Parent Bulletin Issue 24 SY1314

8/13/2019 Parent Bulletin Issue 24 SY1314

1/10

25 -31 MAP Tesng

7 MS Party

3 -7 Spirit Week

3 -7 Course Registraon

25 Naonal Holiday

24 No Classes

FEBRUARY

4

MIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOLMIDDLE SCHOOL

ISSUE # 24

SY 2013 2014

WEEK OF: Weekly Publication for Middle School ParentsFriday Bulletin

Inside this issue:

Events & Acvies:

2Superintendents Oce

7ISM Upcoming Events

5

Athlecs & Acvies

Admissions & Advancement

FEBRUARY 24 to 28

10-14 MAP Tesng

Dear Parents:

This week we were fortunate to have Mitch Albom, best-selling author of Tues-

days with Morrieand other novels, speak to our grade 6 grade 8 students. He

shared with us his career path into wring, his wring process, and lessons he

has learned along the way. He also elded quesons from our own students and

encouraged them to read in order to become stronger writers. Giving is living

was one of the most important pieces of advice that he shared with the audi-

ence as he spoke of his me with his professor and mentor, Morrie Schwartz,and his eorts with an orphanage in Hai. Thank you to Meg Parry, the Middle

School librarian, for organizing this event and bringing such an inspiraonal au-

thor to ISM.

This week we launched our transion programs for grade 4 students entering

grade 5 and grade 8 students moving into high school. Principals and counselors

from each division spent me with small groups of students, discussed their next

level of schooling, shared acvies and events to look forward to, and answered

any quesons that rose to the surface. In the coming months more acvies are

planned so that the students slowly become more comfortable with the idea of

moving on to Middle School or High School. For parents of grade 8 students, a

High School Course Selecon Meeng is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5

from 5:30 7:00 P.M. in the Lile Theater. Please plan to aend so that you can

hear more about high school and what lies ahead for your child.

Middle School course registraon for school year 2014-2015 will take place the

week of March 3. One new course oering, Robocs -Advanced, will be availa-

ble to grade 8 students who have or will have taken the introductory Robocs

course. Informaon will be available through the MS Blog for all students and

parents, and students will also hear the informaon during an assembly me on

Wednesday, February 26. Please take some me to discuss the opons with

your child so that they are prepared to register for next years classes.

Reminderthere will be no classes on February 24 and 25. Classes resume on

February 26.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Yours in Educaon,

Simon Gillespie Clarissa Sayson

Middle School Principal Middle School Assistant Principal

3Saturday Service Learning

MARCH

27 Grade 5/6 All StringsConcert

27Student-Led

Conferences


2/10

2

Re-enrollment: SY14-15 Returning Students Medical Update

Dear Parents:

As you may know, for a number of years we have had required medical check-ups for students at dierent stages

in their school lives: G1; G5; G9. In recognion of the increasing concern about heart health, especially in conjunc-

on with physical exercise in a tropical climate, we shall be introducing a mandatory Electro-Cardiogram (ECG)

test for older students.

Sudden Cardiac Death in Adolescents, especially during sporng acvity, is a recognized syndrome and well over

100 children a year die of this in the USA. Medical advice is that it makes sense to test only students who are 12

years old and beyond. In light of this, we shall now have two thresholds for medical examinaons instead of the

present three. These will be in Grade 1 and Grade 6. At Grade 1, there will be a physical examinaon performedby a duly accredited doctor as is the case at present. At Grade 6, there will be a similar physical examinaon but

with the added component of an ECG.All new studentsbetween G1 and G5 will have a physical examinaon;all

new students from G6 onwardwill have a physical examinaon and the ECG.

In order to "grandfather out" our present cohort of students, please note:

Incoming G6 students will have an ECG, but will not need a physical examinaon, since this was done when

they entered G5

Incoming G9 students will have the full medical examinaon and an ECG.

Incoming G7 and G8 will have the full medical examinaon and an ECG when they enter G9.

We shall connue to encourage very strongly all athletes parcipang in Varsity sports to take an ECG.

Over the course of the next years, this will mean that all ISM students from G6 onwards will have had a basic heart

check-up. The ECG is not denive, and there is a more sophiscated check that the doctor will recommend if any-

thing in the ECG causes concern. The test itself is very reasonably priced and is readily available at St Lukes and

Maka Medical Center as well as other hospitals.

Please take a moment to review our re-enrollment me-line and procedures for all students returning for school

year 2014-2015:RE-ENROLLMENT

I do understand that adding this requirement of an ECG may be seen as an addional chore for parents and stu-dents at the me of re-enrollment, but if such a test saves even one life then it will be well worth the extra eort.

