ISSUE # 25

MIDDLE SCHOOL
WEEK OF:
MARCH 3 TO 7

SY 2013 2014

Friday Bulletin
Inside this issue:
MAP Testing Treasury Department Superintendents Office Service Learning After-School Activities Athletics & Activities Admissions & Advancement ISM Upcoming Events

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

Dear Parents: Starting on Monday, March 3 students will register for courses for school year 2014-2015. You and your child should have received information about the process through your email address. If you did not, please check the MS Blog Homepage at http://ms.ism-online.org/ to access the information. This past Wednesday during assembly time each grade level was informed of the process and the options that were available. They were also strongly encouraged to discuss the options with their parents so that they are prepared to register for classes. Students will register for courses during the school day. After registering, the student will be sent a confirmation email with an attachment summarizing the courses that were selected; parents will also be copied with the confirmation. Please print out the confirmation sheet, sign it and return the form to the Middle School Guidance Office by March 14. For parents of grade 8 students, please remember that there is a High School Course Selection Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 5 from 5:30 7:00 P.M. in the Little Theater. Please plan to attend so that you can hear more about high school and what lies ahead for your child. On Monday, March 10 we will start the second round of MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing. Please see the separate letter included in the bulletin for more details. In the event that your child misses a testing session, we will hold make-up sessions on Wednesdays starting at 7:30 A.M. If your child requires a make-up session, the MS Office will notify you and we ask that you make the necessary arrangements to bring your child to school early on Wednesday. Looking aheadOn Thursday, March 20 students will be released early at 12:00 noon, and we will have an afternoon of Student -Led Conferences, which provides an opportunity for students to share their learning with their parents. In the coming weeks we will provide more detailed information about the afternoon schedule, questions you can ask your child during the conferences, and a goal setting sheet. On that afternoon parents will accompany their child to each class for approximately ten minutes and have the opportunity to discuss samples of work. There will be two sessions, 12:30 2:30 and 3:00 - 5:00, with students divided according to the alphabet. It is recommended that students with surnames A K attend the first session, and students with surnames L-Z attend the second session; however, this is flexible. If you are unable to attend the recommended session time, you are welcome to participate in the alternate session. For student-led conferences, parents will not need to schedule appointments. Please note that if both parents are unable to attend the student -led conference, your child is expected to go home at dismissal and not remain on campus. Have a fabulous weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

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Events & Activities:

MARCH

3-7 3-7 7 10 - 14 27 25 - 31 27

Course Registration Spirit Week MS Party MAP Testing Student-Led Conferences MAP Testing Grade 5/6 All Strings Concert

To All ISM Parents: Important Advisory : US dollar Checks from Citibank NA - Philippine Branch
In accordance with the recent advisory made by Citibank N.A. Philippines, please be informed that starting January 01,2014 , CITIBANK US Dollar Account checks drawn from Citibank N.A. Philippine Branch will no longer be cleared through Citibank N.A. Agana Guam. In effect, CITIBANK checks deposited to a local bank or bank abroad will be treated as collection checks with clearing period of not less than 45 days. The said checks will no longer be acceptable for outright credit to both foreign currency deposit unit (FCDU) and PESO account until the receipt of credit advice from Citibank NA Philippines. A collection fee will also be imposed by depository banks (please see charges from BPI and HSBC below). BPI charges 1/4 of 1% for every Php 1.00 or a fraction thereof plus a fixed postage fee of Php 6.50 and minimum charge for outward bills for collection is Php 100.00 excluding postage fee.
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HSBC charges USD$3 for credit to USD account and Php100 for credit to Peso plus other additional processing fee that maybe charged by the receiving bank. Furthermore, the student's account paid by the Citibank check will not be considered as settled / paid for until such time the check is advised to have been cleared by Citibank. Additional surcharge maybe computed at the time that the check has not yet cleared and already falls after the due date. In this regard, we would like to advise our parents to deposit CITIBANK checks directly to the ISM CITIBANK account. Please DO NOT DEPOSIT CITIBANK Checks toother ISM local banks such as HSBC and BPI to prevent above-mentioned problems. Also remember to use your new set of dollar checks as advised by Citibank to you. As per Citibank, they have previously issued notification letters to their account holders regarding this change. For any query on your payment , please contact our Treasury Department - Cashiers ( Elmer Esguerra and Nerissa Felipe) 840-85-12, for billing ( Rhoda Villa 840-85-22 ) or Marissa Dulay at 840-8506 USD Check Clearing Services Please be advised that effective January 01,2014, US Dollar checks issued from your Citibank, N.A Philippine Branch Dollar Checking Account can no longer be presented and cleared through Citibank, N.A. Agana, Guam, U.S.A. under US Federal Reserve System. All US Dollar Account checks drawn from Citibank N.A. Philippine Branch, which are deposited in a local bank or in a bank abroad, will be treated as a collection item by presenting bank. The clearing period will thus change from 15 days to estimated 45 days depending on the process of the presenting bank on collection items. in addition, beginning December 15, 2013, please refrain from issuing any unused existing US Dollar Checks to your payees. We encourage you to order a new set of US Dollar check books for future use. Should you have any questions please contact Citi Service at 802-6000.

