ISSUE # 35

SY 20152016

MIDDLE SCHOOL
WEEK OF:

Friday Bulletin

Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

JUNE 6 TO 10

Dear Parents,

Inside this issue:

Welcome to the final Parent Bulletin of the 2015 - 2016 school year!
This week has been an eventful week, with the MS Music performance, the G5 Museum
of Change, the G7 LS - Me as a Learner presentations, the G7 Honors Math Carnival, the
G8 Advocating for Change day and the G8 to G9 Transition to High School event. As you
can see, even though the end of the school year is rapidly approaching, student learning is
still very much front and center in the Middle School.
As the school year comes to a close, we would like to thank our parent community for
your unwavering support. We appreciate your participation in our PCA, your attendance
at parent coffees and your presence at the varied special events that take place throughout the school year. The value and importance you place on your childs education, helps
to make our school a truly special place. We know that the Middle School years present a
wide range of challenges and your consistent support, care and love, are invaluable to
your children as they navigate these critical years. Thank you for all that you do!
The key events for the final 4 days of school can be found below as well as some key dates
pertaining to the return to school in August.
THIS WEEK:
Monday, June 6th:
G8 Community Outreach Day
As part of the G8 end-of-year activities, students will participate in a meaningful day focused on service learning. G8 students have signed up for one
of the following partner sites:Tzu Chi Foundation, CRIBS, Cottolengo, SPECS
Home for Boys, PGH Pediatric Ward, PAWS, PCF Crafts (at ISM) and Las Pinas
(LPPCHEA).
Students will return to school between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m. and will close the
day by participating in a reflection exercise.

Fine & Performing Arts

Campus Card
Cashiers Office

Operations & Security

Admissions & Advancement

ISM Upcoming Events

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POWERSCHOOL UPDATE:

PowerSchool is now temporarily

closed and will not open until
SY16-17. If you did not re-enroll
Tuesday, June 7th:
G8 Awards Assembly
your child/ren, please contact
7:30a.m. in the FAT.
Admissions immediately to in Teachers will present awards for different subject areas as well as ISMs disform of your intentions to Repositions and transdisciplinary skills.
Parents are welcome to come and watch if they would like to do so.
enroll or Withdraw.
(Traditionally very few parents have attended as the event is relatively informal)

G8 Activities Afternoon and Yearbook Signing Event

12:00 - 2:00 p.m. (Activity day)
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. (Yearbook signing)

Athletics & Activities

Wednesday, June 8th:

G8 Moving On Ceremony
Time: 16:00
Location: FAT
Please note that G8 students do not have school on this day. Students
should arrive on campus at 3:00 p.m.

Access to Report Cards will be

available through the Parent
Portal starting June 13, after you
have settled any end of the year
charges your child/ren may have
incurred for SY15-16.

the MS Office on the first day of school.

Thursday, June 9th
Last Day of School!
G8 students do not come to school on this day!
Dismissal is at 12:00 noon for all students.

NEED TO KNOW:
Report Cards
The end of semester report cards will be available on
Wednesday, June 15th. Parents can access the reports
via the ISM website and the Parent Portal. Please make
sure that all outstanding fees and/or school items have
been settled before this date, otherwise you will be unable to access your childs report card.
Goodbye!
To the MS families who are moving on at the close of this
academic year, we hope you are taking away treasured
memories from your ISM experience. We wish you the
very best of luck as you transition to new countries,
cities, schools, jobs and homes. Please keep in touch and
remember you always have a home, here in Manila Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat!
HEADS UP FOR AUGUST!

Supply Lists
Supply lists for G5, G6, G7 and G8 will be shared via email
on Thursday, June 9th. This email will contain a link and
we respectfully request that all students come to school
on Thursday, August 4th with all of these
items. Teachers will make time on the first day of school
to help students organize their supplies so they are set
up for a successful start to the school year.
We are sharing these lists before the school holidays so
parents who are travelling can choose whether they purchase the items in Manila or in their home country.

First Day of School!

