MIDD LE SCHOOL

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

Friday Bulletin
ISSUE # 20
W EEK OF JANUARY 28 TO FEB 1, 2013

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents: Second semester is in full swing! Students are engaged in class and getting involved in after school activities. As you know, middle school life is packed with fun, meaningful experiences both inside the classroom and outside the classroom. Whenever you get the opportunity, ask your child how they are doing in school and how things are going with their friends. Keeping the lines of communication open will let your child know that you are interested and care about them at a time when they are exploring and seeking independence. The middle school years can have its ups and downs so its important that your child knows s/he can go to you for support and a listening ear. Looking ahead The Middle School Classroom Without Walls (CWW) week is fast approaching. The teachers have been busily planning trips that provide opportunities for the students to engage in service learning and teambuilding activities while getting to know more about our host country, the Philippines. Information and permission slips will be sent out through your childs Homebase. Please keep an eye out for the information. If you have any questions, please contact your childs Homebase teacher or the site leader in charge of the activity. Looking ahead for parents of grade 8 students Please note that the High School Course Selection Meeting has been moved to Tuesday, February 19 from 5:30 6:30 P.M. in the Little Theater. The meeting will not take place on February 21 as printed in the school calendar. Have a fabulous weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

Inside this issue:

From the Office of Admissions and Advancement / Art Auction From the Operations & Security Office From the ATAC Office Middle School Choir Earcos Logo Design Contest Art Mud Class: Crazy Creatures MS Academic Bowl Tryouts IASAS Tennis MS 3rd Season Try-out Schedule MS 3rd Season Training Schedule HS 3rd Season Try-out Schedule Adult Language Courses at ISM 2 6 8 10

11 12 13 14 15 16

UPCOMING EVENTS
JANUARY 30 to Feb. 3 FEBRUARY 6
Grade 4 to 5 Parents Transition Meeting (5:00 P.M., LT) MS Party (Grade 5 to 8) rescheduled to March 15 Classroom Without Walls (CWW) Grade 8 Parents HS Course Selection Meeting (5:30 P.M., - 6:30 P.M., Little Theater) MS Parent Coffee (7:45 A.M., Little Theater) No Classes (EDSA Revolution Holiday) No Classes: Faculty InService Registration AMIS Band (AMIS)

8 11 to 15 19

21 25 26

27 to Mar. 01 Grade 8 Course

POWERSCHOOL GRADE UPDATE

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

January 25 Feb 8

Grade Update Progress Reports Distribution

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From the Office of Admissions and Advancement

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ISM Community Art Auction

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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

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

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From the Operations & Security Office

Operations and Security
Access and parking within the campus are important security and safety issues. For the well-being of all members of the ISM community, those entering the school campus are requested to follow the procedures outlined below.

Vehicular Access
During drop-off and pick-up times, vehicles may enter through Gates 2 and 3. Those entering through Gate 2 should proceed to the drop off area and, once the student has alighted or boarded, they should exit via Gate 1. Those vehicles entering through Gate 3 must turn into the covered parking area and use the designated drop-off areas. All vehicles must exit through Gate 1. Alternatively, vehicles entering through Gate 3 may park in the covered car park. The spaces reserved for parentdriven cars should only be used by those vehicles which are driven by parents themselves. Vehicles in which parents are traveling, but which are driven by a driver, should not use these spaces. Rather, they should park elsewhere in the covered park or make use of the outside spaces next to the power center. Please note that Gate 2 may only be used by members of the ISM community in possession of a valid ISM ID and vehicles displaying a valid ISM vehicle sticker. Family/company drivers should not remain within school once they have delivered a student. They should exit the school and return no sooner than 1:45 in the afternoon for pick up. Visitors to ISM may only enter through Gate 3. There is an area for short stay visitors parking near Gate 1.

The Pedestrian Gate

Location The pedestrian gate is located in the perimeter fence mid-way between Gate 1 and Gate 2. There is a paved area between the road and the perimeter fence, allowing easy access to the gate. The pedestrian gate is solely for the entry of members of the ISM Community at the beginning of the school day. It will only be open between 7:00 and 7:45 (8:00 to 8:45 on Wednesdays). Due to parking restrictions and in the interests of security it will not be open in the afternoon for pick ups. During the time it is open, it will be under the supervision of members of the ISM Guard Force.

