A busy week is ahead of us with many events such as the Kilimanjaro Marathon, M3 Science Fair, World Maths Day, P1/P2 trip, ABRSM exams and the Soccer Sevens tournament. Read on for more details.
Kilimanjaro Marathon
Over 90 runners have registered to be part of Team ISM in tomorrow's race, either as participants in the 5km Fun Run, the Half Marathon or the Full Marathon. In addition many boarders have volunteered to help with the organisation and ISM will have a Team ISM tent at the start point and will also be managing one of the marathon water points. All funds raised through sponsorship and donations will be given to the ISM Scholarship Fund. The races start at 6:30am on Sunday morning (28th Feb).
World Maths Day
World Maths Day is celebrated in schools across the world on Wednesday, 3rd March All our students from P1 upwards have been registered to participate and each has a username and password to access the online competition at www.worldmathsday.com. Parents can also register to participate if you wish. Registration can be done at the same site but must be completed by 1st March. Students can also practise on the site now using their username and password.
The competition itself starts at 2pm (Tanzanian time) on Tuesday - this is when 3rd March starts in Kiribati - and continues until 2pm (Tanzanian time) on Thursday - when 3rd March ends in Samoa. Students can go online in school or at home and take part at any time during that 48 hour period. Secondary students may also be given some time to participate during classes. Primary students will be given class time to participate as follows:
P1/2 Wednesday, 10:35-11:15
P3/4 Thursday, 9:35-10:15
P5/6 Thursday, 7:35-8:15.
In 2009, 38,058 schools participated and almost two million students from 204 countries correctly answered 452,681,681 questions. Will the records be broken in 2010?
M3 Science Fair
Also on Wednesday, 3rd March our M3 students will be presenting their Science Fair. Each student has prepared and carried out a scientific investigation and will be presenting their methodology, results and conclusions in Room 31/32 on Wednesday from 2pm to 4:30pm.
P1/P2 Field Study
P1/2 will be travelling to Arusha National Park on Thursday 4th March for the day as part of their unit of inquiry.
ABRSM Theory Exams
These music theory examinations will take place on Thursday, 4th March. Only students who have already registered may participate.
Primary Assembly
The "International Mother Language Day" Assembly is this week on Friday 5th March at 7.40am in Karibu Hall as usual. I would like to extend an open invitation to parents and students who would like to share an item in their mother tongue during this assembly to please let me know by 1.30pm on Thursday 4th March.
"International Mother Language Day" is celebrated around the world to promote linguistic and cultural diversity. The PYP acknowledges the importance of students maintaining their mother tongue and learning the host country language (Kiswahili) as part of each student's cultural experience in Tanzania. Our students are also fortunate to be able to learn an additional language, French.
Rosi Uluiviti (Head of Primary)
Primary Student-Led Conferences
The Primary School will be holding student-led conferences on Friday, 12th March. There will be no primary classes on the day and students will be expected to accompany their parents to school during the scheduled times. Sign up forms have been pasted outside classrooms since 22nd February. Portfolios will not be sent home prior to these conferences. On the day students will be discussing their portfolios with their parents at school.
Student-led conferences are formal conferences where children are involved in discussing their work and progress with their parents.
Students are involved in the selection of their work. Some teacher choices are also included in the student portfolios
Students are taking more responsibility for their own part in the learning process
The conference provides an opportunity for students to identify their strengths and areas for further growth in within their chosen work.
While students present their portfolio, parents could ask their child to explain:
what they did
what helped them to successfully complete their piece of work
what they learnt or enjoyed about the different activities they selected
what they would like to improve on or do differently next time
what strategies they used to help them do their work
what they would really like you to understand about their work
why they chose certain pieces of work to display in their portfolio
what they are good at
Primary boarding students will have an organised programme for that day and, for those whose parents are unable to attend, will be accompanied to the student-led conferences by their boarding parent or another teacher.
International Festival
The organisation for the International Festival on Saturday, 13th March on Arusha campus is now well underway. The aim of the day is to celebrate and learn more about the many and diverse cultures that make up our school community. There will be live performances, music, art, culture and food. There will be an International costume parade in the main hall and a grand finale for the day where we will toast the school and tuck into a large birthday cake to wish ourselves a happy 40th birthday. We will also showcase and give away an ISM recipe book featuring your family recipes from around the world.
The PA are coordinating tents representing the different continents of the world. These will represent the Americas, Africa, Europe, Australasia, Asia, and the Middle East. We would like to ask you the parents to participate and help create these areas to celebrate and showcase your national costume, food and culture.
