February. Healthy Living Club.....


Healthy Living Club…..educate…..                
Get involved…Regular Aerobics and exercise and sport Club.
How can we encourage the girls to take responsibility for their health?  To achieve optimally in all areas of our lives we need to be physically fit and healthy. We are developing our Lifeskills curriculum to nurture social, emotional and psychological health but had not really addressed the physical component until recently.
The introduction of our Healthy Living Club, facilitated by Anastazia and Naomi, has been initiated to rectify this. It aims to educate the girls about nutrition and healthy food choices at all stages of the lifespan and to encourage physical activity. Teaching the girls why activity is needed and how they can achieve this in enjoyable ways is our focus. We have begun the Physical fitness program by introducing a weekly aerobics class and 5 – 10 minutes of daily exercise during the morning assembly.
 Starting the day in an energetic way!
 Clementina checking that the girls are doing it right!
Our guest, Liesbeth Kanis, VSO Dodoma, inspired our girls by leading the inaugural aerobics session and together with Clementina, our Headmistress, Pauline our Counselor, Jessie and I, the girls have gained enthusiasm, enjoyment and inspiration to continue with and lead their own regular sessions.
 Liesbeth leading the first Aerobics class.
 Pauline and the girls really working hard and breathing wel!l
 Liesbeth and us!
The past two Friday mornings @ 6.30am we shared time together having fun and getting our heart rates up! Last Friday afternoon during Sport Club, Jessie, Lydia and I met with the girls who were keen to lead and had nominated themselves as trainee coaches.
 The second Aerobics session led by myself and shared by Jessie.





 The early morning starters...Jessie and I!
 Stretching........!
 Pauline perfecting the cat pose!
We outlined how to structure a class….warm up, aerobic and cool down….and why it is important to do this. We have representatives from each Form and each of the girls will take responsibility for running a weekly aerobics session for their own Form (option: any interested person joining in) in additional to a session for the whole school on Friday mornings. 
 Jessie Pauline and I
We are integrating many Lifeskills in a very enjoyable way!! Education For Life!!!!

February. Mentors, leaders, self esteem....nurturing peers.



Morning Talks.
As an integral part of the Lifeskills curriculum and focus at SEGA, we are providing the students with many opportunities to practice leadership, become good mentors and develop self esteem and confidence.
During last year at the daily morning assembly, the girls were rostered to deliver a morning talk, however often in the past, the topic was only thought of as she came to the stage to give the talk and often... hamna morning talk...none was given!!! As you can imagine, the depth of knowledge shared was limited and this process was not nurturing confidence…however their ability to rote learn information is remarkable so some of the more able students could rattle off a portion of their newly completed studies quite easily!! Not really the skills we were wanting to encourage! 

Having been given the mantle of developing a stronger, more rewarding process which nurtured our goals, I asked for volunteers from Form 3 to become leaders to support/guide their fellow students. They following girls came forward and together we devised a plan of action outlined below. I let the girls decide what values and actions were important and they came up with the following:

Rhoda Dauti; Mwilwa Jumanne; Lucy Richard; Yustina Tarimo; Maryam Semwenda; Subira Ramadhani
Aim:
To practice leadership by supporting and guiding fellow students.
To support students in developing good, public speaking skills.
To encourage: planning, research, writing of interesting and informative talks
 To give support, encouragement  and praise to those presenting Morning talk at assemble.

The following will be encouraged:
1.     Confidence by:
·         Being well prepared
·         Speaking loudly and clearly
·         Standing straight and confidently
2.      An interesting and informative talk:
·         Heading of topic
·         Importance and meaning of the student’s message. WHY they have chosen the topic.
·         Introduction
·         Body of the talk: descriptions and information
·         Conclusion of talk.
Topics will be about:
3.       Events  happening at SEGA with their class or the whole school eg: Community Outreach activity; Science experiment; Environment activity; Clubs activity; weekend activity; visitors to SEGA…….etc
4.       A topic of interest eg Astronomy

The support leaders will write the schedule for Morning talk for the semester. They will meet with the 5 girls on duty during the weekend prior to their scheduled talk.  This meeting will occur on Saturdays to allow the speakers time to prepare. The schedule will be posted on the notice board near Head Mistress’ office. At the end of each week the 6 leaders will write a short report on what they have done and what was achieved during the week. Based on this reflection they will decide who should be given the ‘Morning Talk of the Week’ award. After 1 month one leader will invite another Form 3 student to join the support leaders and the original leader will step down from her responsibility. This will give all Form 3 practise of being a mentor and learn from the experience.
The scarey bit.....delivering THE Morning Talk....