The 2016 - 2017 school year commences on Thursday,
August 4th.
While we appreciate that the start of the coming school
year may not be on your radar yet, we want to make
sure all students (and parents) know what the first day of
school will look like. Having the schedule in advance may
help to ease any first day of school anxiety and will
hopefully reduce any confusion about where to go when
you and your child arrive on campus. (This information
will be resent on August 1st as a reminder.)

7:30 - 8:30 Advisory - Students need to refer to

their schedules for room number.
8:35 - 9:15 Grade level assemblies
Grade 5 MS Gym
Grade 6 Little Theater
Grade 7 Fine Arts Theater
Grade 8 Lofthouse
9:20 - 9:55 Full MS assembly (FAT)
9:55 - 10:10 Break
10:15 - 11:25 Period 3
11:30 - 12:40 Period 4
12:40 - 1:15 Lunch
1:20 - 2:30 Period 5
2:35 - 3:00 Advisory

We wish everyone a thoroughly enjoyable vacation. Stay safe

and see you in August!
Kind regards,
Rachel Harrington, Middle School Principal
Amanda Pekin, Assistant Middle School Principal

Schedule Distribution Dates

Student schedules will be distributed on the following
dates:
Monday, August 1st - G5 and G6
Tuesday, August 2nd - G7 and G8
Wednesday, August 3rd - All MS grades
The schedule collection point will be just outside the entrance to the MS Guidance area. If you are unable to pick up
your childs schedule on these dates, students should go directly to the tables in the hallway just outside the entrance to

Best wishes Bearcat students and families for a safe and

enjoyable summer vacation. It has been another great
year at ISM for sports and we look forward to welcoming
back our returning and new Bearcats in August. See below dates for tryouts in the new SY for our season one
teams and for our all year round teams in August. Be
safe, take care and stay fit Bearcats ready for SY 16-17!

4:30. See schedule for our All year round teams program
at ATAC blog schedules page

For SY 16-17 all HS seasonal teams practice from 3:054:50pm each day. MS seasonal teams practice 3:154:45pm. In order to clear the campus prior to 5pm all
after school programs will conclude by 4:50pm or earlier.
The last bus is 4:55pm this is due to the ever increasing
ISM hosts IASAS Basketball, Golf and Badminton next Feb traffic concerns in our area.
and April which will be fantastic events to host for our
school. We look forward to welcoming all the IASAS ath- During the summer and in the new school year parents
letes for these events.
and students please take some time to peruse the ATAC
blog it has a wide variety of information and links to our
IASAS Schedule for SY16-17:
sports and activities program. If you have any questions
S1 IASAS Oct 20-22 Soccer at Jakarta/Volleyball&XC
regarding the competitive program of sports at ISM after
at Taipei
reading the information on the blog please send an email
S2 IASAS Feb 2-4 Basketball at ISM/Tennis at Bangto pekinm@ismanila.org and I will endeavor to assist you
kok/Swimming at Kuala Lumpur/Rugby & Touch at
as best I can.
Jakarta
IASAS Cultural Convention Mar 2-4 Art,Danc,Drama
The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated regularly
at Kuala Lumpur/Music at Jakarta/Debate&Forensics by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athletics Coordinator) gives the
at Bangkok
most up to date information on where/when and who
S3 IASAS Apr 6-8 Golf and Badminton at ISM/
our Bearcat teams will be playing throughout the school
Baseball&Softball at Singapore/Track at Bangkok
year. Access to the game schedule is now via the ISM parent portal not via power school as in the past. A navigaISM summer camps registration is now closed. Summer
tion guide is available here. ATAC Game Schedule Users
camps are offered the first 3 weeks of the summer vaca- Guide
tion. Please note due to the large amount of facility construction planned for this summer camps will only be
Access the parent portal via this link, log in with your user
offered in the mornings and all sessions will end by 12
name/password and then look for the ATAC Game Schednoon or before.
ule tab under the left side quick links. Don't forget to refresh the pdf page each time it opens so you access the
Upcoming events:
most current schedule. Please note this schedule does
June 3 Last day of AFAC and ATAC training
change often and at short notice due to involvement with
June 7 Gr8-11 Girls Basketball Clinic with Kelly Harde- many local schools and organizations.
men 3:15pm MS gym
Aug 4,5,8,9 S1 HS Tryouts (Volleyball/Soccer/Cross
Check it regularly for the most up to date information.
Country)
For security purposes....access to the ATAC game sched Aug 8,9,10 S1 MS Tryouts (Volleyball/Soccer/Cross
ule pdf must be linked via the secure parent portal and
Country)
details should not be shared with non ISM community
Aug 8,9,10 Tryouts/Registration for ES Rifa League
members.
Soccer Gr1-4.
Aug 8, 10, 12- Tryouts/Registration for ATAC All Year Bearcat Den- drop by our fantastic spirit store for year
teams( Sailfish swim squads, Gymnastics, Wall Climb- end sale items. Get some Bearcat gifts for friends and
ing, Table Tennis, Chess, Akido, Judo, TaeKwonDo
family. Bearcat Den hours of operation-7am-4pm MonFri.
For our Sailfish swim team program and tryouts information for next SY please check the Sailfish blog for infor- Best Regards,
mation. http://sailfish.ism-online.org/
Mark Pekin
Director of Athletics and Activities
Please note the practice times for ATAC programs for SY
16-17 are as follows: ATAC all year round teams- 3:153

