M I D D L E S C H O O L

F R I D A Y
BULLETIN
WEEKLY PUBLICATION FOR PARENTS

Issue # 11 week of November 13 TO 17 SY1718

Dear Parents,

We trust everyone had a relaxing vacation and enjoyed some

quality family time during the much anticipated week off.

Earlier this week, your child should have brought home their
school photo (if you ordered one!). Students received their pho-
tos in Advisory on Monday and it was interesting observing their
different reactions. Some students looked at their pictures im-
mediately and eagerly showed them off to everyone. Others
didnt even open the envelope and secreted the photo in their
backpacks as quickly as possible. You have to love MS students -
shy, excited, vulnerable and confident all at the same time!

This week we were fortunate to have two visiting authors - Jen-

nifer Smith and Jasmine Warga, courtesy of our close relation-
ship with the wonderful folks at National Bookstore! Students
in G6 - G8 had the opportunity to attend an interview session in
the FAT and had a brief opportunity to ask questions. Students
and faculty later moved to the MS Library where both authors
were available for a book signing session.
Please read on to learn more about whats coming up next
week!

Whats
Inside?
MS Activities 3
Campus Card 3
Alumni News 3
MS Service Learning 5
Athletics & Activities 7
ISM Upcoming Events 8
 THIS WEEK:
Monday, November 13th - Wednesday, November 15th
ASEAN Conference - Early Dismissal:
Due to the ASEAN conference and the possibility of
road closures impacting travel time, all students
will be dismissed at 2:15 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday.
Please note, there will only be one school bus ser-
vice and it will depart ISM at 2:30 p.m. (There is no
late bus!)
All students are expected to be off campus by 2:30
p.m. and MS students are not allowed to go to the
library, Kantina or MS Courtyard to hang out with
their friends.
Faculty and staff have been informed that they may
leave campus as of 2:45 p.m. so it imperative that
parents make the necessary arrangements to pick
their child/children up on time. MS students who
are not collected on time, will be asked to wait in
the ISM Security Office.
As previously communicated to students via the MS
Daily announcements, there are no AFAC or ATAC
activities on these dates.
We expect to return to a regular school and after
school activities schedule on Thursday and Friday.
Friday, November 17th
ES/MS Activity Sign Up Opens:
Online sign up for the semester 2 After School Ac-
tivities will open up on Friday, November 17th at CWW Photos:
4:00 pm
The system will be open for one week and will close
on Friday, November 24th at 4:00 pm
Semester 2 after school activities will commence on
Wednesday, January 10th.
COMING UP SOON!
Wednesday, November 22nd
MS Academic Bowl
Kind regards,
Location: ISM
Rachel and Amanda
Time: 8:00 - 3:00 pm
Venue: Little Theater
Academic Bowl students will be released from their
regular classes on this day as will the Academic
Bowl coaches - Holly Elwell and Holly Walker.
Interested parents are welcome to come along and
support our Bearcats!
Thursday, November 23rd (Please note the change of
date)
MS Parent Coffee
Focus: MS Curriculum
Time: 7:45 - 9:00
Location: Little Theater (LT)
Facilitators: Rachel and Amanda
Date Change: We had to change the date due to the
ASEAN Conference in Manila)
NEED TO KNOW:
Tech Parent Coffee Follow Up - Snapchat Tutorial! (From Da-
vid Collett)
As promised (sorry for the delay) here is a tutorial
on how to use Snapchat.
An Instagram tutorial is coming up in the next bul-
letin.
Additionally, please note that we haven't forgotten
about the follow-up parent tech sessions - we are just
sorting out all the diverse topics and times and then we
will get back to you and officially launch this initiative!
Some parents have been inquiring about how they
can access the various CWW photos.
Please note that all faculty and official student
photographers have now uploaded all the CWW pho-
tos to Google Drive and all students have direct
access to their grade level folder.
If you, or your child experience difficulty accessing
the photos, please email your respective Grade
Level Program Leader.
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 MS ACTIVITIES
2nd Semester, SY 2017-18
January 8 to June 1, 2018
SIGN-UPS WILL BE
DONE ONLINE from
November 17 (4pm) to
November 24 (4pm)
http://ms-activities.ism
-online.org/
REGISTRATION IS FIRST
COME, FIRST SERVED.
Students confirmed activities
will be sent through email on
December 11th
ACTIVITIES WILL START
JANUARY 10, MONDAY.
CAMPUS CARD CORNER
Retrieving Campus Card Password
If you forget your password, send an email to
campuscard@ismanila.org to request for the
resetting to the original password.
For more information, visit:
http://campusonline.ismanila.org
For questions/concerns, email:
campuscard@ismanila.org
ALUMNI NEWS
Filipino Scholar Dominic Galicia 83 and his
architect firm headed the restoration of the
National Museum of Natural History. Due to
the tedious process of its rehabilitation,
construction took four years to complete.
Its newly opened doors brings much pride to
the Philippines. Click HERE to read more.
Please contact Maica Cruz of the Alumni Office at alum-
ni@ismanilaorg to share your Alumni Bearcat News!
3