Having completed the second week of Talks, Rhoda spoke on behalf of the leading team and congratulated each of the presenters on the pleasing process they had each taken to deliver very interesting talks. She spoke of how proud they were and encouraged others to take the process seriously. Jenifah Boniface was awarded the inaugural weekly award which has inspired many other girls to commit to presenting well. They are really excited about the challenge and many have come to me telling me what their topic will be!
 Rhoda explaining the process, expectations and aims for Morning Talks.....
Jenifah having been presented her award

 Enock Gray, Academic Master, praising both the Support Leaders and the students for their efforts and success.

 L-R: Subira, Maryam, Rhoda, Jenifah, Mwilwa, Lucy, Yustina

Not only was I thrilled that the speakers were excited but I was delighted at the pride with which the leaders responded to the success of their peers because they knew their success was a result of their guidance, support and encouragement.
On Monday I had asked them how the weekend went and they replied...... “Oh Madam…….”, shaking their heads with frustration….”Oh Madam, the Form 1’s…..they were so worried and one was crying…!!”
...so we talked about how they handled this situation. 
They had gently encouraged her, helped her decide on a topic and on how to seek information, listened to her practice, praised her efforts and finally knew that she would be ok! Tuesday came, Anna took the spotlight and in front of the whole school, all staff....... and Polly! She confidently presented a clear, informative talk which met all the requirements!!
I saw each of the leaders go to her after the assembly and praise her for the good job she had done! 

Anna was beaming!.... 

What more can I say?.....
other than....
that I was beaming too!


Finally we are boarders. Form 1.....

We began the school year before our dormitories and classrooms had been completed so the Form 1 girls continued to be day scholars for 2 weeks. Finally, on Sunday 22 January, the girls arrived at SEGA and began their boarding days. Not everything has been completed, however, the girls have embraced the new way of life with never ending enthusiasm and energy! So much energy despite their long days and duties getting done! I visited the girls in their new dorms during 'down time' between end of classes 3.30pm and the beginning of Clubs 4.00pm This is the time their clothes are washed in preparation for the following day and when they tidy up their dorms.
A very typical scenario between 3.30- 4pm

The Form 1 dorm is yet to receive solar power to source their indoor lights so they are using their portable solar lights (which look a bit like the bug catchers we used to capture unsuspecting insects with as kids!!) The blue panel on the top of the light is the converter which flips over to expose the light globe allowing the lamp to shine. A very simple and effective power source which the girls happily manage.
When I neared the dormitory, all 30+ solar lights were basking in the intense afternoon sun, soaking up the energy needed to guide each girl in her bedtime routine after study/prepo which finishes at 10pm.

So much energy being used outside....

.......and those inside were either relaxing or full of energy and cleaning, cleaning....trying to put some order into their own space!!!

mmmm. ......still some cleaning to be done....but study is important too!

Prisca sorting her clothes.

study.....study......rest.......

and....fun......!

We have a number of new girls in Form 1 who have been welcomed easily into their family.

.....and outside, Asia was still washing....but her beautiful, radiant smile says so much about her happiness and contentment with being a part of the SEGA family.


Mwanahamisi scrubbing and striving for the bright whites they manage to achieve despite the salty water!

Great work....just finished cleaning in time for Music club!

Celina and Sauda had successfully cleaned their area which looked far more presentable than some of the other areas!!

Don't you just love them?! So camera shy!!!

The dorms are still having minor adjustments being made so the girls found themselves trying to clean up around the fundis who were installing the last of their lockers.

So much energy....so much happiness......but girls 
mna dakika tano.....haraka haraka....YOU HAVE 5 minutes....hurry hurry.....
Clubs start....don't be late. 
Remember: Punctuality is one of your Core Values!!

These new buildings have been under construction since last September and fortunately the process has been relatively smooth. I have captured the progress during that time and will share it with you in my next blog!

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January. Clubs: Lydia, Jessie and the Art Club

Our Academic year had started with only a few teething problems. Normal in any school! The second week saw the start of our after school Clubs. Every afternoon between 4 and 5pm we offer the girls extracurricular activities. One of the afternoon Clubs nurtures the girls' artistic skills. Lydia's first session asked the girls to draw/color anything they wanted to but they were not allowed to use the color green! Our girls love to draw flowers and trees and were quite challenged with the task of using their imagination to present something ......'not quite correct or natural'!

Lydia collecting all the shades of green...pencils, textas, crayons...

 
So much fun and then the concentration began... 









Jessie and Lydia usually take this Club together but in Jessie's absence Lydia managed to do exactly what the Clubs are designed to do:
Nurture fun .... skills and knowledge.

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Meet Jack....


Hi all....I would like you to meet Jack!
(If you look closely on his rear you will see 2 Jack Wolfskin stickers which is the very reason the girls and I agree that his name is Jack!)
My mate and my freedom to be able to get to school and to the pool in time to swim daily!
Jack is a Toyota RAUM and has only done 81000 Kms....Not quite an All Wheel Drive but definitely able to negotiate the tracks to SEGA, transport passengers and has air con....which is all that is relevant!
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