MIDD LE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents ISSUE # 24
W EEK OF FEBRUARY 25 TO MARCH 1, 2013

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents: Middle School course registration for school year 2013-2014 will take place the week of March 4. Three new course offerings, Dance Remix, DigiART and Robotics, are being made available to Grades 7 and 8.

Inside this issue:

From the Office of Admissions and Advancement From the School Clinic From the Treasury Department From the ATAC Office 3rd Season Training Schedule MS Academic Bowl From the HS Guidance Office Adult Language Courses ISM Community Art Auction 2

Dance Remix allows students to further their dance experience established in Dance Revolution. Through performances and dance recitals, students will explore their creative side in dance units such as Modern, Social and Hip Hop. Students must have completed Dance Revolution before registering for this course. DigiART focuses on doing art on a computer and will include photography, graphic design and moviemaking. Robotics encourages students to create, design, problem solve and bring an idea to life. The students will have fun learning how to build robots to accomplish tasks and then modify the robots to improve them. Computers will also be used to tell the robots what to do and how to behave to accomplish goals.

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Students will register for courses during the school day. After registering, the student will be sent a confirmation email with an attachment summarizing the courses that were selected; parents will also be copied with the confirmation. Please print out the confirmation sheet, sign it and return the form to the Middle School Guidance Office by March 15. On Thursday, March 7 students will be released early at 12:00 noon, and we will have an afternoon of Student-Led Conferences, which is a change in our conference format for second semester. The student-led conference is an opportunity for students to share their learning with their parents and teachers and the goals of a student-led conference include the following:

UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
25 26 27 to Mar. 01 No Classes (EDSA Revolution Holiday) No Classes: Faculty In-Service Grade 8 Course Registration

To encourage students to accept responsibility for their learning and progress. To help students recognize and take ownership for the things that interfered with their learning success. To teach students the process of self-evaluation. To facilitate the development of students oral communication skills and selfconfidence. To enhance communication between student and parents.

On that afternoon you will accompany your child to each class for approximately ten minutes and have the opportunity to discuss samples of their work. For PE classes, parents will have the opportunity to engage in activities led by their child. As such, parents are encouraged to dress comfortably in attire and shoes so that they can try out some of the activities. We hope to see as many parents as possible getting involved and trying out the fitness activities. For conferences, students will be divided by surname. Students whose last name falls between A K will have conferences from 12:30 2:50. Students with last names starting with L Z will have conferences from 3:30 5:50. Similar to the Open House format, parents will follow their childs schedule and visit each class. For student-led conferences, parents will not need to schedule appointments. Please note that if both parents are unable to attend the student-led conference, your child is expected to go home at dismissal and not remain on campus. We will provide more detailed information in the coming week including questions you can ask your child, a goal setting sheet and a schedule for the afternoon. We look forward to implementing this conference format and supporting your conversations with your child about his/her learning. There will be no classes on February 25 and 26. Classes resume on February 27. Have a fabulous long weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

MARCH
1 Grade 8 English/Math Honors Testing and Course Registration Course Registration Academic Bowl Progress Report Distribution MS Party (Grade 5 to 8) English Honors Testing Spirit Week

4 to 8 5 8 15 18 to 22 25 to 27

The Yearbook Pictures are now available for pick up in the MS Office.

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 2

From the Office of Admissions and Advancement

Dear Parents, Please be reminded that keeping your contact information updated is vital to facilitating communication with the school. If you would like to view/change any of the details on your current record, simply follow the steps below.

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 3

Withdrawal Procedure for Students Leaving ISM

For those students who will be withdrawing from International School Manila this year, the following procedure applies: Parents are obliged to inform the School officially through a WITHDRAWAL NOTIFICATION FORM, before the second Friday of May, if their children will not be returning to ISM. Failure to do so will lead to a deduction of US$1,000 from the Facilities Upgrade Deposit (FUD), in compensation for having held a space for the child and thus preventing the School from offering that space to another child prior to the summer holiday break. The Withdrawal Notification Form can be obtained from the Admissions Office or directly from the ISM website www.ismanila.org under Admissions > Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal > Withdrawal STEP 1: Return the Withdrawal Notification Form to the Admissions Office or scanned and e-mailed as an attachment to admissions@ismanila.org . Upon receipt of the Withdrawal Notification Form by the Admissions Office, a copy will be forwarded to the appropriate School Office and the Finance Office for their action. The School Office, upon receipt of the Withdrawal Notification Form, will initiate the student clearance procedure which requires a Middle or High School student to have the Student Clearance Slip signed by the indicated teachers and offices for clearance. For Elementary students, the Elementary Office will handle the withdrawal clearance. Note that school transcripts and records will be available from the particular school office approximately fifteen working days after the childs last day of attendance at ISM. Please coordinate directly with the particular School Office if you require other arrangements. STEP 2: If required, and when completed, the Student Clearance Slip must be taken to the Cashiers Office. Only after the Cashier has received and signed the completed clearance form will the childs transcript or school records be released from the Elementary, Middle or High School Office. Please note that one copy of the transcript is provided free of charge, additional copies cost P100 each, payable at the Cashiers Office before release. Please coordinate directly with the particular School Office if you require more than one copy of school records. STEP 3: In order to receive your Facilities Upgrade Deposit or FUD (formerly the Special Project Deposit) refund, the following must be submitted to the Cashiers Office: 1) Signed Student Clearance Slip 2) Signed Facilities Upgrade Deposit Certificate Please note that the FUD refund will not be released before your childs last day of school and may take up to thirty (30) days. Only the person whose name appears on the FUD Certificate may claim the refund at the Cashiers Office. Please call the Cashier at 840-8506 if you have questions regarding your FUD Certificate. Please allow the withdrawal process to go smoothly by starting the process early. Thank you for your help and understanding. If you will be withdrawing before the end of the school year and wish to receive your childs YEARBOOK please submit the appropriate form to the School Office. The forms are available through the web site: Admission > Re-Enrollment & Withdraw-