The ISM Fine & Performing Arts Office films many performances throughout the school year. Unfortunately, due to copyright
laws, we cannot post many of these events to a public access site such as YouTube. In order to make access to these events
easy for ISM families, we have now added a Google folder containing the films in the "Quick Links" list of the Parent Portal.
Here is a screenshot of this link:

Once you have clicked on this link, you will be taken to the Google folder that contains folders label by the school year.
Click on the year in which the event you want to watch took place and a list of video files will appear.
Because the file sizes are so big, downloading the video you want to watch to your personal computer is recommended.
This also means you will retain access to it after you leave ISM and it will be easy to share with family members via file
share sites such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
You can download by clicking on the video file you want. A similar screen as seen below will open and then you select the
download tab, which is located at the top-center of the screen:
You will be asked to select where you want to
save the file on your personal computer.
Currently we only have events for this year
available, but will work on shifting over the last
two years as well in the coming weeks. We will
also eventually include folders containing photos taken by our ISM student photographers at
some events.
SHARING POLICY
The videos in this folder are provided for private family viewing only. These videos
SHOULD NOT be uploaded to the internet for public access. If this becomes an issue, we will have to stop providing the
films in this manner. You can certainly share your downloaded files to family members in other countries but please make
it clear to them that these videosSHOULD NOT be uploaded to any social media or public access site.
Happy viewing!
Marsha Hillman
Fin and Performing Arts Director

Need to top up?

ISM goes cashless in SY16-17!
Starting SY2016-2017 ISM will implement a full debit system in
the MS/HS Canteen. The debit system provides customers with a
cashless payment system once the customer's ID has been loaded
with funds.
Parents and Students are encouraged to start using the debit
system if they aren't already doing so.
Click here for details.

YEAR-END CLEARANCE REMINDERS:

NOTE 1 : Student charges will be FINAL on June 07,2016 . Kindly view the ISM Web Online and settle the remaining outstanding balance(s) in time for year end clearance SY2015-2016 .
NOTE 2 : In anticipation of the year-end clearance for SY2015-2016, please note that only students with fully
paid SY2015-2016 fees will have their clearance forms signed by the cashier and will then have access to
school documents such as report cards and transcripts.
Likewise, for next school years incoming Pre-School 4 to Grade 4 old students, section cards will be released
by the Accounting Office on June 9, 2016 and thereafter only if current school year (2015-2016) fees are fully
settled.
NOTE 3 :Please be informed that for the purpose of clearing the accounts of students for SY15-16, Only CASH payment will be accepted by ISM cashiers both for dollar and peso payments after the cut off dates
below :
Peso checks will no longer be accepted starting on May 23, 2016 (Monday) while US$ checks will no longer
be accepted starting on April 25, 2016 (Monday). This is to allow enough time for the check to get cleared by
the bank in time for the student clearance in June. Please also note that US dollar coins are not accepted by
the cashier, however, the same can be converted to its peso equivalent to settle the remaining fees.
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IDs for the New School Year