Drop-off Procedure
Drivers should stop adjacent to the paved area and students should alight from the right side of their vehicle. The driver should then move off, clearing the space for other vehicles dropping off students. Under no circumstances should a student be dropped off from the outside lane. This is dangerous as the student would need to walk across the front of another vehicle. Drivers are reminded that traffic regulations forbid parking on the roads around ISM. Therefore, vehicles should only be stopping for the brief tine it takes for a student to alight. Drivers must not wait for anybody to return to the vehicle.

Car Stickers
The car stickers for the school year 2012/13 are available from the security office. Each ISM family will be issued one vehicle sticker free of charge. Any additional stickers will be issued following payment of Php100.00 to the cashiers office. In order to facilitate the easy recognition of authorized cars at the gates, the stickers should be affixed to the top right corner of the windshield. Further to this, old ISM stickers issued in previous years should be removed.

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ID Cards
ID cards should be worn at all times while on campus. If you have not been issued an ID card, or you have lost it, you should obtain one by visiting the security office and completing the appropriate application form.

Vehicle checks
The practice of inspecting vehicles will continue. During off-peak hours all vehicles will be checked before they are allowed to enter the campus. During peak hours (drop off and pick-up times), all vehicles without valid stickers and randomly selected vehicles with stickers will be asked to undergo an examination. Whether an examination is conducted or not, it is important that the security staff at the gates are able to identify the occupants of vehicles entering the campus; therefore IDs must be clearly displayed. Vehicles with tinted windows must roll down windows to allow a clear view of the interior of the vehicle.

Drivers, Helpers and Bodyguards

Drivers, helpers and bodyguards should not be waiting on campus for students throughout the school day. After dropping off students they should exit the school grounds and not return more than 30 minutes before dismissal time. Those who repeatedly fail to comply with the regulation will have their access privilege suspended. Only those vehicles carrying parents or other people with business within the school will be allowed to return to the campus before 1:45 p.m. There are designated areas for unaccompanied drivers, yayas, helpers and security escorts to wait for parents and students. Unless specifically authorized, they may not enter any other area. In the interest of security, and to prevent congestion at the pedestrian entrances to the covered parking area, parents are requested to emphasize to their employees the importance of cooperating with the security staff and remaining in the appropriate areas.

Termination of Employment
In the event of the termination of service of a family employee, parents are asked to secure the former employees ISM ID card and return it to the Security office. If this is not possible, it is important tat the Security Office is still informed of the change of circumstances. Finally, I would like to thank all members of the ISM community for their cooperation in helping us maintain ISM as a safe and secure environment for our children.

Firearms
All members of the ISM community are reminded that it is strictly forbidden for firearms to be brought onto the campus. This includes concealed weapons carried by bodyguards for close protection. Any person arriving at the school with a firearm should inform the gate guard and arrangements will be made for the weapon to be safely and securely stored during the visitors stay.

Security staff directions

Our security team is endeavoring to make the school as safe and secure an environment as possible for all members of our community. We as that everybody cooperate with us in this important task. In particular, all those entering our campus are requested to comply with any direction given to them by members of our guard force. In the event that anyone is unclear as to the purpose of such instructions they can seek clarifications from the security office. Please note that it is the parents responsibility to advise their staff accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation. We are looking forward to another successful semester at International School Manila.
Regards, MICHAEL FLYNN Director Operations & Security

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From the Athletics & Activities Office

