Middle School Parent Bulletin - Issue No. 35 - May 27 to 31

7/30/2019 Middle School Parent Bulletin - Issue No. 35 - May 27 to 31

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From the Middle School OfficeISSUE # 35

WEEKOF MAY 27 TO MAY 31, 2013

Friday BulletinMIDDLE SCHOOL

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

From the High School

Administraon2

From the Oce of Admissions

and Advancement

- Re-enrollment for SY13-14

From the Human Resources De-

partment: Cashless Campus

3

From the Superintendents

Oce4

From the Math Department

6

From the ATAC Oce 7

From the Music Department 8

From the HS Guidance Oce 9

Homeless World Cup

The Giving Tree

June Summer Sports Camp

10

Uniform Shop Announcement

Newsash Applicaons11

Lost and Found Viewing

12

Inside this issue:Dear Parents:

On Tuesday, May 21 the Music department concluded the performanceseason with the Grade 5 and 6 Recital and it was an evening filled with smilesand style. Thank you to Mr. Odendaal, Ms. Hausman and Mr. Howrey for alltheir efforts in supporting our aspiring musicians.

As the senior students of the Middle School, the grade 8 students enjoy theprivilege of a few special events. On Friday, May 31 the students will hearabout the transition to High School and enjoy a Dinner Dance, participate inoutreach activities on June 3, and enjoy an Activity Day on June 4. Finally,the Moving On Ceremony will take place on June 5 in the Fine Arts Theaterfrom 4:00 6:00 P.M. We are looking forward to a positive end for ourstudents as they say farewell to their Middle School years.

Please be informed that Powerschool will be closed starting on Monday, May27 in order for teachers to finalize grades and comments. Powerschool willreopen on June 6 so that second semester reports can be viewed. Reportcard distribution will begin on June 11.

As we enter the final two weeks of school, please make sure that your childgets enough rest so that they can focus on their assignments. Energy andexcitement levels are high at this time of the year and we want to make surethat our students remain healthy and are making positive choices to maintaintheir well-being.

Looking aheadThe last day of school will be on Thursday, June 6 andstudents will be dismissed at 12:00 noon. Please make the necessaryarrangements to have your child picked up from school.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Yours in Education,

Simon Gillespie Clarissa SaysonMiddle School Principal Middle School Assistant Principal

End of Year Activities

Online re-enrollment will be unavailable from May 27- June 5 as PowerSchool will be closed at this me. However, parents ma

connue to sele accounts through Online Billing and submit required forms to ISM Oces during this period.

Access to online re-enrollment will resume onJune 6, 4:00 pm.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Powerschool Update


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FRIDAY BULLETIN PAGE 2

From the High School Administration

Dear Grade 8 Parents,

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all those who will be moving on from Grade 8 and joiningthe ISM HS in the school year 2013-2014. We are very fortunate that at ISM the dierence between MS

and HS is not such a physical or structural jump. Aer all grade 7 and 8 students operate a very similar

schedule to HS and we are only a few meters away from each other, oen sharing similar common facili-

es.

That being said the HS will obviously do its very best to help transion all grade 8 students to HS. A spe-

cial transion morning has been organized by the HS Counselors on the morning of May 31st

to assist the

grade 8 students with this process. A couple of dierences that do exist in the HS center around earning

and awarding of credit and so aendance and passing a course for credit, are two potenal changes in

student life. Another change for next school year that we are very excited about is the extension of our

very successful Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program, that we have been running at grades 11 and 12,to grades 9 and 10. I asked our HS IT Coordinator Mr. Brandon Hoover to write a short comment on what

this will mean for learning in the HS. He writes:

Internaonal School Manila is commied to delivering the highest quality educaon in line with current

best pracces in the integraon of technology. Over the last two years students in grades 11 and 12 have

parcipated in our Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program resulng in an eecve 21th Century learn-

ing environment. It is with pleasure that we announce the expansion of this program to include grades 9

and 10 for SY 2013-14. We believe that students thrive in an environment in which educaon with tech-

nology is a seamless part of their lives. The new BYOD program will help enable students to take owner-

ship and responsibility for their learning both in and outside of the classroom. For school year 2013-14,

High School students at ISM will bring their own laptops to school each day. We have developed a web-

site calledISM Connectwhich will serve as a guide for informaon, requirements and frequently asked

quesons. You may view it here: hp://connect.ismanila.org

We look forward to the excing range of opportunies this program will provide for all of our HS stu-

dents.

