ISSUE # 33

SY1617
MIDDLE SCHOOL

WEEK OF:
Friday Bulletin Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents

MAY 15 TO 19
Inside this issue:
Dear Parents,
MS Library 3
As we approach the final month of this school year, we are acutely aware that students
have a number of upcoming assessments in a variety of subject areas. While these as- MS Events 4
sessments are the natural culmination of any unit of study, we appreciate that this may
lead to heightened stress levels in our students. Please be aware that each grade level
team maintains a Google Assessment Calendar so teachers can ensure students do not Treasury 5
become overloaded with assessments. As parents, you can help support your child by
ensuring they dont start to skimp on their sleep during this critical time.
Athletics & &
Operations Activities
Security(ATAC) 6
As you know, sleep is a critical component of our daily lives and is a vital indicator of
overall health and well-being. Sleep needs vary across different ages and are especially
Athletics & Activities 7
impacted by other factors such as lifestyle and health. The National Sleep Foundation
has created a "sleep duration recommendation graphic and it is a useful guide to help
you determine how much sleep you and your children need. Take a look - are you and Clinic 9
your children getting enough sleep?

Admissions & Advancement 10

ISM Upcoming Events 11

In conjunction with this graphic, it is also important to examine what lifestyle factors
may be affecting the quality and quantity of your sleep such as daily schedules and
stress levels. When we are sleep deprived, we build up a sleep debt. When youre
awake, a chemical called adenosine builds up in your blood, and when you sleep, your
body breaks it down. If you skimp on sleep, however, adenosine may build up in your
bloodstream, making you more and more desperate to snooze. Your reaction time
slows, which makes you more prone to a lapse in concentration and attention, which
can result in lower levels of performance.
THIS WEEKEND: MS Music Finale Concert:
Friday, May 12th - Sunday, May 15th: MS Touch Rugby Date: Wednesday, May 31st
What: MS Touch Rugby Tournament Location: FAT
Where: Jakarta Intercultural School, Indonesia Time: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Coaches: Diana van der Merwe, MJ Durkin and Come and join us as we celebrate the wonder-
Kathryn Govier ful MS Music program!
Good luck to our MS Bearcats as they
participate in this years competition! NEED TO KNOW:
Supply Lists for Next School Year:
School Supply Lists for the coming academic year is
now posted on the MIDDLE SCHOOL BLOG. You may
also click on the links provided below for easy access to
these lists:
GRADE 5 SUPPLY LIST
GRADE 6 SUPPLY LIST
GRADE 7 SUPPLY LIST
GRADE 8 SUPPLY LIST
Supply List Reminders!
We respectfully request that all students come to
school on Monday, August 7th with all of these items.
Teachers will make time on the first few days of school
to help students organize their supplies so they are set
up for a successful start to the school year.
Saturday, May 13th: ES/MS Dance Recital
Students who do not have their supplies on time, will
Where: FAT
miss this key session.
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Parents are welcome to purchase the items wherever
they choose. However, please be aware that the PCA
THIS WEEK: arranges for National Bookstore to set up a temporary
Explore Art Exhibition Continues: School Supply Store here on campus should you find
What: Art Exhibition - MS and HS pieces of this option more appealing.
work
Where: FAT Lobby MS Party - Bearcat Idol:
Time: All Day When: Friday, May 19th
Ends: May 17th What: Bearcat Idol (Think American Idol featuring our
very own ISM MS Bearcats)
COMING UP THIS MONTH: Time: 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
MS MANMUN Conference: Where: ES Field and ES Playground
What: MS Manila Model United Nations Con- Who: G5 - G8 students (No guests from outside ISM are
ference allowed)
Where: ISMs Middle School Tickets: 100 pesos plus the parent permission slip
Who? Students who have been participating in Can parents attend? Parents of the performers are
the MUN after school club. welcome to attend - even if your child tells you no par-
Guests: Other schools in Manila will be send- ents are allowed!
ing student delegates Please note that the Parent Permission Slip is attached
When: Friday, May 19th (3:30 - 8:15 p.m.) and to the Parent Bulletin email from the MS Office and
Saturday, May 20th (7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ) tickets go on sale on Wednesday, May 17th - Friday,
Dress: Friday - formal dress is not re- May 19th.
quired. Saturday - Formal dress is required. If your child wishes to attend this event, please make
sure you make the necessary arrangements for your
son/daughter to be picked up at 8:00 p.m.
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 order to avoid a clash. Unfortunately, due to the respective
schedules of the schools attending the MUN event and ISMs
busy end of-year schedule, we were faced with the tough
decision of either running the events simultaneously or can-
celling one of the events. MUN impacts approximately 45
students from G5 - G8, and while we dont wish to exclude
them from attending Bearcat Idol, there was simply no alter-
native date that worked. If you child is involved in MUN,
they may perceive the clash with Bearcat Idol as unfair. We
therefore wanted parents to have additional information so
you are better placed to answer any questions your child
may have. In life we frequently have conflicting obligations,
where we are forced to prioritize and ultimately choose one
thing over another - this scenario is a wonderful opportunity
for students and will help develop their decision-making
skills and assess both short-term and long-term priorities.

