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End of the School year

After School Activities – Session Three

The last day of ASA’s for this academic year is Friday 30th May. There will be no after school program during the last week of the school year. I would like to thank all our activity leaders for their outstanding work throughout the year. Teachers, parents and external leaders have all played their part in making our ASA program, diverse, stimulating and fun for our students. Particular thanks to our parent leaders for this session: Marcela (Cooking), Vanessa (Bracelets) Andy and Gunnar (Tag-rugby), Brent (Senior Swim Squad).

ASA Assembly

This will take place on Friday 30th May in the school hall from 7.20am. The following groups have already signed up to take part; Senior and Junior Zumba, Tanzanian Drumming, Ngoma Dance, Beginners Bharatanatyam, Hip-hop Dance, Creative Writing, Dance, Dance, Dance, Computer Programming and Skateboarding. It promises to be a good one! Be there to see the highlights of the session three program.

ASA’s Cancelled on Wednesday 7th May

All After School Activities will be cancelled on Wednesday 7th May due to IST’s Got Talent. Please pass this message on to all members of our school community.

Tag Rugby Clinic at IST Secondary School – Saturday 12th April

On Saturday 12^th April there will be a coaching clinic for aspiring tag rugby players. This will start at 8am and finish at around 1pm and will take place at IST Secondary School in Masaki. The workshop is organized by Dar Leopards Rugby Club in association with a charity organization called Bubesi Pride (http://rugbyinafrica.org/) and will involve coaches from South Africa and UK along with children from local Tanzanian schools. It will be a great opportunity for our students to improve their skills and knowledge of the game.

All children in Grade 3 to 5 who are involved in tag rugby ASA’s have been invited to join. If you would like your child to be involved, please return the reply slip to the ES PE Department office by Friday 11^th April or email: ncook@istafrica.com.  As this is rugby club event and not a school event, all children taking part will need an adult with them for supervision.

 

Important ASA Information for Parents

After School Activity Update

Session Two

The second session of after school activities is drawing to a close and will finish on Friday 14th March. 

ASA Assembly

This will take place on Friday 14th March at 7.20am. So far the following groups will be making presentations; Moshi Sports Weekend Athletes, Hip Hop Dance, Drumming, Ngoma Dance, Acrobatics.

Session Three Sign up

Parents need to be aware of the following timeline for session three activities:

Friday 14th March – Schedule available for viewing and sign up is open

Sunday 23rd March – Sign up closes

Wednesday 26th March (approximately) – Parents receive confirmed activities.

Monday 31st March – Session three ASA’s begin

Any parents who would like to help out with the ASA program  should contact me as soon as possible.  (ncook@istafrica.com)

Session Two Activities – January 2014

Welcome back! By now all parents of students in Grade 1 to 5 who registered their children for the ASA program should have received an email confirming selections. Please contact me (ncook@istafrica.com) if you have not received the email or if you missed sign up. Activities will start on Monday 13th January and run until Friday 14th March. Here are some of the highlights of the session two program:

New Activities

There are a number of brand new activities taking place in Session Two: Camping Club, Gardening, DIY, Puppet Show, Frisbee, Hip Hop Dance, Toy Making, Reading Tanzania, Voice Training, Student Tech Team, Cooking like a Chef.

Musical Production

A vast group of students and teachers have been working hard since the beginning of the school year  on the production “Pirates of the Curry Bean” Performances will be in late February.

Student Led Activities

After the success of “Kid Led Newspaper”a number of Grade 5 students have stepped up to offer activities for younger students. Alma and Kyra (Acrobatics for Beginners), Ava and Camilla (Video Dance Stars), Carla (Gardening). Other students are also involved across the program in assistant roles.

Sports

This term is basketball season and our Grade 3, 4 and 5 boys’ and girls’ teams will be in action against other schools around around Dar es Salaam. Swim Squad and Development Squad galas will happen February and March. Recreational sports this session include frisbee, badminton, beginners tennis, soccer, floor hockey.

International School of Moshi Sports Weekend

Senior Swim Squad and Grade 4 and 5 soccer teams will be travelling to Moshi to compete against other schools from around Tanzania. The date for this event is Saturday 1st March. Students will receive more information soon.

Session one of ASA’s draws to a close

The first session of ASA’s will end on Friday 6th December. On that day will be the ASA assembly which is a celebration of the achievements of our students. The assembly will be at 7.15pm and all parents of students in Grade 1 to 5 are welcome to attend. Sign up for session two will happen before the Christmas holiday. Parents need to be aware of the following dates:

Friday 6^th December – ASA Session Two Schedule open for viewing on ASA website

Monday 9^th December to Thursday 12^th December – Sign up is open through ASA website

Week beginning Monday 6^th January – Parents receive confirmation email of allocated activities

Monday 13^th January – ASA session two begins and runs for 9 weeks, finishing Friday 14th March

 

Changes to ASA Sign-Up

Session Two of the ASA program is on the horizon and sign up will be organised slightly differently. Registration procedures will remain the same, however the way that activities are allocated to students has been changed in an attempt to make the system fairer.  This is in response to numerous comments from parents about the shortcomings of the first come first served system, with the unpredictability of internet access here in Tanzania being cited as a major frustration.

Once session two registration is closed, all first choice activities will allocated randomly, then second choices and finally third and reserve choices. The computer program we use for ASA sign up has been modified to facilitate this and to ensure that the process is fair and equitable.  Session two sign up will take place in December, with activities starting in early January.  More information about the exact timeline will be published soon.

Community Service Program

One of our aims for this year is to develop the Community Service strand of our ASA program. If you know of any Tanzanian groups/communities/organizations who would be interested in joining IST in a community service partnership, please contact me.

Neil Cook

ASA Coordinator

ncook@istafrica.com

ASA’s close for October Break

The first 6 weeks of After School Activities has passed in a flash!  A reminder to parents that there are no ASA’s on the first three school days after three October break (Wednesday 23rd to Friday 25th October)

After School Activities are Go!!

The program will start on Monday 2nd September and run until Friday 6th December (there will be no ASA’s during the shortened week after the October break). The automated system that we use for ASA’s allocates all first choice activities on a first come, first served basis. Then second choice activities are allocated and finally third choice activities. Reserve choices are then allocated if a student’s other choices are full.

Activities run daily from 1.55pm to 2.40pm. On activity days, children remain in class for 5 minutes after the dismissal bell at 1.45pm. A second bell will then ring at 1.50pm, when a 5 minute transition will commence, before the start of activities at 1.55pm. Any children who are enrolled in a late activity (Water Polo, Senior Swim Squad on Thursday etc) should proceed to the library first and then on to their activity at 2.45pm. Children not involved in an after school program are not permitted to remain on campus unsupervised after 1.45 p.m.

For younger students and those and new to IST we recommend that parents collect children from their activity location at 2.40pm. Any children not collected by 2.50pm will proceed to the school office.

Any parents who missed activity sign up, can check the schedule in the right hand column of the this website. Activities that still have space are highlighted in red, please contact me if your child would like to be included.

For more information about ASA’s, please click the “Information for Parents” tab.

ASA Sign Up is Open

Sign is open until Monday 26th August, please click on the red button

What happens Next?

Once registration is closed, the automated system allocates all first choice activities on a first come, first served basis. Then second choice activities are allocated and finally third choice activities. Reserve choices are then allocated if a student’s other choices are full. Parents will then receive an email on Thursday 29th August with your child’s confirmed activities. The program will start on Monday 2nd September.