Having a 1:1 laptop environment will provide many synergies for next year, including some excing new

developments where all students will have their assignments and homework in their individual Google

calendar. This will signicantly streamline the use of the ISM blogs. The HS demonstrated the new func-

onality of using the Google set of Applicaons and an integrated Teacher Dashboard program, to the HS

Parent Coee forum in March and received a very posive response. We believe it is a necessary step

forward at this me to enhance the educaonal experience for all of our students. If you have quesonsabout BYOD or ISM Connect that cannot be answered by the website then please do not hesitate to con-

tact either Brandon Hoover [email protected] or myself at [email protected]

Congratulaons to all grade 8 students for having successfully negoated MS. Now its me for HS. We

are going to have an awesome year!

Kind regards,

William Brown
http://connect.ismanila.org/http://connect.ismanila.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://connect.ismanila.org/


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From the Office of Admissions and Advancement

All returning students must complete the re-

enrollment process in order to start school on 12

th

August 2013.This year re-enrollment may be completed via PowerSchool. For your guide to the online system, please

click on the links below:

Students Re-enrolling SY 13-14

Re-enrollment Incoming Grade 1 SY 13-14




Please note that to complete re-enrollment you must sele your accounts for SY 12-13 and pay the rst

quota of tuion fees for SY 13-14. Beginning 5th

June, 2013 you may view your account details through

Online Billing. SY 13-14 tuion is due on 12th July 2013.

For quesons/concerns, please contact the School Oces or the Admissions Oce.

Online Re-enrollment for SY 13-14

From the Human Resources Office: Cashless Campus

Dear Parents and Students,

The end of the school year is fast approaching, and we wanted you to know that, starng in August, we shall be intro-

ducing a Campus Card payment scheme. This system has been in the research stage for some me now, and we

have been consulng carefully with our colleague schools in IASAS, all of whom make use of a card for payments on

their campuses. The system works through an individual identy chip that is implanted into student ID cards.

One of the main purposes for making this move to is to provide a debit system in the canteen. Some of the benets

are:

Limit the amount of money that students are obliged to bring to school.

Speed up canteen lines during breaks since cash exchange will not be needed.

Give online access to parents so they may see what their children are eang at lunch.

The intenon is to run parallel cash / debit system inially, but in me we intend to move towards a complete debit

system during school hours.

Parents and students will have several opons with regards to topping up their card. They can do this online by credit

card or PayPal or through an accredited bank (all for a minimal fee), at kiosks (similar to ATMs) located in two dierent

areas on campus, or at the cashiers oce.

In addion to purchasing food at the canteen, the Smart Card may be used for paying other acvies that take place

on campus: school plays, Family Fun day, concerts, T-shirts, etc. We also hope that the Uniform Shop will be able to

accept payments in this way.

Parents and helpers may also apply for an ID card complete with chip should they wish to use a debit system on cam-pus rather than cash payments.

In conjuncon with the debit system, the Smart Cards issued in Middle School will allow students to access the new

lockers we are purchasing.

We shall be sending out more instrucons on how this system will work later in the school year and again in August.

Like any new system, we suspect that there will be some teething problems, but we are condent that we shall over-

come these and that the card system will be benecial for the enre school.

Sincerely,

Michelle Mapua

Director of Human Resources
http://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://community.ismanila.org/d/2/login.aspxhttp://community.ismanila.org/d/2/login.aspxhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade9_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade7_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade5_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Re-enrollment_Incoming_Grade1_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ismanila.org/uploaded/Admissions/Re-enrollment/Students_Re-enrolling_SY_13-14.pdf


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From the Superintendents Office

Dear Middle School Parents:

I have aached below the stascs from the recent parent surveys with comparave data from the previous

three years. You will see that the gures have remained broadly the same since 2010. Of course the data would

be more useful sll if a greater proporon of parents had completed the survey: the 125 families who completed

the survey out of a possible 584 families represents a return of approximately 21%.

One of the things that always strikes me about these surveys is the discrepancy in the responses. Take, for exam-

ple, Queson 2: My childs teachers are commied and enthusiasc in their approach to teaching. 60 respons-

es are in the 6 range or excellent; 49 responses are 5 or very good; 12 responses are 4 or good. There is one 2 or

poor and then there are three 0s or neutral/no response. In other words, there are 121 favorable responses and

1 negave response.

Invariably, those who have given a negave reply all write comments, and some of these can be prey excori-

ang. Comparavely few of those wring favorable responses bother to add a comment, all of which means thatif one were to read the comments only, one would get a very distorted picture of how parents view the school.

That doesnt of course invalidate the views of the few who have a negave impression, but it does place those

views in perspecve. What I would say is that, if you are unhappy with any element of your childs educaon here

at ISM, I urge you to come in to talk to us about this. We want our school to be a place where every child suc-

ceeds, and in order for that to happen we need your input.

Best wishes,

David Toze

Superintendent


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From the Mathematics Department


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From the Athletics & Activities Office

4th

season pracces are now taking place for some of next years HS teams to start training. This

is open for current grade 8s who will be freshmen 9th

grade next year to join these pracces. If you have

quesons, talk with the coaches.

