe people like Daniel and our other scholarship students are Tanzania's best chance for sustainable growth through leadership in the future. Congratulations Daniel! Best Regards, Barry Sutherland Chief Executive Officer | Available on the web... |