ISSUE # 20

SY 2014 2015

MIDDLE SCHOOL
WEEK OF:

Friday Bulletin

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

JANUARY 26 TO 30

Inside this issue:

Dear Middle School Parents,
Thank you to those families who are hosting students that are here from
other International Schools in the region for our International Schools Theater Association festival this weekend. We have a group of 20 Middle School
students who are engaging in drama workshops with ISTA Artists to build
their skills and collaborate with others. We have 80 students in total and
there is a service learning component where they will be going out to visit
our service partner groups to interact through drama and expression.
By now you should have accessed your child's report card through the parent portal. If you need any assistance with this please contact the Middle
School office. Our new report card format provides you with detailed information in each subject area with progress from first semester in areas of
achievement and learning habits. If you have any specific questions please
talk to your child's teacher.
We are starting to look at transition meetings for next year. We will be inviting grade 4 parents to a transition to Middle School meeting on February
4, and the process for grade 8 students to High School will take place later in
February. We will also be sharing with students and parents for the other
grade levels course offerings for next year and decisions that need to be
made. Please look out for information relating to this in the coming weeks.
We are gearing up for Classroom Without Walls the week of February
9. Please ensure you have received the necessary information for your
grade level and if you have any questions please talk to your child's advisory
teacher for more information.

Athletics & Activities

The French Honor Society

ISM Upcoming Events

Events & Activities:

JANUARY

23-25

ISTA

FEBRUARY

Grade 4-5 Parent

Transition Meeting

9-13

CWW

17

Parent Coffee

19-20

No Classes

25

No Classes

We hope you have a good weekend ahead

Yours in Education,
Simon Gillespie, Middle School Principal
Amanda Pekin, Middle School Assistant Principal

Please send us an email for any clarifications or concerns:

afac@ismanila.org

Congratulations to the following teams who last weekend won their season ending local league championships played at BSM and ISM.:

schedule have been posted on notice boards and on

the ATAC blog. Season 3 sports for HS are Track &
Field, Softball, Badminton and Golf. MS do the same
sports in season 3 with the exception of golf.

Touch- JV girls Cats and Varsity Girls

Rugby- JV Gold and Varsity Boys

Please note the practice times for the following ATAC

programs: ATAC all year round teams- 3:15-4:30. SailUpcoming matches:
fish/Gymnastics and all HS seasonal teams now conclude practice at 4:50pm each day. MS seasonal
Saturday, January 24 - MS Tennis at ISM/MS Rugby
teams 3:10-4:45pm. The last bus is now 4:55pm and all
Festival at BSM/Chess at DLSZobel/HS Basketball Har- after school programs will conclude by 4:50pm in order
deman Tourney at Faith/Vgirls Touch vs National team to try and clear the campus prior to 5pm due to the ever
at ISM. See game schedule on school or parent portal
increasing traffic concerns in our area.
for times/venue details.
Parents and students please take some time to peruse
Next week we host IASAS tennis. Housing letters have the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of information and
gone home this week to host families, thank you very
links to our sports and activities program. If you have
much to all families for your hospitality to our visiting
any questions regarding the competitive program of
tennis athletes. It is going to be a great event for our
sports at ISM after reading the information on the blog
community hosted at the best tennis venue in IASAS.
please send an email to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will
Come along to support our teams as they strive to deendeavor to assist you as best I can.
fend their titles. The boys and girls teams are defending
Bearcat Den- drop by our fantastic spirit store. There is
3 and 4 time champions. Go Bearcats Tennis teams!
a range of new products and items to purchase includOur other IASAS teams have been working hard to pre- ing items from our service partners. Bearcat Den hours
pare for Rugby/Touch and Swimming in Bangkok and
of operation- 7am-4pm Mon-Fri.
Basketball in Taipei. It is an exciting time coming up
with the end of season 2 and the start of season 3 just The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated reguaround the corner. Season 3 practice and tryouts
larly by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athletics Coordinator)
gives the most up to date
information on where/when
and who our Bearcat teams
will be playing throughout
the school year. Access to
the game schedule is via
the ISM parent portal. Use
this link to access the parent portal, log in with your
user name/password and
look for the ATAC Game
Schedule tab. Remember to
refresh the page when the
pdf schedule appears so
you view the most current
schedule.
GO BEARCATS!
Regards,
Mark Pekin
Athletics and Activities Director

BONJOUR!
Did you know these cool facts about the French language?
1. French is an official language of 29 countries, including Congo, Canada, and Switzerland.
2. It is the second most widely taught language in the world with almost 120 million students and
500,000 teachers -- behind only English.
3. In 2014, France was dubbed the most visited country in the world, receiving a whopping 84.7
million tourists the year before.

French tutorials!
Our mission, as the French Honor Society (FHS), is to promote the French language and Francophone culture in the ISM community.
Because of it, we are holding French Tutorials! We started up our tutorials program last semester,
and these tutorials are open to all interested High School and Middle School students (of all French
skill levels) who want more practice and coaching with French grammar or the language in general.

How do I sign up?

Signing up for a tutorial is easy. Simply check the Google Spreadsheet and contact an FHS member
who is free on the same day you're available for a tutorial. Together, you will agree on a time and on
-campus meeting place. NOTE: Each member's contact details and French level is included on the
Spreadsheet.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at
fhs@ismanila.org and we'd be happy to answer them.
Merci beaucoup!
Amitis,
The French Honor Society
La socit honoraire de franais