Sincerely,

David Toze

Superintendent


3/10

3

MS Saturday Service Dates

March 1 Habitat for Humanity

Love2Learn

March 8 Papaya Academy

CRIBS Foundaon

March 15 Chosen Childrens Village (CCV)

March 22 Philippine Community Fund (PCF)

March 29 Philippine Animal Welfare Society

April 5 Tzu Chi Foundaon Recycling Center

To sign up, get a Permission Slip in the MS Oce and prepare to

[Get awesome!]
http://www.habitat.org.ph/site/index.phphttp://www.habitat.org.ph/site/index.phphttp://www.youngfocus.org/what-does-young-focus-do/1-student-education/love2learn/http://www.slideshare.net/sbrokvam/ism-collaboration-with-papaya-academy-presentationhttp://www.slideshare.net/sbrokvam/ism-collaboration-with-papaya-academy-presentationhttp://www.cribsfoundation.com/http://www.cribsfoundation.com/http://www.chosenchildrenvillage.org/http://www.p-c-f.org/http://www.paws.org.ph/http://www.paws.org.ph/http://www.tzuchi.org.ph/newsite/index.phphttp://www.tzuchi.org.ph/newsite/index.phphttp://www.paws.org.ph/http://www.p-c-f.org/http://www.chosenchildrenvillage.org/http://www.cribsfoundation.com/http://www.slideshare.net/sbrokvam/ism-collaboration-with-papaya-academy-presentationhttp://www.youngfocus.org/what-does-young-focus-do/1-student-education/love2learn/http://www.habitat.org.ph/site/index.php


4/10

4

We are now into the 3rd season pracce sched-ule for MS/HS students. The schedule is nowposted on the schedules pages of the (ATACblog) and on noce boards around school.

The rst track meet of the year will be held to-morrow,Saturday, February 22. Racing starts at8:00 A.M. and the meet should concludeabout3:00 to 3:30 P.M. Bring your water boleand sunscreen.

SaturdayCommunity Tennis resumed last weekFebruary 15th through unl the end of May.see the yer on the blog for dates and details.

This is open to ISM community members only,outside guests are not allowed. Contact CoachCzarina to book lessons with our ISM TennisAcademy coaches(hp://atac.ism-online.org/atac/saturday-community-tennis/).

ISM Varsity boys connued their winning formbeang Ateneo in the Division 1 ISTA TennisLeague nal last Saturday, congratulaons on agreat nish to the local season.

The MS girls basketball Gold team played theirleague nal vs Faith last week and won. Congrat-ulaons on a great season to all players andcoaches and well done for claiming the champi-ons trophy this year.

New families please take some me to perusethe ATAC blog as this will help orientate youwith the wide variety of co-curricular programsISM oers.

A great way to stay in touch with the ISM ATACprogram is to subscribe via RSS feed to the ATACblog and also to follow via twier (see twierfeed on the blog home page).

EachMonday,I will post the weeks happeningsand highlight important events for students andparents informaon on the ATAC blog and in the

regularFridayparent bullens.

GAME SCHEDULE PDF: (access to game scheduleinformaon): Informaon about all mid

-week/

weekend xtures for ISM teams can be found viathe ATAC blog.Please note the game scheduledoes change oen due to involvement withmany local schools so please check the page reg-ularly to nd out the latest informaon of whereand when the Bearcats teams are playing.Clickon schedules tab or the Bearcat logo to be di-rected to the power school secure site(hp://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/) You willneed your power school user name and pass-

word to access the game schedule pdf.

The Bearcat Den (hp://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/) is open for business, please dropby to check out the range of Bearcat products.We have a great team of volunteers who run theden and are always looking for more people tohelp out. If you are interested in joining a fantas-c group please contact any of our den mem-bers during den opening hours or please contactCarolyn Ching for details car-

[email protected]. We are always lookingfor new volunteers and encourage parents fromES/MS tojoin our group. The Bearcat den is nowcalling for volunteers to take on POR's (posionsof responsibility) for next school year '14-15) assecretary, treasurer, volunteer coordinator, in-ventory/merchandise and snacks purchasing. Ifyou are interested drop an [email protected]

Have a great year at the Home of the Bearcats!

Regards,Mark PekinDirector of Athlecs/Acvies
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


5/10

5

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS THROUGH

THE ISM PARENT PORTALDear Parents,

We are pleased to inform you that your childs PowerSchool account may be accessed through the ISM Parent Portal.

Aside from being a gateway to PowerSchool, the Parent Portal also provides informaon on school events, useful links,

as well as child-specic academic blogs and student porolios. Should you need to make any changes to your contact

informaon, visit the Parent Portal and follow the steps below:


6/10

6

Leaving ISM?

For those students that will be withdrawing from Internaonal School Manila this school year (SY 13

-14), the following procedure applies:

Parents are obliged to ocially inform the Admissions Oce in wring through a Withdrawal No-

caon Form at least een (15) days prior to your childs last day of school.

For those leaving at theend of the school year,you MUST submit a Withdrawal No-

caon Form on or before May 09, 2014.

Failure to do so will lead to a deducon of US$1,000 from the Facilies Upgrade Deposit (FUD) in

compensaon for having held a space for the child and thus prevenng the School from oeringthat space to another child prior to the summer holiday break.

The Withdrawal Nocaon Form can be obtained from the Admissions Oce or downloaded from

the ISM website here.

We hope that your child has had an enriching stay at ISM and wish you and your family the very

best in the future.
http://www.ismanila.org/page.cfm?p=853&pback=372http://www.ismanila.org/page.cfm?p=853&pback=372http://www.ismanila.org/page.cfm?p=853&pback=372http://www.ismanila.org/page.cfm?p=853&pback=372


7/10

7


8/10

8


9/10

9


10/10

10

Documents

Parent Bulletin Issue 24 SY1314