PLEASE NOTE: Last day for all ATAC team training is Friday May 30th

. There will be no team

training the last week of school June 3-5!

Congratulaons to our MS Touch teams who traveled to Jakarta last weekend for their season

ending tournament. The ISM Touch Bearcats were on re with the girls team winning their division and

both the boys grade 7 and grade 8 teams playing o in the nal against each other. The grade 7 boys

team came up with a great win to take out the gold medal for this annual event hosted by Jakarta Inter-

naonal School. Fantasc job Bearcats and a huge thanks to Coach Van Der Merwe, Coach Conte and

Coach Highland who have done such a great job during the season and last weekend.

May 29th All year round teams end of year awarding will be in the Lile Theatre, from 3:15

p.m.- 4:00 p.m.

May 29th

Homeless World Cup Soccer Tournament at ISM: fundraiser to send Philippines team

to the annual World Cup Tournament. See Ms. Vogt for details and team registraon.

Bearcat Council applicaons for school year 2013-14 are now closed.

Please remember the ISM swimming facility will close for renovaon works from this Friday May

17 and the planned reopening of the pool is set for September 1st

. We are building a new 2 level grand-

stand, new locker rooms, new storage area, new coaches locker rooms, addional restrooms for the

public and resurfacing the pool surrounds.

ISM Summer Sports Camps informaon is now available on the ATAC summer camps blog

page. The informaonal yer will also be in the parent bullens. Sign ups are on a rst come rst

served basis!


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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 twier (see twier feed on the blog home page). Each Monday, I will post the

weeks happenings and highlight important events for students and parents informaon on the ATAC

blog and in the regular Friday parent bullens.

GAME SCHEDULE PDF (access to game schedule informaon): Informaon about all mid-week/

weekend xtures for ISM teams can be found via the ATAC blog. Please note the game schedule does

change oen due to involvement with many local schools, so please check the page regularly to nd

out the latest informaon 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 hp://powerschool.ismanila.org/

public/

You will need your power school user name and password to access the game schedule pdf.

BEARCAT DEN: hp://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 fantasc group, please contact any of our den members during denopening hours. If youre interested in joining the Den volunteers, please contact Carolyn Ching for de-

tails at [email protected]. We are always looking for new volunteers and encourage parents

from ES/MS to join our group. Please note end of year lunch for Den volunteers is May 30th

from

11:30am (venue to be announced) Final selling day for the Den will be June 4th

, Den will be closed for

inventory and summer pack up June 5. The Den will re-open for business in the new school year on

Monday, August 12th

,2013

Sincerely,

Mark Pekin

Director of Athlecs/ Acvies

From the Music Department

Congratulations to the Grade 5-6 Students whoperformed last Tuesday for their music recital. The

Choirs, Strings and Bands all performedmagnificently! Keep making such wonderful music!
http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/


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Dear HS Parents,

We are very pleased to introduce/reintroduce you to an excing iniave developed back in 2010 by

the HS Guidance Department in cooperaon with the HS Administraon:

Bearcat Career Experience

As we all know well, high school for students is (among many things) a me of self-discovery. It is ame where our students begin to beer acknowledge their aptudes/likes, where they hone their strengthsand where they begin to sort through that rather complicated map known as their educaonal and future ca-reer path. Unfortunately, it is oen 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 ve-daysummer internship (June 10th 14th, 2013) with various companies in the Metro Manila area.

Last year we were very fortunate to place over 120 ISM highschool students (sophomores and juniors) with 30 companies(including Alaska Milk, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and MakaMedical Center to name a few) in the Metro Manila area. This year, wedenitely feel those numbers could increase. However, in order tomake this a reality, we need reputable companies from a variety ofindustries to form partnerships with us and take part.

As parents of our dedicated and movated HS students, youmay own, be employed by, or know of a company interested in sup-

porng this very worthwhile endeavor. We ask for your support inhelping us develop potenal Career Experience placements and sub-sequently, lasng posive relaonships with companies in the MetroManila area.

We ask that you take me to reect on this important iniave (currently in its 3rd

year) and its valuefor our ISM community.

Please take a look at our website here hp://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. hp://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/media/

If you are in a posion to take one or more of our students at your company or know of an interest-ed company, please let me know.

Please also contact me at [email protected] if you have any quesons or need further claricaon.

Informaon about how your son or daughter (current sophomores and juniors only) could apply for aCareer Experience posion 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 ourFacebook page at hps://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 McQueenHigh School Counselor


From the High School Guidance Office
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Middle School Parent Bulletin - Issue No. 35 - May 27 to 31

Documents

Transcript of Middle School Parent Bulletin - Issue No. 35 - May 27 to 31