Dear parents/students,
Welcome to a special edition of our newsletter. Last
week was an amazing 5 days for SAIntS.
Huge thanks must go to the teachers and pupils who
contributed last week; it is an absolute privilege to
work with so many people who are keen to organise
and participate in these events.
Please read the reports below which will hopefully
give you an idea of why last week was so
memorable.
K P Smith, Head Teacher
SHREK - SAIntS Musical 2017 Friday March 31st
Saturday April 1st
Monday April 3rd
Tuesday April 4th
Tickets on sale now!
SAIntS Students' Excel in Johannesburg!
Report on the African Leadership Academy’s
Model African Union Conference, held in
Johannesburg March 15th-19th 2017.
On Wednesday of last week, a group of nine
students from Years 10, 12 and 13 attended the
African Leadership Academy Model African Union in
Johannesburg. This was the culmination of months
of preparation and research on topics that we were
assigned earlier in the year to debate and discuss.
Each student represented a delegation of another
country that we were unfamiliar with – Rahim for
example was given Mauritania and Mtama was
tasked with representing Tanzania. On arrival, we
were assigned to a model committee that is part of
the African Union. Some were assigned to the
African Development Bank, whilst others joined the
Peace and Security Council. I had the pleasure of
being part of the Executive Council.
Within our committee, delegates discussed different
topics given to them by their Chair. We debated,
agreed and eventually drafted resolutions that
would help our country and Africa. The focus was
strongly on African solutions for African problems
and we found ourselves discussing crucial themes in
African development. Some committees found ways
to increase Pan-Africanism, others found ways to
improve education and we even tried to strengthen
the healthcare system in Africa!
We found the democratic process takes a long time
but eventually most of our resolutions were passed.
We then had to create an action plan to implement
our resolutions and ideas to our Heads of State.
Newsletter #29
March 24th 2017
Though the conference was hypothetical, it did not
distract us from trying to tackle the very real
challenges that Africa faces on a daily basis. A key
point we learnt was that it is more than just a
thought that can really implement change and as
students, it is safe to say we all grew stronger as
leaders and learned more about our nation and our
beautiful continent.
The conference and work was only part of the
experience. Both the students and teachers were
able to converse and meet fellow delegates from all
over the continent and across the world, discussing
various issues while creating memories and
friendships along the way.
We spent our nights enjoying and embracing the
culture around us including a cultural night hosted
by the African Leadership Academy (ALA). The night
involved international music and food and closed off
with a brilliant play created and directed by the ALA
students revolving around key issues occurring in
different regions of Africa including HIV/AIDS and
the empowerment of women.
The conference ended with a tour of Johannesburg
during the day, where students chose different
destinations and hotspots within the city including
Soweto and Sandton Mall, and a Black Tie Gala
Dinner in the evening to celebrate and round off the
conference in a symbolic state dinner.
Our last morning consisted of an Entrepreneurial
Boot camp, as Entrepreneurial Leadership is a
course studied in depth at ALA. It was a small
seminar to show the younger population what is
needed to start a business and how to prosper in
one, tools, which are vital for anyone wanting to
become an entrepreneur.
To leave ALAMAU 2017 was bittersweet. It involved
saying goodbye to very beautiful and intellectual
people who we met along the journey, but to take
the knowledge we learned consumed to drive
ourselves to direct change within our community.
The conference left us to grow and prosper. I found
we came back as different people ready to embrace
tough challenges, quick decisions and a growing
passion to fight for what we believe in, in the
conference and now our everyday lives. This
experience would not have been possible without
the guidance and positive reinforcement from Mr.
Wilkinson and Mrs. Grant.
We have the ALA students to thank for as well as the
director of ALAMAU, Faith Biodun. Mr. Faith had not
only used the conference to gather students across
Africa to discuss essential issues, but to task each
one of us with the thought of how we want to and
can create a stronger, united Africa.
By: Maarya O (13 BMo)
SAIntS Students Steal the Show!
Duke of Edinburgh International Award
On Thursday 16th March a group of 27 SAIntS
students from Year 11-13 attended a prestigious
Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award
presentation ceremony at Bishop Mackenzie
International School, Lilongwe. Guest of honour at
the event was HRH The Countess of Wessex, who is
the wife of the Queen’s youngest son, Prince
Edward (8th in line to the throne), and a Global
Ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s
International Award.
The International Award is the world’s leading youth
achievement award, with millions of young people
aged 14-24 taking part across 144 different nations.
St. Andrew’s is one of only 16 Independent Award
Centres (IACs) in Africa, and this joint event with
BMIS was the very first Royal D of E presentation
ceremony for Independent Award Centres in Africa.
The D of E programme at SAIntS was started over 10
years ago by former Head Teacher, Mr Gordon
Benbow, and is now open to all students in Year 10
and above.
