Our wonderful EYFS children took to the amphitheatre stage on Saturday 25th May to present 'Happy Hat Land' to an audience of delighted parents and friends.
The FS2 children played the main characters, the people of 'Happy Hat Land', and told the story of the week that unrest came to 'Happy Hat Land' as the people argued over the beautiful silver hat. The friendly Hat Seller comes to their aid, teaching them how to share the hat so everyone gets a turn. The trouble is soon over as the people of 'Happy Hat Land' learn that sharing can be fun! 
The children from FS1 entertained as the Hat Land Sparklers, singing and dancing for the audience, and our youngest children from Creche played the tired children who only take their hats off when they jump into bed! 
With the children performing ranging from 2 to 5 years of age, it was amazing to see their confidence and hear their voices loud and clear. Well done to all of you!!
To top things off, the audience and children were surprised with a 'flash-mob' dance from the EYFS teachers, which soon had all of the children up on their feet dancing too. What a fun way to end the show!
From the 13th to 15th May 2019 our Year 12 students participated in team building, leadership and corporate skills training with BlueSky at Lukenya, in Machakos County, Kenya.
On the first day the students took part in a number of ice breakers and team building activities such as Greetings, Spider’s Tag, Bull Ring, Transformers and Human Knot with a Rope. On the following day, they built further on these skills with team building favourites such as No Escape, Knot or Not a Knot and Nuddle Slap. 
These exercises are very important in showing students how to work together despite frustration and conflict, which may be involved. These activities also help to develop listening skills.
On the final day, the students took part in Challenge by Choice on the high rope activities, which included Pipe Dream and Leap of Faith. These activities are the culmination of the trip; the students have to move out of their comfort zones and conquer their fears. The other group members support by either providing verbal encouragement or actual physical support through ensuring that their classmates are lowered to safety after completing the high ropes task.
A wonderful time had by all!
On Saturday 18th May, a soggy and very muddy BISA hosted the NTAA Inter-Schools Cross Country event.
Six other schools from the Arusha and Moshi area came to join BISA in running the three different cross country routes around the Kisongo area. 
The routes range from 1.8km to 5km, each with their own challenges, including slippery hills, rugged surfaces and muddy obstacles.
Every competitor took on their course with grit and determination - no mean feat in the rainy season we have been experiencing!
BISA came out as winners overall by a huge margin with wins in 6 out of 10 categories as well! With many personal bests and a few record-breaking performances, our competitors absolutely shone on the day.
A very special mention goes to:
Yuri Lems - 1st Place U13 Boys (3km) with a time of 7m 45s (New Record!)
Clinton Mutuku - 1st Place U15 Boys (3km) with a time of 10m 56s (New Record!)
Congratulations to you all on your fantastic achievements!
Enjoy the highlight reel of the event below:
“There is still so much in the world worth fighting for. So much that is beautiful, so many wonderful people working to reverse the harm, to help alleviate the suffering. And so many young people dedicated to making this a better world. All conspiring to inspire us and to give us hope that it is not too late to turn things around, if we all do our part.”
At BISA we believe that many tiny changes can make all the difference. Here are some of the changes happening at BISA as we play our part in the fight against climate change:
- Sustainable Events: You may have noticed that we have replaced bottled water at events with filtered water in jugs. By replacing buying bottled water with filtered water, we are reducing our plastic waste from events immensely. Within our daily school activities, our students and staff use refillable water bottles so this is a natural next step for our events. Please keep this in mind at future events at BISA and bring a refillable water bottle instead of buying bottled water at the bar.
- Recycling Bins: Our Junior Dragon students are often at the forefront of tiny changes around the school as part of their Community Service award. Inspired partly by BISA's paticipation in World Clean Up Day, outside classrooms in Primary there are now three labelled bins: one for paper; one for plastic; one for organic waste.
Year 4 have been focussing on caring for our environment and are creating a beautiful garden next to our new library. Part of their project involves recycling plastic waste to turn it into a shade over the garden, and collecting organic waste to make compost for the soil. With snack times and fruit breaks throughout the day in Primary, there is plenty of organic waste to be used - what a fantastic idea!
- Glass Recycling: BISA events generate a lot of glass waste but, don't worry, we are already making sure we recycle. Glass bottles that can be returned, cleaned and refilled at manufacturers are collected, and glass that cannot be returned is donated to Shanga, who recycle them into glassware, jewellery and houseware while giving skills training to disabled people in the community.
- Tree-planting:
Our recent tree-planting day, in collaboration with Roots and Shoots, helped replace many trees in our community and it is something we intend to continue doing around the Mateves and Kisongo area over the coming years.
- Fuel Consumption: Powering two school sites and transporting hundreds of children to and from school every day uses a significant amount of fuel. In addition to our daily practise of switching off lights and electrical equipment when not in use, as well as using more fuel-efficient bus routes, every year, BISA off-sets it's carbon footprint by buying carbon offsets with Carbon Tanzania and protecting forests here in Tanzania.
Please continue to support BISA as we consider our impact on the environment. What tiny changes can you make?
From Greta Thunberg's emotional speeches to world leaders to the global climate change school strike, more and more young people are stepping up to fight climate change, and the students at BISA are no different!
Recently Year 7 & 8 presented a passionate assembly about the frightening reality of climate change. Here are some highlights of what was presented:
"We need to be aware that the world is changing fast and not in a good way because of us humans. If nothing is done we will cause, not only our own extinction but also other species. Imagine a new born baby slowly dying in 10 years and all a president can do, in one of the most powerful countries in the world, is build walls....
This is the 6th mass extinction and we are entirely to blame. It is up to us to stop this from happening fast. " - James
"Let’s look after our mother planet. To stop animal extinction, we should stop throwing our trash into our oceans. We should encourage our governments to stop burning fuel and taking fossil fuels out of the ground. We should start using electric cars, walking or cycling more and fly less. It is never too late to change." - Yusrah
"We are the first generation to really experience climate change and the last generation to do something about it. Climate change is not something to worry about in the coming decades. It is already here and strengthening. Climate change is not just a statement to grab our attention. It is real and we need to act now!" - Shreya
"The UN has released a report this week, written by 50 scientists from all over the world, which confirms that a million species will be on the brink of extinction in DECADES, IN OUR LIFE TIME. We can all do something, no matter how small. If we all act, it will make a difference. And remember, it is not just about saving the earth. The planet will still be here long after we have gone. This is about saving ourselves, our children and our grandchildren." - Nicolas
"Global warming is something we all have to live with. Because of generations before us, we have to ACT NOW. We cannot ignore this and pretend it is going to go away and that it will all be ok. We need to change our lifestyles. We need to persuade grownups, businesses, governments to listen and change. We need to act fast. " - Myles
As BISA continues to make changes across the school to do our part to fight climate change, we hope that you will support our efforts.
Braeburn International School Arusha