International School Moshi Moshi Campus News - 12th December 2008
Dear Parents,
Many parents were present for last night's Primary Christmas production and I would like to thank all the primary students who put on such an excellent performance as well as the teachers and teaching assistants who supported them. We are now ready for the secondary Sports Weekend which starts today with students from ISM Arusha Campus, IST in Dar es Salaam, and Haven of Peace in Dar.
Sports Weekend
Our big secondary Sports Weekend is from 12th - 14th December and we will be hosting teams from ISM Arusha Campus, International School of Tanganyika (IST) and Haven of Peace Academy in Dar es Salaam. The programme of events is available to view on the school website by going to www.ismoshi.org/sportsweekend.pdf. The range of sports on offer includes football, rugby, cricket, basketball, netball, volleyball, swimming, badminton, tennis and ultimate frisbee and students will also have a barbecue and dance on Saturday evening. Day students may join the barbecue only if they have already signed up and purchased a meal ticket from the main office.
Christmas Craft Fayre
On Saturday, 13th December, 10am to 2pm, we will be holding a Craft Fayre on campus. We are inviting local artisans and small traders to sell their various prodcts in the school. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to buy those much needed Christmas presents and to support Moshi small traders at the same time. There is a fee of TSh 10,000/- per table for anyone wishing to sell products. More details at www.ismoshi.org/xmasfayre.pdf.
M3/M4 Maths Challenge
On Monday, 15th December the M3 and M4 students will be travelling to ISM Arusha Campus to join with the students there in a Mathematics Challenge - a morning of mathematical tasks, quizzes and games. Day students have been asked to bring a packed lunch with them for the day. The M4 students will return to Moshi in the afternoon whilst ...
M3 Survivor Challenge
... the M3 students will remain in Arusha Campus until Wednesday afternoon (17th December). They will spend two days with their Arusha counterparts undertaking their MYP culminating activity: Survivor Tanzania. This will include hiking, camping and taking on various team challenges in different subject areas.
M4 and M5 Personal Projects
Our M5 students will not be in class on Tuesday, 16th December as they spend the day finalising the product of their MYP Personal Project. M5 Day students may remain at home if they wish, or may come to school at 7:30am. Boarding students will be supervised throughout the morning (together with any day students who come to school) as they work on their projects. On Wednesday, 17th December, the M5 students will present their projects to the M4 students who will help by giving them some constructive feedback. This will also enable the M4s to learn more about the whole of the Personal Project which they will be starting on next term. M4s and M5s will not have regular classes on Wednesday.
All students will have regular classes and CAS activities as normal on Thursday, 18th December.
Christmas Dinner
Our boarders will be having a special Christmas Dinner at El Rancho restaurant on Wednesday evening, 17th December.
End of Term Arrangements
All secondary students will receive reports on Wednesday, 17th December. I am sorry that we will not be able to issue any reports earlier than this as we need to ensure that these are complete, . However, if you wish to receive a digital copy of the report, please email me on on or after Wednesday.
On Friday, 19th December, secondary school students will have classes as usual from 7:30am to 9:45am. There will then be a brief whole campus assembly. Secondary students are free to leave school from 10:15am on Friday.
Secondary teachers will be in Karibu Hall from 10:30am to 12 noon on Friday, 19th December to meet with parents. This is an excellent opportunity for you to discuss your child's report with his or her teachers and we look forward to seeing you at this time. For parents who are unable to come to school on this day, but would like to meet with teachers individually next term, please email me so that we can make suitable arrangements.
Primary classes will continue on Friday, 19th December until 12 noon, after which all primary students will be free to leave school.
Primary Reports
We would really appreciate your feedback on the new format of the primary reports this term. Could you please complete the attached form (only attached for parents of primary students) and return it either by email to or in printed form to your child's class teacher? If the form is not attached here, it can also be downloaded from www.ismoshi.org/reports_pri_feedback.pdf.
Primary Assembly
Our final primary assembly last week was really to thank all the students, teachers and teaching assistants for their hard work throughout the term. Teachers and students also expressed their appreciation for all our parents' support.
Library Books and Primary Readers
If your child has any class readers or overdue books at home please return them to school by Wednesday 17th December.
Farewells
During this term since August we have welcomed 92 new students to the campus and most have settled in well and successfully made friends in this community. Sadly we now have to say some farewells. We say goodbye to our only leaving student, Charlotte Langley in Kindergarten, and wish her and her family well for the future.
Many thanks also to Anne Naudan who has worked much of this term as an assistant teacher in the secondary French classes. Anne left this week to return to college. Next term her place will be taken by a new French assistant teacher, Nicolas Garaud.
We have been fortunate to have had Savannah Conlee who is a student teacher from University of Iowa working with P3/4 and P1/2 as part of her teaching practicum. She will be returning to the US next week and we wish her well in her future endeavours. Next term we will be joined in primary by another student teacher, Alissa ver Steeg from Augustana College.
At the end of this term we will also be saying goodbye to Kale Howard who has been working on the campus to support our IT technical crew. Many thanks for all the work that Kale has done.
Website Workshops
The crash course in web page creation has two more sessions to go as follows:
Dec 13, 10-12 am: Principles of Design II
Dec 20, 10-12 am: Finishing Touches
Participation is free, and limited to individuals connected to ISM (parents, teachers, students, etc.).
If your child would like to take music theory examinations (set by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) in March, they must register with Mr Khari Lee before Monday, December 15th. Music practical exams will be held in May and registration will take place in February.
Mosaic Club
After a first term of running a mosaic club at ISM, we realised that it is hard to find exciting material around Moshi. So we are asking you if you have any of the items listed below to donate them to the club:
beads
newspaper
different coloured tiles: broken or not
plates, bowls, glasses: broken or not
pebbles
shells
ceramics, pottery
empty jars, bottles
You can leave them in the art room with a little 'mosaics club' tag on it and we will sort them out.
Thank you - Anne-Carole Laborde and Jane Barnett
Primary After School Clubs
We'd like to thank all parents who have offered to run a club for next term. Mr. Holt will be coordinating primary clubs in term 2. This week your child will be bringing home selection sheets for clubs.
Boarders and Air Tickets
If your child is returning to school next term by air, we would like to request that you also book and purchase the return ticket for him/her to travel home at the end of next term on March 27th. Although we are able to purchase air tickets here for boarding students if this is a necessity, it would be far easier for us if the tickets could all be organised from home. Thanks for your help with this.
Term Two
Classes next term will start on Wednesday, 14th January at 7:30am. Boarders should arrive in school by 5pm on Tuesday, 13th January. Please advise Sunita Somaiya in plenty of time if your child will need to be met at the airport. We would request that all students return to school on time so that valuable teaching time is not missed.
On Thursday, 15th January there will be a meeting for parents of M4 students to introduce you to the MYP Personal Project. More details of this meeting will be sent out later.
Our D2 students will be taking mock (practice) examinations from January 19th to 23rd and our M5 students will also be taking examinations at that time. These students will therefore need to allow some time during the holidays to prepare for this examination week.
Holidays
The school main office will be closed from Wednesday, 24th December to Thursday, 1st January inclusive. Otherwise the office will be open during the holiday on weekdays from 7:30am to 5pm.
Similarly the library and IT Centre will be available to students on weekdays from 2nd January to 13th January, 7:30am to 5pm.
The swimming pool will be open throughout the holidays for students and other card holders, but will be closed on December 25th and 26th and on January 1st. Times will be posted on the notice board outside the pool.
The Summit
The December 2008 edition of The Summit will be given to all students on Wednesday, 17th December. You may also download a digital copy from www.ismoshi.org/summit0812.pdf.
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