After being introduced to the Head Teacher (Mr K
Smith) and the D of E Award Leaders (Mr C Dodd
and Miss L Taylor), the Countess of Wessex spent
over half an hour meeting International Award
participants from both schools. She was escorted by
Kuliya C (Y11, Silver) who personally introduced her
to each one of the students from SAIntS. The quality
of the displays and demonstrations prepared by our
students was exceptional, and the Countess clearly
enjoyed engaging with the young people and
hearing of their achievements across the five Award
sections (Service, Skills, Physical Recreation,
Adventurous Journey, Gold Residential).
The formal presentation ceremony, led by Gospel K
(Y12, Bronze) as one of two student Masters of
Ceremonies, started with the singing of the
Malawian and United Kingdom national anthems by
BMIS students, followed by an opening address by
the Director of BMIS. Students from both schools
then took turns to present various elements of their
Award experiences on stage. From SAIntS, Biko B
(Y13, Gold) fluently delivered his D of E testimony, a
short but extremely well considered account of his
reasons for doing the Gold Award and a mature,
honest reflection on what the experiences mean to
him. Kaavya S (Y11, Bronze) and Dalitso M (Y11,
Bronze) then wowed the audience, primarily
students, staff and parents from BMIS, with an
outstanding dance that they had choreographed
themselves, bringing together traditional Indian and
modern Western styles in a colourful and
entertaining performance.
The presentation of the BMIS Bronze Awards (7) and
the SAIntS Bronze (15) and Silver (6) Awards
followed, with presentations from Edwin Kimani (D
of E Regional Director, Africa), Ms Holly Tett (British
High Commissioner) and HRH The Countess of
Wessex. The climax of the presentation ceremony
was the awarding of the highly distinguished Gold
Award to seven of our finest Year 13 students (one
in absentia). It is tradition that the presentation of
the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award must be made
personally by a member of the Royal family, so this
was an extremely rare opportunity for students to
officially receive their Award on Malawian soil (the
international waiting list to attend a Royal
presentation ceremony is over 10,000 people long!).
After the presentations, HRH The Countess of
Wessex remained on stage and delivered a
wonderful, heart-felt speech congratulating all the
young people and Award volunteers on their
achievements. She talked of the way in which the
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award provides all young
people, regardless of their background, the
opportunity to develop as individuals and explained
why the Award is held in such high regard by
employers and education providers as the definitive
qualification for demonstrating self-reliance,
commitment and dedication. After a short closing
address Mr K Smith closed proceedings by inviting
the Countess to sign pieces of artwork, with the
SAIntS piece creatively designed by Anna V (Y12,
Silver) and Jack T (Y12, Silver). After the departure of
the distinguished guests, students, staff and parents
enjoyed a fine buffet before making the long
journey back to Blantyre.
This was a fantastic occasion that will live long in the
memory of everyone who was fortunate enough to
be in attendance. The students from SAIntS were
truly outstanding in every way, as ambassadors and
role models for St. Andrew’s and the Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award. I would like to congratulate the
students on their remarkable achievements, and
thank parents for their enduring support. Mr Dodd
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Recipients – March
2017
Bronze Fatima A
Bronze Davina A
Bronze Dingaan C
Bronze Sadaf D
Bronze Talita D
Bronze Zoreen G
Bronze Malika G
Bronze Maya G
Bronze Sara J
Bronze Gospe Kl
Bronze Dalitso M
Bronze Natasha N
Bronze Riya R
Bronze Kaavya S
Bronze Elena V
Silver Kuliya C
Silver Christos S
Silver Ellie S
Silver Jack T
Silver Anna V
Silver Constantinos Y
Gold Fareeda A
Gold Biko B
Gold Wezi C
Gold Aila D
Gold Pubert N
Gold Leoni P
Gold Tom V
The Joy of Reading!
A WEEK TO REMEMBER
I saw Peter pan and Daisy duck on the Friday of Book
Week
I saw lots of Disney Princesses and Seven dwarfs
following at Snow’s feet.
I saw Thing 1 and Thing 2
And four scary ghouls.
One, two…no three Mad Hatters
And lazy people who think dressing up doesn’t
matter
But that was only on Friday
There was more fun in the week I have to say.
Fifty word stories and poems to write
Taking pictures reading in strange maybe at night.
Doing challenges and fun quizzes
On mystery and Romance books with heartbreaks
and kisses.
Having a peaceful moment just to D.E.A.R
This book week will be remembered all year.
BY Tadala B, 9N
BOOK WEEK ON POINT IN 2017
Book Week has now become an annual event at
SAIntS. This year’s book week took place from the
13th of March to the 17th. This year’s book week was
incontrovertibly wilder and more spectacular. It gets
better every year!