al>Withdrawal
Elementary School Yearbook: ALAALA Middle School Yearbook: SALINLAHI High School Yearbook: KAWAYAN Sincerely, Stephanie H. Hagedorn Director of Admissions & Advancement

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 4

From the School Clinic

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR THE 2013

INFLUENZA VACCINATIONS
Vaccination Day: March 13thWednesday Last day to sign up/pay: March 6th Wednesday Price: Php 480.00 Vaccine: GSK Influenza vaccine Influenza or commonly known as flu trangkaso is caused by the influenza virus. The influenza virus is easily transmitted through things you touch or in the air we breathe. Flu vaccine is recommended for everyone above 6 months old. Getting the flu shot should be done annually because the circulating strains of the flu virus change each year, hence the composition of the vaccine is updated annually. For tropical counties the flu is present year round with peaks during the months of July September. Everyone with a valid ISM ID may participate in this vaccination session. Order forms are available at the Cashier office or by visiting the Clinic. Please complete the form and make your payment to the Cashier. Payment for these vaccinations must be made to the cashier department by no later than Wednesday 6th of March .The vaccines will then be ordered and no further registrations will be accepted. If you would like to discuss the vaccine or have any questions please contact Jowell Custodio or Claudette Bekedam at the Clinic.
Clinic direct number: 840 8581/82 Email: clinic@ismanila.org

From the Treasury Department

Dear ISM Parents: This is a reminder to please view and check the ISM Web Online at http:// community.ismanila.org/d/2/ for the latest update on your billing statement and settle any remaining balance of account(s). Please note that the 2nd semester Tuition fee for SY2012-2013 was due last December 07,2012 while other school fees on your billing statements are already due as billed. For those who havent settled yet, we appreciate your immediate settlement of the accounts. For related billing and payment questions including any username and password concerns, please call 840-85-22/ 840-85-06/840-85-12 and look for RHODA VILLA (Accountant) or MARISSA DULAY (Treasury Supervisor) and Elmer Esguerra ( Cashier). You can also email us at villar@ismanila.org or dulaym@ismanila.org. and esguerrae@ismanila.org.

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 5

From the Athletics & Activities Office

3rd season sports practice schedule has now started as of Feb 11th for Badminton, Softball, Track & Field and MS Mixed Touch; see practice schedule via the ATAC blog schedules pages. http://atac.ism-online.org/schedules/hs/ IASAS Golf makes its debut this year at ISKL. If you want to be a part of history and represent ISM in the first ever IASAS Golf Tournament, contact Mr. Hamaguchi to register your name IASAS Track and Field April 10-14: Housing letters for the IASAS Track and Field event are now available via the ATAC blog. Please sign up early to house a visiting track athlete in April. We need to house 150 athletes. Teams arrive the day we return from spring break. The deadline for return of letters is March 15th in order for us to confirm all housing assignments prior to the holiday starting. For general information about housing at IASAS tournaments, please see the housing and hosting page. http://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/ ISM Summer Sports Camps information will be coming out next month. Announcements will be placed in the parent bulletins and all information will be available on the summer camps page on the ATAC blog. Stay tuned for more information next month! Our MS boys B tennis team made it to the ISTA league semifinals/finals day played last Saturday, February 16. The boys defeated Southridge, 5-0 in the morning semi-final to go into the afternoon final vs a strong Ateneo team. The boys played excellent tennis trying and lunging for every point but eventually came up a little bit short losing 2-3 in a very close final. Congratulations to all players for being the ISTA League runners up out of 12 teams in the Div B competition this year.
(Photo: MS boys gr.5/6 runners up team: Utsav, Marco, Alec, Sam, Johann and Alexwith their 2nd place medals)

Congratulations also to the MS girls tennis team who also took out 2nd place this year. The girls team only lost one match for the season to the eventual champions St. Paul. Great job girls!

Well done also to the MS boys Badminton team who came 2nd in the ISSA League Badminton tournament played at ISM last Saturday. This Saturday our boys Badminton teams travel to Brent to play in the PRADA League event. On Saturday (Feb 23) at 8:00 am, is the first Track meet of the year at ISM for our MS/HS track and field teams. Good luck to all competitors. Please be at ISM HS bleachers by 7:30am! A great way to stay in touch with the ISM ATAC program is to subscribe via RSS feed to the ATAC blog and also to follow via twitter (see twitter feed on the blog home page). Each Monday I will post the weeks happenings and highlight important events for students and parents information on the ATAC blog and in the regular Friday parent bulletins.

