Welcome back to all our students! It seems a long

time since the last newsletter and once again, so

much has happened, not least the absolutely

fantastic school performance, "Lion King". Almost

1000 people over 3 nights witnessed a truly

outstanding interpretation of the well-known story.

Once again, may I convey my thanks to Mr

Troughton, Miss Tampa and Miss Belshaw for their

direction, Mr Akodhe and Mrs Glissmann for their

musical arrangements and the art department for

the stunning head dresses and masks. The

outstanding performances from the pupils were too

numerous to mention. Well done to one and all!

Next week several SAIntS students are representing

Malawi at a swimming championship held in

Mauritius. Good luck to them and we all look

forward to hearing about their experience when

they return. Thank you to Liyani Swimming and the

PE department for supporting these students.

This term brings the usual busy period of

examinations starting this week with language and

IT examinations. Good luck to all students involved

with these; but do remember the famous phrase

from the professional golfer Arnold Palmer "The

more I practise the luckier I get!". Revision is the

key and thank you to all the teachers who are

preparing their students with extra revision classes.

Have a busy and successful term.

Kieron P. Smith, Head Teacher

Calendar Dates - April

18th Yr 12/13 Concerns Parents

Evening

19th AS Group Drama

Performances

20th 13:00-14:30 Yr 12 Scholarships talk

21st BTEC Hospitality Visit

18:00 Open Mic Night

22-24th Boarders trip to the lake

25th Yr 11 Parents concerns

evening

28th Jnr Maths Challenge

Jnr & Snr House music

Competition

29th Yr 11 study leave for selected

students

5th July Last Day of Term for Students

Trip To Kapichira

Mr C. Dodd

In Geography this year students in Year 8 have been

studying both rivers and resources, two topics that are

particularly relevant to life here in Malawi. A visit to

the ESCOM-operated Kapichira HEP facility on the

Shire River near Majete Wildlife Reserve provided

students with a firsthand look at where a large

proportion of Blantyre's electricity comes from.

Engineers guided students from the dam, spillway and

intakes at the start of the process, down through the

impressively engineered turbine and generator halls

where each of the four units generates close to 32MW

of electricity, before finishing at the transformer

station where the 'new' electricity departs for the

consumers along power lines at an impressive 132,000

volts.

Although large areas of farmland and many homes

were flooded during construction of the facility, and

the reservoir is now silting up as a result of

deforestation, Kapichira undoubtedly brings a

number of economic and social benefits to people

in the region. The visit was an enjoyable and

valuable learning experience for the students, and

thanks must go to the staff at Kapichira for

accommodating us so warmly.

Newsletter #12

April 14th 2016

New School Prefects Announced

Mr P.Stubbs

During the whole school assembly on Tuesday, I had

the pleasure of announcing the first batch of

prefects who will take over from the current Year

13’s towards the end of term. As Head of Year 12, I

knew that the decision was going to be tough as we

have so many outstanding students in the year

group; in order to appoint a select group of

individuals, a feedback and scoring system was

adopted in order to allow SLT to make their final

decision during their first meeting of the new term.

The new prefects will take on a shadowing role over

the next few weeks to familiarize themselves with

their new role, this will be supported by some

additional training with regards to duties,

supporting younger students and child protection –

it is expected that the new prefects will take on

their full duties from 20th June 2016 as soon as they

return from AS study leave. I would like to thank all

the teachers, Heads of House as well as the current

senior prefect body for their scores and feedback

throughout the process.

We will be naming a few more in the final assembly

of term this year and more again around half term

in October so for those who have narrowly missed

out, keep impressing and you will be considered.

The new prefects announced this week are:

Name Form

Aashish Tanna 12C

Aila Dielemans 12M

Alden Boby 12S

Anna Fischer 12N

Biko Bourgeois 12M

Chris Gaunt 12C

Chris Hammond 12M

Daniel Chibwana 12S

Ellie Scott 12M

Esther Malata 12S

Esther Ngwira 12S

Jared Neilson 12M

Kessiah Makhwatha 12M

Lurein Perera 12S

Palesa Nkosi 12C

Pubert Nkhono 12S

Sam Scott 12M

Sangwani Simwaka 12N

Sarah Wheatley 12M

Tadala Nchingula 12C

Tayne Barlow 12S

Temwani Siwu 12N

Tom van Oosterhout 12S

Upile Napolo 12N

Viraj Magecha 12S

Zaithwa Gwaza 12C

Introducing Science Week at SAIPS

Tom B Yr 11

As an ex-SAIPS student, the recent Chemistry trip to

the primary school was laced with nostalgia, as well

as other chemicals, and so it was with no small

sense of anticipation that I got on the bus. I stepped

out into a cloud of memories, and mused on them

as we made our way down to the hall, where Ms. T

was already busy with Sam and Rania, making

hydrogen bottle rockets and setting each other’s

hands on fire (safely, of course). Greeted by the

sound of explosions, the primary school camel, and

shrieks of delight from many small children, the

morning had

begun.

