NEWSLETTER 

June 2022

---

MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear AIS Family,

So much happened at Acorns International School (AIS) this year (especially since January 2022!) that putting it in writing will be an impossible task. However, I cannot resist mentioning two important milestones in the history of AIS:

1. The first cohort of IBDP2 and Cambridge A Levels students graduated from AIS! This cohort will always remain special, as they will be the first ones! Their results are expected from the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge offices in early August. We will keep you posted about the same!
2. The 25-year celebration of Acorns was another milestone that was celebrated with such warmth, fun, and flair. I thank each of you for your support, good wishes, heartwarming gifts and thoughtful messages. The day was filled with proud moments of accomplishments and achievements of the whole AIS community – students, parents, staff and the community at large!

Our Yearbook Reflections, which will soon follow, stands testimony to the eventful year that has been, and I am certain will make you proud to be part of the AIS community. 

However, as we end this academic year, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of so many of our students, staff and parents in the AIS community during this year. The extraordinary commitment made by all our staff, academic and support staff alike, means that we can continue to succeed and flourish as a learning community.

I am delighted to report that a vast majority of our teachers are returning to AIS next academic year, which ensures great stability, but some will move on to new opportunities. I wish them every success in the future and sincerely thank them for their contribution to our school and students.

The Senior Leadership Team has already commenced planning for the new academic year and we will return on August 15, 2022 (students will return on August 23, 2022) to prepare for a smooth start. There are no leavers in this team, but there is an addition. Ms. Rosyelene Ampumuza will be a new inclusion in our team of Heads of Departments in the next academic year. She will Head the Administration Department. Welcome, Ms. Rosyelene! Incase your query is related to summer camp, uniforms, school lunch, after-school clubs or daycare, please get in touch with her at [email protected]

The school administration offices will remain open throughout the holiday period, should you need to visit us. 

Finally, I wish all our AIS families all the very best for the summer holidays and look forward to welcoming you back, relaxed and refreshed for what promises to be an enjoyable and productive year.

25-YEAR CELEBRATION

They say, “Success is a journey, not a destination.” And the success was evident on June 18, when the AIS Families, new and old, arrived to celebrate the journey!!! 

Celebrating 25 years from The Acorns School in Nakasero to the current Acorns International School, was such a euphoric experience.

The evening was filled with laughter, joy and happiness. The evening was rapturous with student performances interspersed with heartwarming messages from former Heads of Schools and alumni, awards, rewards and of course the wonderful cultural flavour provided by our very own, Ndere troupe.

We look forward to building several more memories over the next 25!

PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION (PTO)

New PTO Leadership in Term 3 

Mr. Godwin Kyegombe informed the PTO during the meeting held on Friday, April 26, 2022, that he won’t be able to continue his leadership as PTO Chairman because his family was relocating to the US.  The PTO deemed it necessary to appreciate his work by giving him a befitting send-off. He was presented with a cake and a gift from the Head of School. His phenomenal service to the school was highly appreciated by both PTO members and the School management.   

The PTO voted for new leaders to act till the tenure is done. These were: 

Home Clothes Day 

As usual, the first Friday of every month has been a PTO Home Clothes fundraising day. In a very unique twist this term, the PTO partnered with the PYP6 Action Project to donate all the funds amounting to UGX 1,195,000 raised during the June 2, 2022 Home Clothes Day to Sanyu Babies Home. We thank all the parents who have been supportive of our fundraising efforts this term. 

Teacher Appreciation Initiatives 

Teachers are as much a part of PTO initiatives. In keeping with this, the PTO deemed it necessary to be part of celebrating teachers’ birthdays every month. PTO has decided to provide a cake to facilitate the Teachers’ Monthly Birthday initiative.

On the same note, PTO has celebrated the Best Teachers across departments at AIS this term, best-performing teachers were voted by either fellow teachers or students and PTO appreciated them by giving a cash gift and a Certificate of Excellence. 

The following teachers were appreciated by PTO during the 25-year celebration on June 18:

1. EC Department- Ms. Nayiga Agnes 
2. Primary Department – Ms. Claire Rusoke 
3. Secondary Department- Ms. Evelyn Nakawuka 

Student Appreciation Initiatives

PTO has also rewarded the House Team of the Year across departments by providing the following gifts.

EC- A writing pad and popcorn party 

Primary- A cake treat

Secondary- Book Gift Vouchers from Aristoc

PRIMARY DEPARTMENT UPDATES

I wish to congratulate the entire AIS family for completing this academic year successfully. The year started at a sprint, and it seems to have left many of us still trying to catch our breath. We have ended on a high note with all our PYP students showcasing excellent performances for their Celebration of Learning. We couldn’t have concluded the year differently. Thank you, students, for your hard work, enthusiasm and commitment throughout the school year. You have done lots of activities throughout the year, and you did so well. We are so proud of you!

