Dear Parents,
What a great week we had last week, culminating in the International Breakfast and BISQ games at the weekend.
I look forward to sharing our successes with you next week.
For this week’s newsletter I have had our Head Girl, Chloe Mannings, and Head Boy, Apostolos Tsailas, write up their Tanzania experiences. They both stayed out in Tanzania after the Year 12 Expedition Week to carry out their Duke of Edinburgh’s International Gold Award Adventurous Journey.
The Tanzania trip took place in the glamorous camp of Shamba Kipara in Arusha. The students took part in a multitude of activities such as garden erection, learning about permaculture, coffee plantations, Tanzanian culture and lastly a two day safari. Many would say that the trip was humbling, eye opening and brought the year group together.
The students learnt about how farmers can sustainably use all the land they have available. Through plant integration, farmers can use trees to support climbing plants or provide shade or use herbs and weeds to fend off insects. They learnt how to create an organic manure that acts as an extremely effective fertiliser for the plants which is more effective than chemical fertilisers.
The DofE expedition took place in the Usambara mountains. The students camped for six days, hiking for four. They developed incredible teamwork skills and resilience that carried them through the difficult treks. During the expedition, they stayed in a convent and witnessed how nuns lived in Tanzania, learnt how a villager used the clay that the mountains are made of to make pottery, and lastly, they planted trees to offset their carbon footprint. To tie together the trip, their last campsite was accompanied by a breathtaking view that made their efforts worth it.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Douch,
Head of Secondary, Madinat Khalifa