In the Middle School, students have various opportunities to en-
gage in service learning projects that connect their passions, inter-
ests, talents and concerns. The emphasis is on exposure and reflec-
tion, with opportunities to go deeper. There are three main layers
to service in the Middle School: Classroom Without Walls (CWW),
Saturday Service, and service learning embedded within the curric-
ulum.
Service learning projects are a component of CWW, which occur
twice a year at each grade level. CWW projects include partnerships
with schools for underprivileged and disabled children, interaction
with indigenous communities, and environmental projects such as
tree planting, organic farming, and coral reef preservation. CWW
gives students the opportunity to explore a variety of issues, con-
tribute to sustainable solutions, and reflect on their experiences.
ISSUE # 36
SY1617
Service Learning
Throughout the year, students also have an opportunity to partici-
pate in 15 to 20 Saturday Service events organized with ISM Service
Partners ranging from animal shelters to focused educational pro-
jects to recycling. These trips are planned and promoted by Service
Clubs that meet during lunch and after school. Middle School Satur-
day Service is open to all ISM students and their parents
Various examples of service learning also occur through class con-
tent connecting global issues with the Middle School curriculum.
Some examples include math classes that measure and report on
waste produced by the ISM community, drama classes that use the-
atre as a a medium for advocacy, and the Be the Change elective
course, which engages students research, planning, action, and re-
flection to address local and global concerns.
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ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES
IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE- DUE TO THE ASEAN CONFERENCE
NEXT WEEK- ALL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS WILL BE CAN-
CELLED MON/TUES/WED NOV 13,14 AND 15. THIS INCLUDES
ES/MS ACTIVITIES AND ATAC YEAR ROUND AND SEASON 2
TEAM TRAINING.
NORMAL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS WILL RESUME THURS/FRI
NOV 16/17 UNLESS OTHERWISE ADVISED.
HS VARSITY TEAMS ONLY WILL HAVE SPECIAL TRAINING SES-
SIONS ON TUES AND WED MORNING BEFORE SCHOOL TO PREPARE
FOR THE EXCHANGES WEEKEND. COACHES HAVE ADVISED VARSI-
TY TEAMS DETAILS ABOUT THE TUES/WED MORNING SESSIONS
AT TRAINING THIS WEEK.
For upcoming IASAS events.Season 2 and 3 ISM proudly hosts
Tennis in S2 and Track&Field/Golf in S3.
Housing forms for hosting IASAS tennis players Jan 31-Feb 4 is
available here. If you are participating in our tennis program S2
or were housed at a S1 IASAS event in Bangkok or Singapore
please help out by housing a pair of tennis players. Bearcat com-
munity support is encouraged and needed to support these
events.
The S2 practice schedule is posted (see link below) and is on the
ATAC blog schedules page and are posted on notice boards
around school.
S2 sports SY 17-18:
(MS- Basketball/Touch/Rugby/Tennis)
(HS- Basketball/Touch/Rugby/Tennis&Varsity Swim team)
2nd season practice sched 17-18
For our year round teams practice schedules are posted on no-
tice boards around the school and on the schedules page of the In order to clear the campus prior to 5pm all after school pro-
ATAC (Athletics) blog and provided in the ink below.
All season sports sched 17-18.xls 17-18 our area.
Please take the time to navigate the ATAC blog as it is our one
stop shop for all information related to the competitive ISM
sports program.