Parent IDs
The previously issued black and white parent IDs will continue to be valid for the new school year. Standard parent cards are issued free of charge. Parents may, however, elect to apply for a smartcard ID which will be usable
with the cashless payment system introduced into the school for SY 2013-14. There will be a fee of P250.00 for a
smartcard.
Applications for parent IDs can be processed through the Security Office.
Student IDs
All students will be issued with new ID cards at the beginning of the new school year. The cards will be compatible with the cashless payment system. There will be no need for returning students to visit the Security Office as
we will be utilizing the photographs taken for the yearbooks.
School Passes
School passes issued to parents employees and representatives need to be replaced for next school year. As of
August 31, 2016 (Wednesday) the brown bordered passes will be invalid.
The security office is now accepting applications for new school passes,
however the cards will not be available for collection before July 1,
2016. These passes will not be compatible with the cashless payment
system.
Each family will be given two free school passes. Additional school
passes may be obtained after paying a processing fee of Php100.00
each to the Cashiers Office.
Car Stickers for the New School Year
The car stickers for school year 2016/2017 will be available from the
security office beginning July 1, 2016.
To obtain a new vehicle sticker please submit a completed vehicle sticker form. Applications for vehicles registered with companies or other
institutions should be supported by a letter of assignment.
Each ISM family will be issued one vehicle sticker free of charge. Any
additional stickers will be issued following payment of P100 to the
cashiers office.
I would like to thank all members of the ISM community for their cooperation
across this school year in helping us maintain ISM as a safe and secure environment for our children.
Sincerely,
MIKE FLYNN
Director of Operations
and Security

Important information on Re-Enrollment for SY 2016-17

Dear Parents:
We will begin On-line Re-Enrollment for school year 2016-17 on Monday, April 4. As before, parents will have to log into
PowerSchool in order to do this. Below are instructions to help. If you are not sure of your PowerSchool log-in or need support, please contact the Middle School Office.
Please note that you must complete re-enrollment Steps 1 & 2 by 4pm on Friday, May 27 at the latest. PowerSchool will close
on that date until the start of SY16-17. We have over 500 students on our waitlist, and we will assume that your children are
leaving if you have not completed the re-enrollment process.
If your child/ren will not be returning for SY16-17, you MUST follow the Withdrawal Procedure and submit a Withdrawal Notification Form on or before Friday, May 13. Click here for more information.
Online Re-Enrollment
Step 1: Visit www.ismanila.org and click on Parent Portal under the Quick Links drop-down menu. Log-in to the Parent Portal
and click on PowerSchool. Please refer to the attached guide on How to Access Online Re-Enrollment.
Step 2: Look for the Re-Enrollment Clearance icon on the left hand panel. Click on the icon. Create your Re-enrollment Clearance Form and click submit after updating. You will receive an email notification verifying that you have been successful updating your childs record.
Step 3: Submit Forms (if applicable)
Students entering Grade 6 will be required to download and complete the Standard Physical Examination Form
(with ECG) which should be submitted to the ISM Health Clinic as soon as possible.
Students entering Grade 7 will be required to download and sign the ISM Drug Policy Form which should be submitted to the MS Office as soon as possible.
Step 4 You must settle all charges for SY15-16 which may include incidental fees not covered by company sponsorship (ATAC
uniforms, instrument rental, payment for lost textbook, etc.).
Step 5: You must pay the first quota of tuition fees for SY16-17 to receive your FINAL CLEARANCE NOTIFICATION for your
child to attend class on August 4, 2016.
Tuition and Fees: Please settle your accounts through our Cashiers Office.
Successful completion of required steps will generate a NO REPLY email confirmation. Completion of all steps is necessary in
order to receive your FINAL CLEARANCE NOTIFICATION.
To check status of Re-Enrollment, please visit the Parent Portal page.
Class Schedule distribution dates are as follows:
August 01, 2016: Grade 5 and 6 (MS Intersection)
August 02, 2016: Grade 7 and 8 (MS Intersection)

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