NICE TO KNOW:
Mother Tongue After-School Program:
During the 2016-17 school year, our parent-run Mother
Tongue after school program successfully offered nine
languages across either ES and/or MS. These included
Dutch, Hindi, Russian, Swedish, German, Chinese, Dan-
ish, Spanish and French.
If you are interested in teaching a language during the
2017-2018 school year, please contact Jennifer Juteau at
Clash! juteauj@ismanila.org.
As you read the Parent Bulletin, you may have realized that
we have Bearcat Idol and Model United Nations taking place Kind regards,
at the same time. This is something that we dont like to do Rachel Harrington, Middle School Principal
and we desperately tried to move one of these events in Amanda Pekin, Assistant Middle School Principal

May 19:
All MS Library resources due from students and parents

May 29 June 7:
Summer borrowing available in the MS Library

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 Permission slips
will be distributed
during advisory on
Monday, May 15th!

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 To: All Parents and Company Sponsors
In anticipation of the year-end clearance for SY2016-2017, we would like to inform you of the following matters:

1. All school charges will be FINAL on May 24 , 2017 for GRADUATING while June 06,2017 for NON
GRADUATING students. Please check the online billing for your final outstanding balances and settle
remaining balance for clearance of SY2016-2017.
2. Only students with fully paid SY2016-2017 school fees will have their clearance forms signed by the
cashier and will have access to school documents such as report cards and transcripts.
3. For incoming SY2017-2018 Pre-School 4 - to Grade 4 (old students), Section cards will be released by
the Accounting Office on June 8, 2016 only if current school year (2016-2017) fees are fully settled.
4. For the purpose of clearing the accounts of students for SY16-17, please observe the following school
CUT-OFFS on accepting checks from parents and sponsors :

Dollar Checks:
Dollar Check - not cleared within US territory (with corresponding fee for clearance with
bank)
Grade 12 - March 27, 2017

Other Dollar checks ( cleared within US check territory)

Pre School to Grade 12 April 17,2017

Peso Checks:
Grade12 May 5,2017
Pre- School to Grade 11 May 22,2017

This is to allow enough time for the checks 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.

Other Note(s):

- Pursuant to the endorsement of the Philippine Clearing House Corporation (PCHC), please be informed
that any peso check that shows or indicates on its face any erasure or alteration shall no longer be eligible or
acceptable for clearing. The cashiers will therefore will only accept peso checks without any alteration and only
checks with complete details.

- Check acceptance cut-off applies to current school year SY2016-2017 only. Payment of tuition fee in checks for
SY2017-2018 are not affected and accepted at ISM cashiers office.

-For wire transfer and other payment related queries , kindly send a copy of the bank confirmation payment to
Cashiers (esguerrae@ismanila.org or refranm@ismanila.org).

-For billing, Rhoda Villa at 840-85-22 and email address villar@ismanila.org, or Marissa Dulay at 840-85-06 or email
to dulaym@ismanila.org.

Sincerely,
ISM Treasury

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 A MESSAGE FROM completed vehicle sticker form. Applications for
THE OPERATIONS AND SECURITY DEPARTMENT vehicles registered with companies or other insti-
tutions should be supported by a letter of assign-
1. IDs for the New School Year ment.

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 cash-
less payment system introduced into the school
for SY 2013-14. There will be a fee of P250.00 for
a smartcard.
Each ISM family will be issued one vehicle sticker
free of charge. Any additional stickers will be is-
sued 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.

Applications for parent IDs can be processed MIKE FLYNN

through the Security Office. Director of Operations and Security

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 sys-
tem. 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 31st, 2017
(Thursday) the light green 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,
2017. These passes will not be compatible with
the cashless payment system.