3rd Season sports are fast approaching (Badminton, Softball and Track & Field) see attached flyers for tryouts and practice schedule. You can also access this information via the ATAC blog schedules pages. http://atac.ism-online.org/schedules/hs/ http://atac.ism-online.org/schedules/tryouts/ The housing letter for IASAS Track and Field April 10-14 is now available on the ATAC blog. Please consider housing for Track; it is going to be a fantastic event. Due to the spring break and teams arriving the day we return to school April 10, we need to ensure all 150 housing assignments are finalized prior to the break. Your help with early submission to confirm hosting would be greatly appreciated. For more general information about housing at IASAS tournaments see the housing and hosting page.http://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/ 2nd season MS and HS sports awards will be held Feb 19th; MS awards at the LT from 3:15-4pm and HS at the lofthouse from 5:30pm. Athletes and parents from all 2 nd season teams are invited to attend. ISM will host IASAS Tennis Jan 30-Feb 3. A big THANK-YOU to ISM families that agreed to host an IASAS Tennis athlete. I am pleased to say that all slots are now confirmed. You should have received your information letter with all details this week with guest names/pick up times etc. Letters were distributed to your children via the divisional offices. For more general information about housing at IASAS tournaments see the housing and hosting page.http://atac.ism-online.org/iasas/iasas-housing/ IASAS Tennis matches start next Thursday Jan 31st. The schedule is very busy with 204 matches to be played over the 3 days. To help you understand the schedule, a match consists of 3 singles games S1, S2, S3 and 2 doubles games D1 and D2.There is also an 8th or alternate player for each team who plays matches as a part of the tournament. The alternate player can be used in case of injury/illness in singles or doubles if needed. To win the match you need to win 3 out of the 5 games. It is a round robin format with all teams playing each other by Saturday lunch time and then Saturday afternoon the finals are played based on the round robin results. All 8 courts on our new roof facility plus our 2 courts at the covered court will be utilized for the tournament so there will be plenty of great tennis matches to watch during the 3 days. For those of you that are unaware or are new to ISM, both our ISM boys and girls teams are defending IASAS champions and our girls team is going for a 3rd win in a row this year. The event will be live streamed via www.iasas.asia and IASAS tournaments are wonderful events to host and we look forward to putting on a great event for the visiting teams in our new facility. We hope for great support from our ISM community during the event to cheer on our teams as they do battle against the IASAS schools. Whilst we are hosting tennis our other 2nd season teams will be battling it out at the following venues for their season ending IASAS Championships and we wish them the best of luck. You can follow their progress via live score sites at www.iasas.asia

Rugby/Touch at Kuala Lumpur Basketball at Singapore Swimming at Taipei

Please come along and check out the action when we host our IASAS friends from Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Bangkok!

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Our varsity girls basketball team qualified for the ISSA league semifinals and played on Tuesday vs. South Ville. The girls had a great win 70-52 and will now play in the final next week (date and time to be advised). Well done also to the Varsity boys Rugby team who took out the local league final last Saturday with a thumping 55-5 win over Faith. They then played a tune up game vs. local league team the Vipers and had another big win 64-15. Hardeman Cup tournament games will be played at Faith Saturday for our JV boys and Varsity girls/boys teams. Our JV and MS rugby teams play in the local league finals tomorrow at the HS field from 11:30am; come out to see the action. On the MS field we are hosting the ISM JV and Varsity Touch Invitational. JV division is played from 8am-11:30am and the Varsity division in the afternoon from 1pm to approximately 5:30pm. Our MS B tennis team made up of grade 5/6 players remains undefeated for the season and play Brent tomorrow to try and keep the winning streak alive. The team has already qualified for finals along with the MS girls tennis team with finals to be played on Feb 16th at ISM. 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. GAME SCHEDULE PDF: (access to game schedule information) Information about all mid-week/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 youre interested in joining the Den volunteers please contact Carolyn Ching for details caolynqching@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: Wed and Fridays from 11:30am 1:00pm and each afternoon from 2:30-4pm. Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities

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Middle School Choir

The Middle School Choirs had a festive weekend last Saturday, participating in the first Choir Festival. The day included fun singing games, activities and concluded with some performances. Highlights of the day included students singing open mic during lunch time and special performances from the Concert Choir. Thank you to Ms. Hausman, Ms. Grev and all the 90+ students that participated! -Guime Odendaal
Earcos Logo Design Contest
East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools (EARCOS) is having a logo design contest for all East Asian schools who are members of its organization. ISM students (Grades 5- 12) are invited to submit entries and the winner receives USD 1,000.00. PLEASE go to earcoslogo.jimdo.com for more information or talk to Ms. Morgan Jacobs!

Art Mud Class: CRAZY CREATURES!

Please come by the elementary library to see a fun collaborative project between Ms.Nat's preschool class and Ms. Morgan Jacob's Art Mud (Grade 7 and 8) class. Preschoolers designed and drew their own creatures and the middle school artists sculpted them in clay! There is also a little comment box with a question to answer, so students can "critique" the work. Fun and educational way to end your class five minutes early and take a WALK!

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Middle School Academic Bowl Tryouts

Do you know lots of interesting facts and general knowledge? Are you fast on the buzzers? Do you like Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? THEN COME TO Academic Bowl Tryouts!! WHERE - Room P046 (Mrs. Birchenalls classroom) WHEN - Thursday 7th February and/or Friday 8th February 3:05 P.M. 3:30 P.M. (sharp). The successful students will represent ISM at the next Academic Bowl competition which is to be held here at ISM on Tuesday 5th March.

All Middle School students are very welcome to come to the tryout sessions!!!

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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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Adult Language Courses at ISM