MIDD LE SCHOOL

Friday Bulletin
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

From the Middle School Office

Dear Parents, Today was a great day for building our Middle School Community We had our second semester activity day with students involved in a variety of activities from track and field, swimming and frisbee golf, to academic bowl, photography and dance. The day ended with a full Middle School assembly. This has been a good opportunity to take a break during this busy time of year, for students to connect with other students they might not normally connect with and with other teachers. We now have four weeks of the school year left with many exciting activities planning for our grade 8 students, and the completion of final units of learning throughout the Middle School. Friday May 24 is Bearcat Idol and our end of year Middle School Party more information will follow on this, but it is a great opportunity to hear students perform a variety of different songs. Students have been preparing, and auditioning, with semi-finals taking place next week. Please note all the other dates in the column to the right with our final music concerts, dance recital tomorrow May 11, and the dates for grade 8 moving on activities. Please be reminded that this Monday, May 13 has been declared a holiday due to elections so there will be no classes. Enjoy the weekend! Yours in Education, Simon Gillespie Middle School Principal Clarissa Sayson Middle School Assistant Principal

ISSUE # 33
W EEK OF MAY 13 TO MAY 17, 2013

Inside this issue:

From the Office of Admissions and Advancement - Re-enrollment for SY12-13 From the Human Resources Department: Cashless Campus From the ATAC Office From the HS Guidance Office Homeless World Cup Lost and Found Viewing June Summer Sports Camp MS Finale Concert 3 4 2

POWERSCHOOL UPDATE
MAY
27 JUNE 6 Powerschool opens Powerschool closes

End of Year Activities

From the Treasury Department

Dear ISM Parents: This is a reminder to please view and check the ISM Web Online at http:// community.ismanila.org/d/2/ for the latest update on your billing statement and settle any remaining balance of account(s). Please note that the 2nd semester Tuition fee for SY2012-2013 was due last December 07,2012 while other school fees on your billing statements are already due as billed. For those who havent settled yet, we appreciate your immediate settlement of the accounts. For related billing and payment questions including any username and password concerns, please call 840-85-22/ 840-85-06/840-85-12 and look for RHODA VILLA (Accountant) or MARISSA DULAY (Treasury Supervisor) and Elmer Esguerra ( Cashier). You can also email us at villar@ismanila.org or dulaym@ismanila.org. and esguerrae@ismanila.org.

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From the Office of Admissions and Advancement

Re-enrollment for SY 13-14
All returning students must complete the re-enrollment process in order to start school on 12th August 2013. This year re-enrollment may be completed via PowerSchool. For your guide to the online system, please click on the links below: Students Re-enrolling SY 13-14 Re-enrollment Incoming Grade 1 SY 13-14 Re-enrollment Incoming Grade 5 SY 13-14 Re-enrollment Incoming Grade 7 SY 13-14 Re-enrollment Incoming Grade 9 SY 13-14 Please note that to complete re-enrollment you must settle your accounts for SY 12-13 and pay the first quota of tuition fees for SY 13-14. Beginning 5th June, 2013 you may view your account details through Online Billing. SY 13-14 tuition is due on 12th July 2013. For questions/concerns, please contact the School Offices or the Admissions Office.

From the Human Resources Office: Cashless Campus

Dear Parents and Students, The end of the school year is fast approaching, and we wanted you to know that, starting in August, we shall be introducing a Campus Card payment scheme. This system has been in the research stage for some time now, and we have been consulting carefully with our colleague schools in IASAS, all of whom make use of a card for payments on their campuses. The system works through an individual identity chip that is implanted into student ID cards. One of the main purposes for making this move to is to provide a debit system in the canteen. Some of the benefits are: Limit the amount of money that students are obliged to bring to school. Speed up canteen lines during breaks since cash exchange will not be needed. Give online access to parents so they may see what their children are eating at lunch. The intention is to run parallel cash / debit system initially, but in time we intend to move towards a complete debit system during school hours. Parents and students will have several options with regards to topping up their card. They can do this online by credit card or PayPal or through an accredited bank (all for a minimal fee), at kiosks (similar to ATMs) located in two different areas on campus, or at the cashiers office. In addition to purchasing food at the canteen, the Smart Card may be used for paying other activities that take place on campus: school plays, Family Fun day, concerts, T-shirts, etc. We also hope that the Uniform Shop will be able to accept payments in this way. Parents and helpers may also apply for an ID card complete with chip should they wish to use a debit system on campus rather than cash payments. In conjunction with the debit system, the Smart Cards issued in Middle School will allow students to access the new lockers we are purchasing. We shall be sending out more instructions on how this system will work later in the school year and again in August. Like any new system, we suspect that there will be some teething problems, but we are confident that we shall overcome these and that the card system will be beneficial for the entire school. Sincerely, Michelle Mapua Director of Human Resources