I thank all the parents for their continued support, which has enabled us to reach greater heights.

As we end the academic year, we would like to say bye to our PYP6 class who are joining MYP1. We have had excellent moments together and wish them the best, as they move to another phase of their educational journey. On the same note, I would like to welcome the Reception Class students and parents to PYP1. We hope to work closely with you to get the best from this journey.

We wish you all a restful summer break and look forward to seeing you in August.

PYP6 to MYP Shadow Days

We will be sad to see our PYP 6 students move on to Secondary, but we know they are ready for the challenge. 

To help prepare our students so they understand the expectations of Secondary students, we provided “shadow” opportunities. These consisted of joining MYP 1 Language and Science lessons, participating in the MYP Design Expo, and attending a question and answer session with MYP 5 students and HODs.

Math Week

The PYP department teachers organised Math Week during the week of April 25- 29th, 2022. Teachers organised daily themes that will help students learn maths in very interesting ways. These themes were: Monday- Math Manipulatives Monday, Tuesday – Tally Tuesday, Wednesday- Word Story Wednesday, Thursday- Teacher Swap Thursday, Friday -Fun Challenge Friday.

Students found it interesting to learn maths with new teachers during the Swap Thursday.

Assessments

Assessments assist in measuring the academic growth of students. All students in PYP took their MAP and Internal Assessments from May 23- June 2. I am happy that we are noticing a lot of growth in the students’ performance, especially in reading. I encourage students to continue reading even during the break to enjoy all the benefits that go with reading and its importance in the larger scheme.

SECONDARY DEPARTMENT

What a year it has been for our Secondary students! As we look back and reminisce over the year, we would look back with pride and smiles of achievements. So many first- First Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards, first MYP Design Expo, first-ever Interdisciplinary Presentations, and our FIRST IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME AND A LEVELS GRADUATES. A year to reckon with for sure.

Through all this, our students have got various platforms to sharpen their ATL skills and the key skills of the 21st century.
All of this would not be possible without the support and cooperation of our parent community. Thank you, for the support and help extended whenever we reached out to you. We look forward to working closely in the days to come as well.

Going forward, we look towards strengthening our curricula and making it more vibrant and dynamic.

At AIS, students’ needs have always been given the foremost priority. We are introducing Spanish as a Language Acquisition subject in the secondary to enrich our Language Acquisition curriculum. We are partnering with eminent career guidance teams to create and provide a complete, cohesive career guidance curriculum across our MYP and IBDP and Cambridge programmes.

On behalf of all our teachers, we wish you all a wonderful and blessed holiday.

MYP1 – 4 Design Expo

MYP1 to 4 students had the chance to show off their design projects to parents, students and teachers in the auditorium

Over 50 groups presented their products linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, such as T-shirts with a social message, the evolution of radio, artificial light production etc.

Students were able to educate visitors about how their product creation process followed the Design Cycle: Inquiring and Analysing, Developing Ideas, Creating the solution and Evaluating.

This process underpins all design projects and is closely linked to the inquiry cycle used throughout the MYP.

Congratulations to the students and the Design teachers!

DUKE OF EDINBURGH ACTIVITIES (DofE)

SPECIALTY DEPARTMENT UPDATES

School Teams

AIS School Teams resumed practice this term. We, as the Sports and Performing Arts Department, would like to extend our gratitude to all the parents whose commitment to managing late evening pickup / early morning drop-off schedules has made it possible for these teams to have practice this term.

We have had the following teams practising this term: Basketball, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis, Badminton, Athletics, Choir, and Dance. As we resume teams early next academic year, please note that students’ regular attendance is necessary for them to stay on the school team, we are also going to keep all our Sports Team practice in the morning.

LEARNING THROUGH SERVICE

MYP 3 Community Project Investigation in Katakala, Mityana District

The Community Project gives our MYP 3 learners an opportunity to learn and solve real-life issues affecting the communities around us. This year, we partnered with Katakala Village in Mityana District, where learners interacted with the leaders and the community on the issues of health, education and general community wellbeing.

The learners got a moment to understand the issues of the community so that they can design models of reducing the challenges and also advocacy. This is part of the assessment criteria for the community project which takes a whole academic year to complete.

The activity culminated in Community Project exhibitions and awarding of certificates to the learners who satisfied the standards of the requirements of the community project award.

AIS MYP 5 Service Internship

At AIS, we aim to provide experiences to foster the holistic development of learners. With this aim in view, the school organises internships for learners every year. This helps them achieve their curricular requirement of a Service internship. This program intends to give learners a real-life experience of the workplace, at the same time contributing to society in a positive way. We have partnered with a number of organisations for this purpose.

The learners this year worked with Straight Talk Foundation, Mukisa Foundation and Red Cross Uganda Chapter to get a real-life experience of an active workplace. 

