International School Moshi Moshi Campus Newsletter - 26th April 2009
Dear Parents,
Although we have only been in school for less than two weeks, many events have already taken place this term and many more are to come. Last week the M4 students all experienced a week in the world of work as they undertook work placements with different local companies. We would like to thank all those employers who helped our students during this week. The M3 students returned on Thursday from three days at a centre in Arusha undertaking field study focusing on arts and the environment - all agreed that it was an enjoyable and valuable experience. Also, throughout the week, the D2 Art exhibition has been open for all to see - if you missed the superb work exhibited by some of our D2 students click here to view part of the exhibition.
Sports Banquet
On Friday night ISM, as well as the nation, celebrated our sports men and women at a special banquet. ISM's banquet was clearly more prestigious than the Tanzanian national one. Congratulations are due to our Junior sports man and woman of the year - Neil Kotecha and Hayaka Iemoto; our Senior winners - Lane Simonson and Sandra Strebel, and our student selected Sports Person of the Year Stephan Hoffmann. This was also the final Sports Banquet organised by Ben Wiggins who has been Head of PE & Sports for his 11 years at ISM and who will be leaving in June. We are all very grateful for the huge investment of time and energy that Mr Wiggins has made in sport at ISM.
Visit of the new Director
Mr Bob Woods will be visiting ISM in the week beginning May 3rd on a fact-finding and orientation visit to prepare him for when he takes on the position of Director of ISM in August 2009. During the week Mr Woods will spend time on both campuses and meet with many different people within the school.
Outdoor Pursuits
As I write, a group of students from both campuses is at Saddle Hut having climbed Little Meru today. They are due back tomorrow (Monday). Other trips for this term are:
The calendar of the trips, including the dates of all trip meetings and equipment collection or return are given on www.ismoshi.org/opcal.pdf.
TOEFL Tests
The next set of TOEFL tests in Moshi are taking place on Saturday, 9th May. Registration has now closed for these tests. Students who have already registered are reminded that they must present their passport (original only - no copies accepted) before they are allowed to enter the test. We are required to strictly enforce this ETS regulation.
SAT tests
D1 students who are planning to join university or college in the USA are also strongly advised to take SAT tests. We have been providing weekly classes in preparation for these since November. Registration for SAT tests is also online and students who wish to take the next set of tests in Moshi on 6th June should register online by the end of April. Details are given on the school website at www.ismoshi.org/SAT.htm.
ABRSM Practical Exams
The date for these exams is now confirmed as Friday, 22nd May in Moshi. Students have already registered for these and it is no longer possible to accept new registrations.
P6 PYP Exhibition
Primary students have quickly settled back into their routines and as usual this term will just fly by with the many upcoming events to look forward to. P6 is already buzzing with preparations for their PYP exhibition. Please mark the dates Wednesday and Thursday, 13th and 14th May, on your calendars for this event.
Primary Swimming Gala in Dar
The team has already been chosen and our primary students are building their excitement ready for the trip to Dar es Salaam to compete in the primary swimming gala in IST. Students will leave Moshi on Friday 15th May returning on Monday 18th May. Parents of all children concerned will be receiving more details this coming week.
Primary Afternoon Clubs
We would like to thank the following parents who offered After School Clubs last term; Teresa Margheri, Geraldine Pitot, Ellie Stanley, Pooja Aggarwal, Kate Robertson and David Macha.
This term Ray Sasman is coordinating the afternoon clubs which started last week. Club lists have been posted along the breezeway for students to check. A clubs list is also attached here for parents of primary children only.
Primary Assemblies
Below is the assembly schedule for the term. All assemblies will be held in Karibu Hall from 7:45am to 8:15am unless otherwise stated.
Date
Assembly
Organiser
24 April
Language B Assembly
Madame Laborde, Mama Mvungi
8 May
P1/2 Assembly
Narelle
22 May
KG Assembly
Ms Rosi
29 May
Music Assembly
Mr Lee
5 June
P3/4 Assembly
Ray
12 June
Farewell Assembly
Ms Rosi
17 June
Whole School Assembly (9:35am)
Mr Sutherland / Mr White
Scholarship Congratulations
We would like to offerspecial congratulations to all our D2 and graduated scholarship students in Moshi who have all now received places and almost full scholarship funding for their university studies. These students have no personal or family funds to support them through college and the award of a full or nearly full scholarship is extremely important for them:
Mhula Ngassa graduated from ISM in 2008 and has now been awarded 100% scholarship including all expenses at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Suzan Efata who will graduate in May has been sponsored for her diploma study by the ISM alumni. has been awarded am international scholarship at Trent University in Ontario, Canada. 100% of her tuition fees are included as well as many of her other expenses.
Ines Muganyizi will also complete her IB diploma next month. Ines has been awarded a 96% scholarship at Connecticut College in the USA.
Desmond Mushi is our third scholarship student graduating in May. He has been awarded a 98% scholarship at Bates College in Maine in the USA.
In addition to our scholarship students, many other members of the D2 class have been offered significant financial awards. We are proud of their achievements and wish them well both for the pending examinations and for their future.
Labour Day
Please note that Friday, 1st May is a national holiday to celebrate Labour Day. There will be no classes in ISM on that day. There will be a programme of activities for the boarders.
M1/M2 Mathematics Challenge
The M1 and M2 students will spend part of the morning on Wednesday, 29th April undertaking a maths challenge - a series of tasks and puzzles designed to employ a variety of mathematical skills. They will be joined by their counterparts from Arusha Campus for the event.
