MIDDLE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents ISSUE # 16
WEEK OF DECEMBER 03 TO 07, 2012

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents: Can you believe that only two weeks remain in the first semester? Where does the time go? With the end of the semester brings final assignments and numerous culminating activities. During this time, please encourage your child to get enough sleep, stay organized and manage time wisely. Please join us on Wednesday, December 5 for the Middle School Concert and hear the talents of our musicians. The performance begins at 5:30 in the FAT. We hope to see you there! The Middle School art exhibit opens this week on Thursday, December 6 at 3:00 P.M. and the artwork showcases our students creativity and originality. The pieces will be displayed in the lobby of the Fine Arts Theater until December 12 so please take some time to visit when you are on campus. A big thank you to the Art department teachers for the work that they do with our students. From December 3 - 7 the Middle School will be celebrating Spirit Week. Each day has been assigned a specific theme and all students are encouraged to dress accordingly: Monday Sock and Sandal Day Tuesday Student Teacher Day Wednesday Crazy Hair Day Thursday All Stars Day Friday Sports Day. House shirts only. If your child has PE, please remind your child that s/he still needs to bring the PE uniform to school. While we do want the students to enjoy the time out of uniform, please encourage your child to exercise sound judgment when choosing their attire so that they arrive at school dressed appropriately (no bare midriffs, spaghetti straps, baggy pants, etc.). If your child opts not to dress in the theme of the day, your child is expected to be in school uniform. On Friday, December 7 the PE Department has organized a Sports Day. Each student has been assigned to a house Aklan, Baguio, Cebu, or Davao and will have opportunities to participate in events throughout the day. All parents are invited to attend and cheer on their child. Looking aheadFriday, December 14 is the last day of the semester and students will be dismissed at 12:00 noon. Please make the necessary arrangements to ensure that your child is picked up on time. Have an enjoyable weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

Inside this issue:

From the Admissions Office Back-to-School Reminder From the Music Department Middle School Spirit Week Themes Lost and Found Viewing From the ATAC Office Middle School Art Show Service Learning Update From the HS Guidance Office Cub Scout Christmas Clothing Drive From the Advancement Office 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

UPCOMING EVENTS
DECEMBER
03 to 07 05 to 12 06 07 11 14 15 to Jan. 06 Spirit Week Middle School Art Show MS Art Show Opening (3:00 P.M., FAT Gallery) Sports Day Gr. 7 to 12 Beginners Recital Early Student Release (12 noon) School Holiday

JANUARY 07 19 22
Classes Resume MS Local Choir Festival Third Culture Kids: The Lived Experience (K-12 Counseling Workshop MS Parent Coffee (7:45 A.M., LT)

24

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

December 07 January 07 January 18 January 22 Grade Update PowerSchool closes PowerSchool opens (8:00 A.M.) Report Card Distribution

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From the Admissions Office

Dear Parents, Our first Semester is coming to an end. If you will not be returning for the second Semester which commences on January 7, 2013 please contact the ADMISSIONS OFFICE immediately. For your reference and guidance, IS Manila follows the procedures outlined below: Withdrawal Procedure for students leaving ISM Parents are obliged to officially inform the School in writing through a WITHDRAWAL NOTIFICATION FORM.

For families that will not be returning for Semester two SY1213 please send us the form immediately. For families withdrawing before the end of the year but during our second semester the Withdrawal notice must
be received on or before MAY 10, 2013. Failure to do so will lead to a deduction of US$1,000 from the Facilities Upgrade Deposit (FUD).

The Withdrawal Notification Form may be obtained from the Admissions Office or directly from the ISM website under Admission > Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal > For ALL Withdrawals STEP 1: Return the Withdrawal Notification Form scanned and e-mailed as an attachment to admissions@ismanila.org or drop the completed forms at our office. 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 for them. Note that school transcripts and records will be available from the particular school office approximately 15-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 division office. The forms are available through the web site: Admission > Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal 1. Elementary School Yearbook: ALAALA 2. Middle School Yearbook: SALINLAHI 3. High School Yearbook: KAWAYAN Many thanks, Stephanie H. Hagedorn Director of Admissions & Advancement International School Manila www.ismanila.org

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From the Music Department

Next Wednesday, December 5 at 5:30 P.M. the 7-8 Strings, Choirs, and Bands will perform their first semester concert titled Myths and Legends. Be sure to come support the wonderful music-making!