We split up into

three groups.

Aila, Lurein,

Nikhil, Upile

and Temwani

tackled the

year 1s and 2s

(not literally) down in the hall, Andoni, Tayne, Wezi,

Sangwani and Aashish the Year 3s and 4s in the art

room, and myself, Chris, Rania, Sarah, Sam and Liam

the Year 5s and 6s on the khonde. After about 10

minutes, during which time we ‘suited up’, donning

a lab coat, protective goggles and bright blue gloves

to complete the mad scientist image, the kids came

from their classrooms buzzing with conversation

about the recent events in the hall and eager to get

on with more experiments. Each of us had his/her

own station with a different experiment at each.

I was in control of the imploding cans station (less

violent than it sounds), and as the first group

gathered round I prepared myself for the worst,

recalling myself as a 10-year-old child. To my

immense relief, the children were nothing but

enthusiastic, engaging and quite simply, delightful.

After I performed an initial example experiment

(heating a can over an alcohol burner, then

upending it into a cold bath of water and watching

all the air get sucked out of the can, creating a

vacuum and causing the can to implode with a loud

‘SCHLOOP’), the children had their turn. Goggles on

and can in tongs, they held it over the flame. When

the can is ready to be upended, copious amounts of

steam pour out of its opening, and this was the

signal to begin The Countdown. From 10 to 0, each

group louder than the last. Soon friendly(ish)

competition arose between my group of primary

schoolers and Chris’s, the two of us encouraging our

groups to shout the countdown louder than the one

before.

Cries of excitement followed each ‘SCHLOOP’, and it

was obvious that the children were enjoying

themselves almost as much as we were. They were

inquisitive and friendly, all of them looking forward

to starting chemistry experiments at high school,

the ‘light bulb and wires’ having long grown stale.

Looking round at the other groups, the children

were engaged with the experiment at hand and the

seed of science was being planted (I’m not a

biologist). After the Year 5’s came through, the Year

6’s arrived, and were just as curious and eager as

their younger counterparts.

The morning was over all too quickly, and as the

year 6’s filed back to their classrooms, a part of me

began to imagine my career as a teacher, educating

and inspiring the next generation to glory.

Thankfully, the thought swiftly faded and was

replaced with the thought of break, a topic which I

am sure is not far from the minds of many teachers

after teaching a group of unruly year 12s. In all

seriousness though, it was a brilliant trip, enjoyable

and heart-warming. We all had a great time, and a

return trip to SAIPs hopefully won’t be far over the

horizon.

Saints Students Scoop Second Prize in TNM’s

Smart Challenge

By Mrs R Leathart (HoD Economics & Business

Studies)

On Friday 12th March, Madalitso Kamkosi, Peter

Mbirima and Dingalira Chilima were awarded

second place in TNM’s national app design

competition. This was a tremendous achievement

as they were pitted against graduate and post

graduate university students. They were the only

high school students, and therefore youngest

entrants in their group, to make it to the grand

finale held at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe, with a

panel of judges from Facebook, IBM, TNM and M-

Hub.

The competition was launched on 6th October 2015

and had three categories, Smart Kid, Smart Student

and Smart Community. This competition, the first of

its kind in Africa, was sponsored by TNM, Google,

Facebook, IBM, M-Hub, Opera and Clickmobile. It

required entrants to design a mobile phone app for

the Malawian community, which if successful,

would be featured on Facebook’s ‘Freebasics’.

With encouragement from Mr Lawrence (HoD ICT)

Madalitso, Peter and Dee took on the challenge;

coming up with a concept, designing the product

and convincing the public about its viability. The

boys set out to create a program that solved

information deficit problems – a Malawi directory

app where all businesses could be listed and rated

with feedback – MSEFA (Malawi Services Finder

App). Throughout the duration of the competition

the boys had to attend a series of workshops,

referred to as ‘incubation’ sessions run by TNM and

Facebook. All the way through these sessions the

boys were asked ‘what was your inspiration for

designing this app?’, to which they consistently

replied ‘Our School’! (And no they had not been

coached beforehand)!

The final apps were uploaded to TNM’s website on

the 28th November and entrants had to show

initiative by undertaking their own marketing to

encourage public nominations. The SAIntS boys

published their entry details and unique reference

code in the last two SAIntS newsletters and - it

worked! They received 100,000 votes from the

public texting ‘ss6’ to 575. They boys are deeply

indebted and extremely grateful to all the people

who voted for them across Malawi.

At the last minute finalists were notified of their

success and given one week to prepare a

presentation to deliver to the panel of judges

explaining the uses and importance of their apps.