Boarding Expectations
As the D2 students approach their final examinations we have, as in previous years, tightened the rules in the boarding houses so as to provide as conducive a study environment as possible. Until the end of the examinations day students may not visit the boarding houses and boarding students may not visit other boarding houses which accommodate D2 students. We have also limited the use of TV and DVD in the common rooms (the Social Centre TV is still available) and have stopped students from playing music except through headphones. We have also asked younger students to be more careful about making noise in the house during this exam period.
Arrangements for D2 students
D2 students have now completed their final formal classes in ISM and will be using the coming week to prepare before they start their written examinations on 4th May. Click here is you wish to see the exam schedule. These exams will be finished on Thursday, 21st May. Day students do not need to attend school on days when they do not have examinations. Boarders may, with the written agreement of their parents, travel home to study if they have a period without examinations. However, teachers will be available in school during the study week and the exam period to assist students who need help.
There will be a dinner for D2 students and their parents in Moshi on Friday, 22nd May. The Graduation Ceremony for the D2 students will take place on Saturday, 23rd May after which D2 students will have fully completed their schooling and will leave the school. More details on both these events will be published later.
D2 Graduation - Privately arranged parties
The D2 students will be graduating on May 23rd and, as described above, we organise celebrations for these events ourselves. However, in the past, the students have additionally opted to arrange their own private parties off-campus. Although we have no confirmation of plans, these are likely to be on the weekend of 23rd May after the official ceremony. These student-organised parties are not school events and we cannot, as a school, take responsibility for them. Invariably, there is alcohol available at these parties and minimal, if any, adult supervision. We are very concerned about the inevitable, and potentially serious risks that arise from these situations, particularly for many of the younger students who frequently receive invitations to attend and we have endeavoured to deal with such issues from an educational point of view in our Life Skills lessons. We also need to be especially confident that parents are aware of the nature of these events, and are happy with their own children's involvement. We would therefore offer the following requests and guidelines.
For parents of boarders:
Boarders staying in school will not be allowed to attend any unsupervised parties. If boarders do want to attend, they can only do so if their parents agree and they have been taken out of the school's care by staying with another family for the weekend. Even if you have already indicated on the Parental Consent form that your child may sign out to friends at weekends, we would like to further confirm that it is acceptable on this particular weekend. If you have children intending to sign out for this weekend, could you please contact us with that confirmation? You may contact either the boarding parent or Mrs Somaiya by whatever means is most convenient (telephone, letter, email or fax). Boarders will be expected to remain in school for the weekend if we have not heard from you before May 18th.
We would also suggest on this occasion, that you contact the host family directly to discuss what you feel would be appropriate arrangements, curfew etc for your children on the evening of the party.
For parents offering to host boarders:
Boarders signing out on these weekends will need to sign out for the whole weekend from the Friday afternoon until midday on the Sunday, although they may of course attend the Graduation Ceremony if invited. We would suggest that before you take on the responsibility for the guest students over this period, you are confident of their own parent's expectations in terms of curfew, supervision etc.
We do not in any way wish to curtail the students' opportunity for well-deserved celebration on these occasions, but we are concerned for their safety and their parents' full consent and understanding.
Fees for 2009/10
Parents should be now have received invoices for fees for the school year 2009/10 - first payments are due by 1st July 2009. You will note that for the first time, we have now divided the payments by nstalments into four quarterly payments (instead of three termly payments). This has been done at the request of parents who preferred to divide the fees more evenly over the year. As announced by the Board last November, we have increased tuition fees by an average of 5.8% to combat inflationary trends in Tanzania and elsewhere and the subsequent pressure on salaries. However P3-M5 boarding fees were not increased at all, and diploma boarding fees have been reduced by 44% compared with 08/09. if you have not received an invoice, please contact the accounts office on .
Leaving Students
If your children will be leaving ISM at the end of this term, could you please advise us as soon as possible by email to me: . By school policy we should be advised of all departures before May 6th. If your situation is uncertain, please let me know the details and the nature of the uncertainty, as we now need to reserve places for students in 2009/10.
Kivuli Boarding House
Construction work at Kivuli boarding house is progressing well with the roof now being added. This extension to Kivuli will provide us with 16 additional boarding places for the coming school year. Pictures of the construction can be seen at www.ismoshi.org/kivuli.htm.
Primary Reading Circles
Narelle would like to thank P1/2 parent helpers; Terry, Alina and Jigal for helping out during reading circles last term. Please contact Narelle at school if you are interested to help with reading circles this term.
Indoor Shoes for Primary
Since we are well into the rainy season, primary students will need to have a pair of indoor shoes to wear in the classroom (Malapas/flip flops) as they will be asked to remove any muddy or wet shoes outside the classroom. In the lower classes these are usually left at school and used to wear to the pool. On that note, we would like to remind parents of kindergarten children to use the entrance on the KG playground side of the classrooms to drop and pick their children and not cross through the classrooms.
Dar es Salaam Presentation
Many thanks to the many parents who attended our presentation in Dar es Salaam last Friday and who invited friends and colleagues to come and learn more about ISM. It was a successful event and is an important part of building links with the Dar es Salaam community.
WANTED
With new teachers joining the school in late July and other new families movong to live in Moshi, I am beginning to get requests for a number of things. Are you able to help with any of these:
Houses to Rent: ISM will need to rent a couple of new houses for the new school year. We would prefer smaller houses in the Shanty Town area. If you know of any available, please contact Keiron White on or Mustafa Madan on .
Cars: If you have a car for sale and you would be happy for me to send your email address to any enquirers, please let me know.
Washing Machine: I have a request to buy a washing machine from anyone who is leaving. Please let me know on and I will put you in contact with the prosepective purchaser.
ISM Website
A lot of new pages have appeared on the ISM website in the last few weeks:
This newsletter has been sent to you from International School Moshi. Please advise me if your email address changes or if you would like me to add another email address to this mailing list.