Middle School Spirit Week Themes

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From the Security & Operation Department

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From the Athletics & Activities Office

ISM will host IASAS Tennis on January 30 to February 3. We need to house 80 visiting tennis players from the IASAS schools. Please click this link to access the housing letter information http://atac.ismonline.org/files/2011/02/IASAS-tennis-2013-HousingRequest-letter.pdf For more general information about housing at IASAS tournaments, please see the housing and hosting pagehttp://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasashousing/. The letter is also available under the helpful shortcuts bar on the right side of the ATAC blog home page. We look forward to ISM community support for what will be a fantastic tennis tournament as our ISM tennis teams attempt to defend GOLD at IASAS! Deadline for submission of housing is December 7! We still need 47 more athletes housed! Last weekend, we hosted the BEARCAT 10s Rugby Tournament and the ISM Basketball Invitational. Some very close and exciting matches were played and it was a great weekend for the Bearcats with the Varsity Boys rugby winning the tournament over BSM. Both girls and boys basketball teams also made the final but unfortunately they came up short losing to Faith boys and Chang Kai Shek girls. One note to highlight was the effort of our Varsity girls who defeated Faith for the first time in 12 yearsgreat job girls! Our ISM JV rugby team also did very well winning 2 of their 4 matches. This Thursday, our HS basketball teams travel to Brent after school for our away games. This should also be a good test for our teams and our Varsity Touch team plays the Bullettes a local womens team after school, Thursday at the MS field. Last Saturday, our MS boys Gold Basketball team had a narrow loss against Hope after being down by a large margin at the half they came back to get within 2 points but eventually lost the match. Our MS girls gold team had their first win of the season vs. Brent. This coming weekend, a number of our Gymnasts will travel to represent ISM at the Hong Kong Gymnastics meet. To all gymnasts, coaches and parents traveling to the meet, all the best. Results from last weekends Philippine Cup meet held at Rizal Memorial have not yet been received and will be posted in the next bulletin. 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. You will need your PowerSchool username and password to access the game schedule. 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 Melanie Ball at melaniehball@gmail.com our volunteer coordinator. Please note we are looking for a new volunteer coordinator as Melanie is leaving us in December. If anyone is interested in taking on this role, please let Melanie know or contact the ATAC office. Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Wed and Fridays from 11:30am 1:00pm and each afternoon from 2:30-4pm. Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den:

Wednesday & Friday, 11:30 A.M. 1:00 P.M. & 2:30 P.M.
4:00 P.M.

Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, 2:30 - 4:00 P.M.

Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

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Service Learning Update

Update your contact information!

Please get in touch with the Admissions Office (840-8488) or Middle School Office (840-8550/840-8553) if there has been any change in your home address, email address, and contact numbers. We want to keep you updated with what is happening in school.

Were on the web! www.ismanila.org

IF YOU HAVENT LOGGED ON TO POWERSCHOOL

please call the Guidance Office at 840-8555 or email msguidance@ismanila.org to obtain your username and password.

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From the High School Guidance Office

Dear ISM Parents, We are very pleased once again to offer an exciting career discovery focused program developed by the HS Guidance Department in cooperation with the HS Administration:

The 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 HS students through a five-day summer internship (June 10th 14th, 2012) with various companies in the Metro Manila area. This is the week right after our school year finishes. Last year we were very fortunate to place over 120 ISM high school students with about 30 companies (including Alaska Milk, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Fed Ex, Hyatt Hotel and Casino, and Makati Medical Center just to name a few) in the Metro Manila area. Demand for this program has increased each year and we expect that to continue. However, in order to keep pace with student interest, we need additional reputable companies from a variety of industries to form partnerships with us and take part. As parents of our dedicated and motivated 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. If you are in a position to take one or more of our students at your company or know of an interested company, please contact Doug McQueen at mcqueend@ismanila.org. He will be happy to explain the program further and how to apply as a company. For more information on the Bearcat Career Experience you may also take a look at our website http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/ in the meantime. Information about how your son or daughter (current high school sophomores and juniors only) could apply for a Bearcat Career Experience internship position will be communicated at a later date. In the meantime, please arrange to be in Manila during the June 10th to 14th week if you think your son or daughter might be interested. Thank you very much for your support and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Doug McQueen Grade 9/10 School Counselor

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Cub Scout Christmas Clothing Drive

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From the Advancement PCC Sponsorship Letter Office

Were on the web! www.ismanila.org