Cue panic number one! How could they squeeze

everything they wanted to say into ten minutes?

With a little bit of guidance from the Business and

Economics Department the boys soon developed a

concise, yet informative and professional looking

presentation. Peter and Madalitso spent a week

tirelessly rehearsing their presentation with cue

cards and critical audiences in order to prepare for

the final*.

On the morning of the final, Peter and Madalitso

had a bit of bad news...the presentations could only

be 5 minutes long! Cue panic number two! Swift

action had to be taken over the next hour to pare

down their detailed explanations and interesting

anecdotes that were to accompany the slideshow.

However, they did it – phew! They were provided

with a complementary lunch and began to enjoy

meeting other people and relax a little. The event

was delayed by over an hour but still their

confidence was high…until they entered the

auditorium and discovered that they would be live

on MBC…AND due to the delay contestants would

have two minutes to deliver their presentations!

Cue the final panic stage! Well, despite the slight

change in arrangements Madalitso and Peter,

excelled, delivering the best presentation of the

whole competition. The judges were wowed by

these confident, articulate, energetic and

professional young men. One Facebook judge said ‘I

love your logo’ and another commented on their

great ‘enthusiasm’. One TV viewer said “what

impressed me was their confident delivery and the

originality of their idea” Janette Johnson (Head of

Bishop Mackenzie Primary School).

After great deliberation by the judges our SAIntS

boys were awarded second place, a phenomenal

achievement. First place was awarded to a group of

post-graduate students who designed ‘Maternitech’

an app to provide guidance to mothers-to-be on

pregnancy and contraception. However, in

recognition of all their hard work the CEO of

Telecommunications Malawi announced that all

entrants would receive an S5 phone. So what else

did Madalitso, Peter and Dee win? In order to

develop their app they have been offered $30,000

worth of one-to-one mentoring and technical

support from Facebook, $24, 000 worth of cloud

space, technical support and mentoring from IBM

and additional support from M-Hub!

To put the icing on the cake, at an evening dinner

event for the finalists, parents and judges to the

Facebook judges cornered Madalitso and Peter and

convinced them that they must create their app

with developer tools and…that they had secured

automatic internships at any time good for them in

either the Silicon Valley or London branches! They

told them that they were not just impressed with

their concept, confidence and amazing logo but

loved the fact that they were the most interactive

team – way to go boys, you are stars and you did us

all proud!

*Sadly, Dee could not attend due to the being a star

performer in the Lion King (we heard he was

amazing, as was the production as a whole).

Year 12 Trip update

By Mr P. Stubbs

As you know, for a number of reasons, we had to

postpone the trip to Mulanje in term 1 – we have

been trying to arrange for an alternative for some

time, but this has proved difficult due to a very busy

school calendar and the wide ranging commitments

that out year 12 students carry out. The good news

is that we have now planned for a multi-

dimensional trip to Lake Malawi – the trip will

involve a range of activities that will allow our

students to develop a variety of different skills and

attributes whilst having some fun and enjoyment at

the same time. The trip will involve the renovation

of different aspects of a community organisation in

Mangochi as well as some hiking and

swimming/snorkelling in the surrounding area in

addition to a number of different evening events.

We had originally planned to carry out the trip at

the end of Year 12 when our students return after

writing their AS examinations, however, due to our

support of Ramadan and the decision to finish term

earlier, we have scheduled this trip to take place

16th-18th September. More details will follow

towards the end of term.

Orienteering Club

By Mr C. Dodd

Term 2 saw the successful return of orienteering to

the House activity program. From one week to the

next students were increasingly challenged using a

number of different maps of the school grounds to

complete a variety of events, including clue-based

treasure hunts and checkpoint-based routes. In the

open competition Nathan T remained unbeaten,

Sadaf D (6pts) in joint second place. finishing on

10pts ahead of Malika G (6pts) and

In the handicap competition, where students were

given a score weighting based on their own

individual performance from one week to the next,

Zahra K showed the most consistent improvement

to finish first on 9 points ahead of Sadaf D (7pts)

and Nathan T (6pts). All students must be

congratulated on the energy and enthusiasm shown

throughout the term.

Spelling Bee

By Khushi R (Year 8)

Saturday 5th March was a big day for some students

in Malawi. It was the semi-finals of the National

Spelling Bee and it was hosted here at SAIntS.

There was a lot of tension in the air as many

students from a range of schools gathered on the

stage. Around 50 students had qualified for the

semi-finals and some had achieved full marks in the

quarter finals.

At around 1:30pm the competition started. In

turns, students were called up to the microphone.

Words were spelt and words were misspelt. In total

each student had to spell three words. Out of ten

juniors, only five participants qualified for the next

round. For the senior section, six participants got

full marks and qualified for the next round. There

was supposed to be a knock-out round but the

judges kindly let all six of them go through.