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From the Athletics & Activities Office

4th season practices are now taking place for some of next years HS teams to start training. This is open for current grade 8s who will be freshmen 9th grade next year to join these practices. If you have questions, talk with the coaches. A big thanks to Coach Freddie from our ISM Judo team who coordinated with the Philippine Judo Association to host a great meet last Saturday. There were 150+ participants for this meet and with the support of the Judo Association of the Philippines, everything was well organized and the meet ran to schedule all day. Congratulations to all participants results will be posted in next weeks bulletin. May 29th Homeless World Cup Soccer Tournament at ISM: fundraiser to send Philippines team to the annual World Cup Tournament. See Ms. Vogt for details and team registration. Sailfish Awards will be on Friday evening, May 17th. Please see Sailfish blog for information. Bearcat Council forms are available on the ATAC blog. If you wish to apply for Bearcat Council next school year, applications must be in by May 10th. No late applications will be accepted. Please remember the swimming facility will close for renovation works on May 17 and the planned reopening of the pool is set for September 1st. We are building a new 2 level grandstand, new locker rooms, new storage area, new coaches locker rooms, additional restrooms for the public and resurfacing the pool surrounds. ISM Summer Sports Camps information is now available on the ATAC summer camps blog page. The informational flyer will also be in the parent bulletins. Sign ups are on a first come first served basis! 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. 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. If youre interested in joining the Den volunteers, please contact Carolyn Ching for details at carolynqching@yahoo.com. We are always looking for new volunteers and encourage parents from ES/MS to join our group. Please note end of year lunch for Den volunteers is May 30th from 11:30am (venue to be announced) Final selling day for the Den will be June 4th, Den will be closed for inventory and summer pack up June 5. The den will re-open for business in the new school year on Monday, August 12th,2013 Sincerely, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/ Activities

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From the High School Guidance Office

Dear HS Parents, We are very pleased to introduce/reintroduce you to an exciting initiative developed back in 2010 by the HS Guidance Department in cooperation with the HS Administration:

Bearcat Career Experience

As we all know well, high school for students is (among many things) a time of self-discovery. It is a time where our students begin to better acknowledge their aptitudes/likes, where they hone their strengths and where they begin to sort through that rather complicated map known as their educational and future career path. Unfortunately, it is often a map with gaps between what they learn in their academic classrooms and the real world their teachers are working to prepare them for. In short, we hope to help bridge that gap for some of our high school students through a five-day summer internship (June 10th 14th, 2013) with various companies in the Metro Manila area. Last year we were very fortunate to place over 120 ISM high school students (sophomores and juniors) with 30 companies (including Alaska Milk, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Makati Medical Center to name a few) in the Metro Manila area. This year, we definitely feel those numbers could increase. However, in order to make this a reality, we need reputable companies from a variety of industries to form partnerships with us and take part. As parents of our dedicated and motivated HS students, you may own, be employed by, or know of a company interested in supporting this very worthwhile endeavor. We ask for your support in helping us develop potential Career Experience placements and subsequently, lasting positive relationships with companies in the Metro Manila area. We ask that you take time to reflect on this important initiative (currently in its 3rd year) and its value for our ISM community. Please take a look at our website here http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/what-is-a-bearcat-career -experience/ . This page should give you an idea of what the program is all about. You might also want to check out this video too. http://bearcat-careers.ism-online.org/media/ If you are in a position to take one or more of our students at your company or know of an interested company, please let me know. Please also contact me at mcqueend@ismanila.org if you have any questions or need further clarification. Information about how your son or daughter (current sophomores and juniors only) could apply for a Career Experience position will be communicated to all of you at a later date. You can also get more informed and up to date posts about the Bearcat Career Experience by liking our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BearcatCareerExperience Thank you very much for your support and I look forward to hearing back from some of you. J Sincerely, Doug McQueen High School Counselor

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