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 6

GAME SCHEDULE PDF: (access to game schedule information) Information about all midweek/weekend fixtures for ISM teams can be found via the ATAC blog. Please note the game schedule does change often due to involvement with many local schools so please check the page regularly to find out the latest information of where and when the Bearcats teams are playing. Click on schedules tab or the Bearcat logo to be directed to the power school secure site http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/ You will need your power school user name and password to access the game schedule pdf. HS Student registration for ATAC activities (new for school year 12-13): A Google doc registration is now available for all HS students who will take part in any ATAC seasonal sports teams, MUN and Cultural Convention programs. Please take the time to complete this online registration for activities that you plan on joining this school year. Please access the form via the HS Student Registration tab found under the Helpful Shortcuts bar on the ATAC blog home page. Please note this is for HS students only and you must use your school email address to access the link. Personal gmail or hotmail addresses will not allow you to access the page. BEARCAT DEN: http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/ Our Bearcat Den is open for business, please drop by to check out the range of Bearcat products. We have a great team of volunteers who run the den and are always looking for more people to help out. If you are interested in joining a fantastic group, please contact any of our den members during den opening hours. We have a new volunteer coordinator! Thanks so much to Carolyn for stepping forward to take on this role. If your interested in joining the Den volunteers, please contact Carolyn Ching for details carolynqching@yahoo.com. We are always looking for new volunteers and encourage parents from ES/MS to join our group. Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. and each afternoon from 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 7

Middle School Academic Bowl

On Tuesday 5th March 2013, ISM will be hosting the second semester Middle School Academic Bowl competition against Faith Academy, Brent International School and ISM.

Date: Tuesday 5th March 2013 Time: 09.00-14.00 Venue: Little Theatre, ISM
Teachers and parents are very welcome to watch this event with their classes. (See the schedule below)
The following students will represent ISM: Caroline Strang: grade 8 Bianca Catoto : grade 8 Hyun JIn (Emmy) Nam: grade 8 Jessica Zhang : grade 8 Jessica Mae Cuadro: grade 8 Ilham Thomson : grade 7 Kaiwen (Calvin) Zhang : grade 7 David Yuanwei Zhang : grade 6 Ibrahim Ahmed: grade 6 Mangal, Ratul: grade 5 Olivia Heugh : grade 5

Schedule:
09.00: Opening Remarks 09.10: Toss-up Round 1 09.40: Toss-up Round 2 10.10: Math and Logic Round 11.10: Toss-up Round 3 11.40: Lunch 12.30: Toss-up Round 4 13.00: Envelope Round (HSMC, MSMC, LT) 13.30: Penalty Toss up 14.00: Closing Remarks 14.15: Depart

Valerie Birchenall MS Academic Bowl Coach

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 8

From the HS Guidance Office

Dear HS Parents, We are very pleased to introduce/reintroduce you to an exciting initiative developed back in 2010 by the HS Guidance Department in cooperation with the HS Administration:

Bearcat Career Experience

As we all know well, high school for students is (among many things) a time of self-discovery. It is a time where our students begin to better acknowledge their aptitudes/likes, where they hone their strengths and where they begin to sort through that rather complicated map known as their educational and future career path. Unfortunately, it is often a map with gaps between what they learn in their academic classrooms and the real world their teachers are working to prepare them for. In short, we hope to help bridge that gap for some of our high school students through a five-day summer internship (June 10th 14th, 2013) with various companies in the Metro Manila area. Last year we were very fortunate to place over 120 ISM high school students (sophomores and juniors) with 30 companies (including Alaska Milk, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Makati Medical Center to name a few) in the Metro Manila area. This year, we definitely feel those numbers could increase. However, in order to make this a reality, we need reputable companies from a variety of industries to form partnerships with us and take part. As parents of our dedicated and motivated HS students, you may own, be employed by, or know of a company interested in supporting this very worthwhile endeavor. We ask for your support in helping us develop potential Career Experience placements and subsequently, lasting positive relationships with companies in the Metro Manila area. We ask that you take time to reflect on this important initiative (currently in its 3rd year) and its value for our ISM community. Please take a look at our website here http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/what-is-a-bearcat-career -experience/ . This page should give you an idea of what the program is all about. You might also want to check out this video too. http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/media/ If you are in a position to take one or more of our students at your company or know of an interested company, please let me know. Please also contact me at mcqueend@ismanila.org if you have any questions or need further clarification. Information about how your son or daughter (current sophomores and juniors only) could apply for a Career Experience position will be communicated to all of you at a later date. You can also get more informed and up to date posts about the Bearcat Career Experience by liking our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BearcatCareerExperience Thank you very much for your support and I look forward to hearing back from some of you. J Sincerely, Doug McQueen High School Counselor

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 9

F RID AY B U LLE T IN

P AGE 1 0