Some students left with their heads held high even

if they didn’t go through to the next round. All

students had tried their best; maybe, they will have

better luck next time.

A sample of the words spelt:

erroneous adolescence

blatant ambiguous

partition omniscient

pertinent opulent

admonition acquittal

Can you spell them? (without looking!)

Mother Tongue Other Tongue Celebration in

English

By Mrs K Colliver

Our Year 8 students recently studied Poetry from

other Cultures to celebrate the cultural and

linguistic wealth that we find in every classroom at

SAIntS.

Students in all English classes were invited to

compose, recite and or translate poems and songs

from their own cultures and mother tongues. At

the end of term, we celebrated our cultural

diversity in the school’s amphitheatre where

students performed their pieces in front of their

year group.

We enjoyed poems and songs from many countries

and in many languages. Some students also

brought along culinary delights which

complimented our celebration.

Well done and many thanks to all those students

who made this event successful and enjoyable!

SAINTS CELEBRATE BOOK WEEK

By Mr M. Phoya

It was not all about experiments, computing, writing

long essays, singing, exam moderation, calculating

moles among the very many activities that define

SAINTS life!!! Students and teachers had other ideas

Last term’s penultimate week offered students and

staff a chance to take a book of their choice to the

classroom. We celebrated book week! We began

the week with book quizzes, book characters

discussions and learning all about our favourite

books.

The Department of English led by Ms. Mahon took

book week to another planet. Students were given a

chance to share their creative, imaginative and

writing ideas courtesy of the young, exciting and

adorable poet from the USA, Patrick. Patrick, an

accomplished young, celebrated poet and writer

took students across the Key Stages 3 to 5 on a

writing and poetry workshop. Our students left the

workshop equipped with both creative and

academic writing skills. Of course, it was a session

full of fun and laughter!

As if that was not enough, our spacious library was

the hall mark of carousels and literary discussions.

Students were offered a chance to showcase their

creative and imaginative skills by coming up with SIX

WORD stories...Yes SIX WORD stories....You had to

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ with Mrs Miller in

order to get a chance to win the ‘What the Teachers

are reading’ quiz with Mr Chopi, the Librarian.

‘This is a great way of learning and should continue

every year! Exclaimed a student from year 9S.

‘What a great week it has been?’ Chipped in, Mr

Oulton rhetorically as Mrs Ferguson was busy

showing ‘Book trailers’ to a group of enthusiastic

year sevens who had vowed not to leave the library

until Mr Chopi assured them the books viewed

would be ordered for them....

It was a book week with a mission.

We held a book cover competition where we were

all blown away by the incredible array of books

made! We had picture books, replicas of famous

stories among other splendid and book week

academic activities.

On Friday everybody dressed up as their favourite

book character and took part in the book week

finale activities. Everyone looked so fantastic!!! The

effort made by all the students and staff was

amazing! It really was wonderful!

At Break Time, led by Ms. Samanyika SAINTS

provided an opportunity to ‘’Harry Porter, Captain

Haddock, James Bond, The Ghost of Christmas,

Hermione, the Hunchback, Tintin, the Minister of

Truth, Effie Trinket and other characters to take a

group photo. This was to showcase the oneness,

enthusiasm, determination and love that the book

week had brought to SAIntS.

Asked to comment on the Book Week, the all

smiling, excited and focused, Ms Mahon thanked

everyone for their participation and support

throughout the week.

Well done everyone and thank you parents for

your support!

Student Column - #1

The students at SAIntS have asked if they could

have a regular slot in the newsletter. Maarya O in

Year 12 has kindly agreed to edit this column and

the first entry is a message from her.

Why an International School is the Best Type of

School

By: Maarya O

Attending an international school exposes you to

students and teachers who come from across all

parts of the world and from numerous backgrounds.

Saint Andrew’s is no exception.

From the seven schools I attended, in both Canada

and Malawi, Saints is the most diverse in terms of

ethnicity and culture. The Saints community is

enriched with a variety of people who want to know

and learn more from each other.

The high spirits and multiculturalism is uplifting as it

brings new perspectives to each of us. We are able

to see the world in a different light adding to our

knowledge and insight while also being a part of an

already vibrant Malawian culture.

International students are both insightful and full of

acceptance and support for one another. The

classmates that I am surrounded compare to no

other and can easily be said to be a group who are

enthusiastic, open-minded and loving to their peers

and the same applies to the rest of students with the

same attributes seen from the staff.

Though it is easy to pick up on accents and gain a

so-called “international” accent (a mix of

everything), the experience trumps all and gaining

an abnormal accent simply adds to the enjoyment of

the school’s international experience.

Newsletter edited by Mr J Mambiya