During the week, most of us the young writer’s and
keen readers were given an opportunity to
showcase our writing prowess through 50 Word
Short story and Poetry competitions. Yes, you read
it right!!! 50 Word short stories with character,
theme, setting, point of view and an interesting plot
just in 50 words. Mr Phoya will also tell you, ‘make
sure your characters must be lively and sentence
starters must vary’.
Truly Book Week this year was a life changing
experience and with full of surprises. On Monday
the whole school was set ablaze by Malawian’
SPOKEN WORD POETRY DISCIPLES. These young and
accomplished poets demonstrated their recital skills
during the whole school assembly which was led by
the Head of the Department English, the quiet but
brilliant Ms. Butler and was assisted by the electric
and wonderful Mr Oulton. An amazing assembly
and the first of its kind where no student could be
heard snoring was packed with fun and sharing of
motivational books from the teachers. We were told
this was only a starter!!!
During English lessons, we were taken to the main
hall where each year group was taken through a
work shop by the Spoken Word Poets. The poets
indeed like guardians of Mt Olympus imparted the
‘Ars Poetica’ in most of the participants and in
return requested us to showcase our talents. It was
ecstatic and amazing!!
On Tuesday, Ms Butler unleashed another wonder
of the Book Week….a young, accomplished and
humble lady, Ms Ekari Bvundula. Ms Ekari is
another Malawian writer who spared her time and
joined us during the Book Week. She came to inspire
us and assured us that it was ‘possible’ to write
great stories. One of her stories was called ‘The Blue
Ball’ and left every one speechless after reading it.
Even Mr Phoya run out of words to describe it…An
excellent and terrific Malawian write, she is!!
Book Week has left an indelible mark in our lives.
There is an ocean of activities that inspired many of
us during the week. All that can be said is…..BRAVO
TEAM ENGLISH for encouraging to read every 15
minutes of BOOK WEEK….Bravo Team English for
your organisation. By Talandira N, 8C
DARE D E A R
By Angel Chilima 8M
DEAR? Is this not a word that represents someone
you love? Maybe a mark of a very serious letter?
Probably an abbreviation?
Between the 13th and 17th of March, SAINTS campus
was awash with various authoritative claims on what
exactly DEAR meant. ‘it is Dogs Eat Apples Right’
claimed one keen student in year 7. But Why that’?
quizzed one ardent student in year 8. ‘It simply
means Don’t Ever Anger Robots or Do Essays on
Roosters’, chipped in the Year 8 students.
‘No No, Not at all!! ‘It simply means DROP
EVERYTHING AND READ!!! SAIntS has never been
this more serious with asking all its students to Drop
Everything and Read than before. This year’s book
week was so keen with instilling a reading culture in
her students.
It was nonnegotiable to read at SAIntS. Whether
your book was in electronic format or whatever
format but one had to read. Ms. Butler inspired
many students by admitting that ‘despite being
Head of English, she could only manage to read
when she was 10 years of age and never wanted any
young person to struggle the way she did’. Quite a
humbling and honest admittance by a brilliant lady.
We all in our circles gossiped about it and vowed to
take up the challenge. Our lunch breaks that are
characterized by loads of food were now
transformed into book zones. We simply wanted to
read the whole day.
The support that students received from every
department was amazing. Every day, there were 15
minutes dedicated to reading regardless of
whatever lesson. ‘Is DEAR at 10.10am today Mr
Phoya’? We heard Mr. Waite, Deputy Head Teacher,
asking Mr Phoya during our art lessons.
During DEAR itself, one could hear a pin drop from
afar and wished the one dropping it could evaporate
from our beautiful reading school. Being DEAR-ers
ourselves, we must admit, we were transported to
wonderful lands where we transcended into the
corridors of great writers that have transformed us
forever!!!
SAINTS CELEBRATE BOOK WEEK
Just like last year, this year we did not want
spectator ions nor passengers. Everyone had to play
the game at SAINTS. From Mt Olympus to the ends
of the earth were made to resound with yet another
Master piece of the English Department at SAINTS in
Blantyre. BOOK WEEK. A week where we remind our
students the importance of literacy and at the same
time sharing with them a wide array of experience
from the literary world.
Saint Andrews International High School in Blantyre
celebrated book week last week from the 13th to
17th March. This was a second book week in the hi-+-
+-+-+-+-+story of Saints. Unlike last year, this year’s
event was decorated by great spoken word poetry
performances by Malawian artists and also short
story reading and drilling by Ms Ekari Bvundula, an
accomplished Malawian writer based in Blantyre.
The students were also given an opportunity to
exhibit their spoken word creative and performance
skills after undergoing a series of professional and
practical workshops that were conducted by the
Malawian poets and writers. It was amazing to note
that the Poets were all graduates from the
Humanities and Social sciences from the Universities
around the World. Thanks to the prowess and
keenness of Ms Patricia Butler, Head of English at
Saints.