AIS Charity Activities

We were able to donate a number of items to the Mityana Community and this was organised by MYP 3 students. The items included clothes, shoes and food collected from friends and well-wishers.

We donated sports items to Mukisa Foundation to help them manage the classes better. This donation was organised by the AIS Charity & Community Awareness Club. This was done through printing t-shirts for sale and also a bake sale.

We also donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation and this was organised by MYP 3 students as their Action for the Community Project. They collected funds from bake sales and raised the cash donation.

---

VOLUNTEERS’ APPRECIATION

One of our main foundation pillars is our staff members. Every once in awhile, we enjoy taking a break to appreciate their efforts when they have gone beyond their call of duty.

---

PARENT TEACHER MEETINGS

---

EXHIBITIONS OF LEARNING

PYPX

We are so incredibly proud of our PYP6 students for their completion of the IB Primary Exhibition (PYPX). 

This year, our students chose to focus on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the problems the world is facing in meeting these goals. On Friday, June 17, the students presented their multi-disciplinary projects to their families and PYP5 students. 

This is our 7th year completing the IB PYP Exhibition and we are participially proud of this year’s class for their commitment to action. The students really took on the responsibility of demonstrating their learning through actions in the community. 

We had so many actions completed, there is no way to list them all, but to name a few: volunteering at the USPCA, cleaning rubbish up at a local well, teaching our younger classes about Gender Inequality, the importance of saving money, and saying no to peer pressure, this list could go on and on. As a class, with the cooperation of the AIS PTO, they raised over 1.5 Million Ugandan Shillings to buy donations for Sanyu Babies Home and collected items that were then given to our auxiliary staff.

We want to really highlight and thank our PYP6 families this year. We had parents volunteering to be interviewed, chaperone groups of students to venues of interest, and go above and beyond to bring their students’ ideas to life. We have really seen that the families have taken on this process as their own and the benefit of this to our students has been unmeasurable. 

Thank you to all who supported the PYP6 on this journey and we can’t wait to see what these students do in Secondary next year!

Click on the images below for the gallery.

MYPX

The MYP5 Personal Project Exhibition is a core part of the MYP curriculum. Students must develop a learning goal based on a passion, and then plan how to create a product over several weeks that will allow them to achieve their learning goal and develop ATL skills. This year, these ranged from making a couch to crocheting, writing a report about antibiotics, building a gaming PC and creating a cookbook.

MYP5 students held a presentation to explain their varied personal projects to the school community. It was a good experience for them as they were able to show off the fruits of their labour and develop their skills in public speaking. It was also a great opportunity for all the MYP students to acquaint themselves with what lies ahead and for parents to become more familiar with the MYP.

Well done MYP5!

Click on the images below for the gallery.

Theory of knowledge (TOK) 

Our DP1 students put in a lot of effort in their TOK Exhibition, in which they looked at how knowledge presents itself in the world. This is accomplished by selecting three distinct objects and using them as a lens through which to investigate a prompt or knowledge issue. Because the study of knowledge can be fairly abstract, using objects to make the debate more physical and relevant is a good idea. Students used the Scope, Perspectives, Methods and Tools, and Ethics knowledge framework to assist them.

We appreciate the children, parents, and instructors that came out to ask the DP 1 class knowledge-prompting questions!

Click on the images below for the gallery.

TURNING THE TASSEL

At AIS, a student progressing from one department to another is a milestone to be celebrated. After a break of 2 years, we were able to watch our proud Reception Class graduands march their way to the Primary Department and the PYP6 graduands march their way to Secondary! 

But this year was extremely special, as we graduated our first High School cohort that is ready to embrace University life!

The 11th of June marks a watershed moment in Acorns International School’s history. Our very first IBDP and Cambridge graduation took place. It was a well-earned opportunity to recognize our graduates’ efforts, our staff’s dedication, the administration’s support, and our parents’ faith and commitment.

We are appreciative of everyone who came out to support us. Your attendance was quite beneficial. All we can do now is wish our graduates the best of luck in their future endeavours.

CELEBRATION OF LEARNING

As usual, the Celebration of Learning (CoL) marks the end of our academic year. Students and teachers across departments have worked hard to showcase Unit-related learning and this was evident in every performance. 

EC Celebration of Learning happened on June 22, 2022. Students showcased learning in their different domains as they were dressed smartly in their costumes. 

Primary students had their Celebration of Learning on June 23, 2022. Students used skits and many interesting ways to celebrate Unit-related learning to their parents. It was such a wonderful moment for all the parents and teachers as students were showing various learning skills and experiences.  

Secondary students had their Celebration of Learning on June 24, 2022. Students made gallery walk presentations and stage performances. Students’ stage performances included plays, dances, music, oral presentations, and Physical Education routines. 

Across departments, all performances were phenomenal and showed evidence of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning at AIS. 

---