Upcoming Events:*matches at ISM unless specified as *away
venue. Check ATAC game schedule at the parent portal for all
the midweek and weekend matches upcoming. Please check on
a regular basis as venues and time do change at short notice.
Players will always be informed by their coaches if times/venues
change.
Nov 11 Sailfish Fall swim meet
Nov 11 Chess/Table tennis at LSGH/Xavier
Nov 11 Touch league matches start at ISM
Nov 11 Rugby season starts at ISM
Nov 11 Basketball season starts at ISM
Nov 11 HS boys tennis season starts at CSA Bulacan
ISSUE # 36
SY1617
Nov 17-19 S2 exchange weekend. Rugby and Girls
tennis to ISKL/Touch and Boys Tennis to Singapore/
Basketball teams to Jakarta/ Swim team to Bangkok
Fri Nov 24th Friday Night Lights #2- Touch and Bas-
ketball vs Brent and Rugby vs Brent/BSM/Faith
from 4pm
Feb 1-3 IASAS S2 Championships- Tennis at ISM/
Basketball at ISB/Rugby and Touch at TAS/
Swimming at JIS
Information on our ES/MS Activities program is available on the
ES and MS Activities blogs. Links to these blogs are on the help-
ful shortcuts menu on the home page of the ATAC blog or acces-
sible via the ISM website.
For our Sailfish swim team program please check information
about tryouts at Sailfish blog
For gymnastics team information please check Gymnastics
blog Look for Coach Jas or Coach Ramon at the MS gym when
attending training sessions.
Please note the practice times for ATAC programs for SY 17-18
are as follows:
All year round team team training sessions are
3:15-4:30. See schedule for our All year round
teams program here
See Sailfish blog for swim squad start and finish
times after the tryouts period has concluded and
squads have been finalised.
Gymnastics team training is 3:10-4:50pm every
M,W,F
All HS seasonal teams practice from 3:05- 4:50pm.
MS seasonal teams practice 3:15-4:40pm.
grams will conclude by 4:50pm or earlier. The last bus
is 4:55pm this is due to the ever increasing traffic concerns in
Parents and students please take some time to peruse the ATAC
blog it has a wide variety of information and links to our sports
and activities program. If you have any questions regarding the
competitive program of sports at ISM after reading the infor-
mation on the blog please send an email
to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will assist you as best I can.
Bearcat Den- drop by our fantastic spirit store. There is a a
range of new products and items to purchase including items
from our service partners.
Bearcat Den hours of operation- 7am-4pm Mon-Fri.
Best Regards,
Mark Pekin
Director of Athletics & Activities
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 ISSUE # 36
SY1617

ADMISSIONS & ADVANCEMENT

Leaving ISM?

Students Leaving During the School Year:

Parents are obliged to officially inform the Admissions Office through a Withdrawal Notification Form
at least (15) days prior to your childs last day of school.

Students Leaving at the End of the School Year:

Parents are obliged to officially inform the Admissions Office through a Withdrawal Notification Form
on or before the second Friday of May.

The Withdrawal Notification Form and complete Withdrawal Procedure can be down-
loaded from HERE and submitted to the Admissions Office.

Instructions for Demographic Update

We encourage all families to check their demographic information and make necessary
updates. CLICK HERE for the step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
Please contact your School Office for PowerSchool log-in information.

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ISM UPCOMING EVENTS

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