Entrance on the day will be free but all food and drink will be charged at cost. Everybody is welcome to bring food from their own culture to sell. All we ask is a minimum donation of 20% from your takings to go towards the costs of the organisation.
If you would like to participate please contact Pauline on tel 0785774773 if you are from the Moshi campus or Joyce Msengi-Mullings on or tel 0787516837 if you are on the Arusha campus.
If you have an act, idea or any other query regarding the day you can email Sue Jones on tel 0782935608 or pop into to see her at the main reception on Arusha campus.
It’s going to be a great family day for our children to remember.
Variety Show
Our annual Variety Show is coming up on Friday, 12th March. Students are starting to prepare their performances now! Details to come later.
Fees
This is to remind parents who are paying fees by quarterly instalments, that the next due date for receipt of fees is Monday, 1st March..
It is school policy to surcharge fees which are not received by the due date. If you anticipate problems in paying by the due date, please contact me on in advance so that we can discuss possible arrangements.
Primary Pick-up Times
I would like to ask all parents to be punctual when collecting their primary children at the end of the school day. Monday-Thursday, 1.05pm and Friday - 12.35pm. Likewise, if your child attends afternoon clubs (Mon-Thurs) the first session ends at 2.20pm and the second session ends at 3.20pm.
Day students, who are on campus after school classes/activities with their parents, house ladies, gardeners etc, need to be closely supervised at all times. The school cannot be responsible for the care of day students who are on campus after their classes or supervised activities end.
Primary Birthday Party Invitations
Consideration and empathy are two of the eight attitudes we develop through the PYP at ISM. With birthdays and special events happening all year round, this can be quite a sensitive issue for students, particularly if they do not receive an invitation.
Please be informed that only invitations to parties/events that include the whole class will be allowed to be distributed at school. These are to be handed to the class teacher for distribution to ensure that no one is left out. Invitations that include only a selected few, should be organised outside of school.
School Server and Internet Access
Most school computers on the campus are networked and were, until recently, connected to the campus file server. This allowed students to save and access files to/from the server in most areas in the school. Unfortunately the server crashed in December. A new file server is on order and we hope to have it installed and working before too long.
Internet access on the school network is controlled separately through a router and is working OK at the moment. However bandwidth in Moshi is extremely expensive and we are limited by the bandwidth that we are able to buy. This means that internet speeds are not as fast as we would like. In order to manage the limited bandwidth, we control which computers will have internet access at certain times. Students can access the internet in the IT Centre and Library at all times when these are open. There is also open internet access provided to boarders at specified times at weekends in order to allow them to update anti-virus and other software on their personal computers. Those boarders who want internet access in their bedrooms at all times need to pay a monthly fee ($40) which is used to provide some funds for additional bandwidth in the school.
Parent Association Meetings
The minutes of all Parent Association Committee meetings are emailed to parents by the PA. In addition there are copies available on the school website at www.ismoshi.org/pardocs, but parents will need the username and password that they have been given to access these documents. Please contact Keiron White on if you need this password sent to you. Printed copies of the minutes are also available in the library.
End of Quarter Arrangements
Boarders will be free to leave school at the end of this quarter from 10:30am on Friday, 26th March. If your child is flying home, please purchase the ticket yourself from your own travel agent and email the e-ticket to the Senior Boarding Parent, Sunita Somaiya on . E-tickets should reach Mrs Somaiya at least four days before the flight date. Please note that unless there are exceptional circumstances which have been discussed with us, we will not support students leaving on flights until the Friday afternoon, as we do not want students to be missing any classes.
School Shop (Duka)
On the Moshi Campus we have a school shop (duka) which is open at break times and lunchtimes as well as during the afternoons and evenings. It serves the needs of all students during the day time and of boarders at other times. Although the school has managed the shop itself for many years, we are now interested in the possibility of enabling a private individual or company to manage the shop. If you know of anybody who may be interested in taking on this private management, please contact me on as soon as possible to request further details.
SAT and TOEFL tests
We recommend students currently in D1 who may be applying to universities in the USA to take SAT Reasoning tests in May this year. The school has been providing preparation classes for these tests throughout the school year. Registration for the tests can be done online by the student themselves although they will need details of a credit card in order to effect payment. Alternatively parents may request that payment is done through the school using a school credit card - in such circumstances we will need to pass on our 8% bank charges. Details of how to register are given on the school website at www.ismoshi.org/SAT.htm. Registration should be completed before the end of this quarter.
Also D1 students who are not nationals of the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, and who are planning to study in the USA, Canada or Australia are advised to also take a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in May this year. Again registration is online and should be completed before the end of this quarter. Details are given on the same webpage.
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