Important Advisory : HSBC Bank Charge for HSBC Check Deposits

Please be informed that starting January 01,2014 , HSBC has imposed a $4.00 bank charge for each HSBC check deposit . Over the counter HSBC check deposits from parents and company sponsors are also covered and charged by the same amount. In this regard, we would like to remind all our parents and sponsoring companies to please add $4.00 when paying HSBC check(s) or demand draft to ISM Cashier's Office or for direct deposits, to HSBC. For your reference and guidance.
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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 different stages in their school lives: G1; G5; G9. In recognition of the increasing concern about heart health, especially in conjunction 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 sporting activity, 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 examinations instead of the present three. These will be in Grade 1 and Grade 6. At Grade 1, there will be a physical examination performed by a duly accredited doctor as is the case at present. At Grade 6, there will be a similar physical examination but with the added component of an ECG. All new students between G1 and G5 will have a physical examination; all new students from G6 onward will have a physical examination 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 examination, since this was done when they entered G5 Incoming G9 students will have the full medical examination and an ECG. Incoming G7 and G8 will have the full medical examination and an ECG when they enter G9. We shall continue to encourage very strongly all athletes participating 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 definitive, and there is a more sophisticated check that the doctor will recommend if anything in the ECG causes concern. The test itself is very reasonably priced and is readily available at St Lukes and Makati Medical Center as well as other hospitals. Please take a moment to review our re-enrollment time-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 additional chore for parents and students at the time of re-enrollment, but if such a test saves even one life then it will be well worth the extra effort. Sincerely, David Toze Superintendent
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MS Saturday Service Dates

March 8 March 15 March 22 March 29 April 5 Papaya Academy CRIBS Foundation Chosen Childrens Village (CCV) Philippine Community Fund (PCF) Philippine Animal Welfare Society Tzu Chi Foundation Recycling Center

To sign up, get a Permission Slip in the MS Office and prepare to [Get awesome!]

Middle School Tennis already started last week. If your child is confirmed in this activity,

please make sure that he/she notifies the Tennis coach of his/her preferred schedule. Fee for this activity is Php 5000.00 which you may settle at the cashier.
Third season activities resume this week starting February 26th. Activities such as Bad-

minton, Cricket, Ultimate Frisbee and Volleyball have started.

The following activities are still available and if you want to sign up your child with these

activities, you may do so at the AFAC desk: Chosen Children Village, Digital Imagery, Math Counts, Minecraft for Grade 7-8, MUN, Philippine Cultural Club, Robotics Electronics Programming for Inventors, Yoga, Zumba, Ballet, Dance Mash, Tap Dance, Guitar, Aikido, Aquatics, Chess, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Soccer for Gr 7 -8, Ultimate Frisbee and Volleyball.
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3rd season practice schedule for MS/HS students is posted on the schedules pages of the (ATAC blog) and on notice boards around school.

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 Saturday Community Tennis has resumed and of where and when the Bearcats teams are will run through until the end of May. see the playing. Click on schedules tab or the Bearcat flyer on the blog for exact dates and details. logo to be directed to the power school secure This is open to ISM community members only, site (http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/) outside guests are not allowed. Contact Coach You will need your power school user name and Czarina to book lessons with our ISM Tennis password to access the game schedule pdf. Academy coaches (http://atac.ism-online.org/ atac/saturday-community-tennis/). The Bearcat Den (http://atac.ism-online.org/ bearcat-den/) is open for business, please drop Well done to all our MS/HS track athletes who by to check out the range of Bearcat products. competed at the 1st ISM meet for the season We have a great team of volunteers who run last Saturday. Meet results can be found the den and are always looking for more people here http://atac.ism-online.org/atac/3rdto help out. If you are interested in joining a season/track-meet-results/ fantastic group please contact any of our den members during den opening hours or please March 1st is the Sailfish Aquathon. See Coach contact Carolyn Ching for details carHolly or Sailfish Blog for details. olynqching@yahoo.com. We are always looking for new volunteers and encourage parents from March 1st Brent Track meet and Brent Badmin- ES/MS to join our group. The Bearcat den is ton tournament for MS/HS teams. now calling for volunteers to take on POR's (positions of responsibility) for next school year New families please take some time to peruse '14-15) as secretary, treasurer, volunteer coorthe ATAC blog as this will help orientate you dinator, inventory/merchandise and snacks purwith the wide variety of co-curricular programs chasing. If you are interested drop an email ISM offers. to pekinm@ismanila.org A great way to stay in touch with the ISM ATAC Have a great year at the Home of the Bearcats! program is to subscribe via RSS feed to the ATAC blog and also to follow via twitter (see Regards, twitter feed on the blog home page). Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities 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 mid7

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS THROUGH THE ISM PARENT PORTAL

Dear 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 information on school events, useful links, as well as child-specific academic blogs and student portfolios. Should you need to make any changes to your contact information, visit the Parent Portal and follow the steps below:

Leaving ISM?
For those students that will be withdrawing from International School Manila this school year (SY 13 -14), the following procedure applies: Parents are obliged to officially inform the Admissions Office in writing through a Withdrawal Notification Form at least fifteen (15) days prior to your childs last day of school.

For those leaving at the end of the school year, you MUST submit a Withdrawal Notification Form on or before May 09, 2014.
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 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.
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