As if the workshops were not enough, our spacious
library was an epitome of carousels and literary
discussions. Students were offered a chance
unbridle their creative and imaginative skills by
coming up with SIX WORD stories...Yes SIX WORD
stories within 10 minutes. While some students
were busy writing stories another set of students
had to DROP EVERYTHING AND READ. It was
exhilarating to see students run about in the Library
in search of answers upon being given a Library quiz.
The Department of English also utilised the skills
that students acquired from the Department of Art
by asking them to design a book cover based on the
book blurb of their choice out of five that were given
to them. A library session full of activities for our
students at SAINTS.
‘This is a great way of learning and should continue
every year! Exclaimed a student from year 9. ‘What
a great week it has been?’ Chipped in, Mr Oulton
rhetorically. It was a book week with a mission.
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!
Asked to comment on the Book Week, the all
smiling, excited and focused, Ms Butler thanked
everyone for the participation and assured us that
the book week would not die a natural death.
The Support was fantastic this year. Thanks to the
team work among SAINTS Teachers.
Thoughts of a Serious Reader
By Laila R Year 9
Book week was amazing! Everyone had fun. The
week started with a whole school assembly where
we learnt all about spoken word poetry. Throughout
the week there were competitions such as the 50-
word short story and poetry competition. In addition
to all that every day we had DEAR, Drop Everything
and Read, where all students in all classes stopped
what they were doing and read for 15 minutes. To
end the week, we had a dress up day. Students and
teachers all dressed up as a book character. There
was a wide range of characters from princesses to
Grim reapers. At the end of the week I am sure
every that everyone would agree that book week
was a marvellous idea and everyone enjoyed
themselves.
A book is…
A book is a world laid out on pages,
A book is an adventure for those who follow,
A book is a mystery for detectives to solve,
A book is a path for weak and for strong,
A book is words in a special order,
A book is a mine with gold at the end,
A book is an island with hidden treasure,
A book is a flame that never goes out,
A book is a star that lights up the dark,
A book is a voice which you hear at night,
A book is a window to a hidden galaxy,
A book is a colour with many different shades,
A book may be boring now, but I tell you read on,
It will interest you if you stay strong
WORLD BOOK CHARACTERS GATHER AT
SAINTS
By Nidhi D
Who Said Harry Porter, Batman, man-eating shark
cannot come to Africa and especially at SAINTS? Last
Friday, 17th March, all the famous literary characters
had a conference at SAINTS in Blantyre. This was a
conference where these world famous characters
agreed that BOOK Week must be made a Mandatory
event at SAINTS and the Life venue should be SAINT
Andrews International High School in Blantyre.
These characters were all students and teachers
from SAINTS that took off their time and prepared
to dress up like their favourite book and movie
characters. As early 6.30 am, the main car park was
awash with strange and yet funny looking people.
One student even claimed that the traffic controlling
police at the SAINTS Junction stopped their car and
enquired whether Students at SAINTS needed
security as they had seen the GRIM REAPER
descending to SAINTS on that day. The dressing up
marked the hall mark of the SAINTS Book Week
which took place from the 13th of March to the 17th
March.
‘This has been a fantastic book week’, chipped in Ms
Butler, Head of English. ‘The Support from the
students has been wonderful and even all the
teachers. These are very hardworking teachers and
students.’ Added Zai, the Head Boy. There are no
better words to describe the organization,
commitment and dedication that characterized this
year’s Book Week. The English Department was
simply amazing.
A book week that will always be in our hearts! A
book week that gave us an opportunity to explore
our beautiful Library with Mr Adrian Chopi and his
assistant!! A book week that requested us to
imaginatively design a book cover after reading a
Blurb!! We wrote stories in Just Six Words!! We met
excellent Poets and an amazing young lady during
workshops. Ms Ferguson kept encouraging us to
read. Ms Colliver pushed us gently to create poems.
Ms Miller dropped everything and read with us. Mr
Oulton told us to read or becoming nothing. Mr
Phoya running up and down with a camera spying
on us as we read. Ms Butler an inspiring figure to all
of us that attended the Friday gathering of all
characters.
It will be the greatest injustice if all the support staff
never got a big round of applause from all of us for
the amazing job. There is always a silent speech
writer behind the President’s great speech. Likewise,
for the wonderful Book Week, there are members of
support staff, we all rushed to for help. Thank you.
Book week 2017 at Saints will always be in our
hearts and would be treasured greatly. Thanks to
Ms. Butler and wonder Team English Department
SAIntS
PTA
Needs
You!
The PTA does an
amazing job
helping out at our
many events. We have a core group of dedicated
members of the committee and we are reaching out
to you all to join in! You don't need to be on the
committee; any time you can devote to supporting
our work, and ultimately helping the school will be
more than welcome. If you would like to help out in
any way, please contact the school and we would be
delighted to have your support.
Don't miss out!
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