Each family will be given two free school pass-

es. Additional school passes may be obtained
after paying a processing fee of Php100.00 each to
the Cashiers Office.

2. Car Stickers for the New School Year

The car stickers for school year 2017/2018 will be

available from the security office beginning July 1,
2017.

To obtain a new vehicle sticker please submit a

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Practice schedule for S4 sports is posted to ATAC blog sched- May 13 ISM Judo Invitational
ules page and is on notice boards at school. S4 runs from May 30 Sailfish Awards evening at ES gym
week of April 17 to June 2nd and is designated as pre season May 29 - June 2 All year round teams end of year break-
training for S1 teams and other sports offered by coaches. ups at final training session.
Current Grade 8's who will enter grade 9 next year should Last day of ATAC training for this school year is June 2nd
attend HS training sessions offered. 1st season tryouts SY 17-18 HS Aug 7-9, MS Aug 9-11, ES
Rifa soccer tryouts Aug 9-11
We are also running a MS Baseball and Softball development
program at the HS field. Any MS students from grades 5-7 are To find out details of all the Bearcats matches mid week and
welcome to join. Softball is Mon/Tues and Baseball is Wed/ on weekends go to the ATAC game schedule page- link is pro-
Thurs. If you have questions talk with Coach Tim Benford and vided below and follow the instructions to find out when and
Coach Angela Respecki. where our Bearcat teams will be playing. The ATAC(Athletics)
Game schedule is housed within the parent portal to ensure
A big thanks to our ISM Gymnasts and coaches for a wonder- secure access for ISM parents http://atac.ism-online.org/
ful meet held last Saturday. A great day of excellent perfor- schedules/
mances on show at our annual Goodwill Gymnastics Please take the time to navigate the ATAC blog http://
meet. Results summary will be posted to the ATAC blog gym- atac.ism-online.org/ as it is our one stop shop for all infor-
nastics page. Well done mation related to the competitive ISM sports program.
to all involved especial-
ly ISM Gymnastics For our All Year Round teams- Wall Climbing, Chess, Judo,
team, our team coach- TKD, Aikido, Table Tennis -As these programs are year round
es led by Jasmine Orte- it is possible for students to join during the year as long as
ga and a big thanks to space is available. See link to information and schedule to
our ISM gymnastics attend and meet the coaches. All year round sports teams See
parent volunteers who schedule for our All year round teams program here
helped in the lead up
and at the meet on Please note the practice times for ATAC programs for SY 16-
Saturday. Your assis- 17 are as follows: ATAC all year round teams- 3:15-4:30. For
tance was very much our Sailfish swim team program please check the Sailfish blog
appreciated to for information http://sailfish.ism-online.org/
help facilitate a great
meet for our team of ATAC Gymnastics team practices 3:10-4:50 M/W/F
gymnasts and for all All HS seasonal teams practice from 3:05- 4:50pm on their
teams who competed. respective practice afternoons. MS seasonal teams practice
from 3:15-4:45pm.In order to clear the campus prior
This weekend we host to 5pm all after school programs will conclude by 4:50pm or
the ISM Judo meet. Competition will begin earlier. The last bus is 4:55pm this is due to the ever increas-
from 9am Saturday morning at the MS gym. Best wishes to ing traffic concerns in our area.
our ISM Judo team members and thanks in advance to Coach
Freddie for the planning and preparations he had done to Parents and students please take some time to peruse the
coordinate the visiting judo teams and clubs to attend the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of information and links to our
meet. sports and activities program. If you have any questions re-
garding the competitive program of sports at ISM after read-
Our Bearcats Mixed Touch team will be heading off to Jakarta ing the information on the blog please send an email
this weekend. After 12 weeks of training our squad is well to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will endeavor to assist you as
prepared and ready for the trip this weekend to conclude best I can.
their season. Best wishes to all players and a big thanks to
Head coach Di Van de Merwe, Coach Govier and Coach Bearcat Den- drop by our fantastic spirit store. There is a a
Durkin for your work to prepare our MS Touch Bearcats. Our range of products and items to purchase including items from
teams will play matches Friday afternoon and all our service partners. Bearcat Den hours of operation- 7am-
day Saturday at Jakarta Intercultural School and be hosted by 4pm Mon-Fri.
JIS community members.
Best Regards,
Upcoming events- (full match schedule available at ATAC Mark Pekin
Game schedule) Director of Athletics/Activities
May 12-14 Jakarta MS Mixed Touch tournament
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 Mark the Date: ISM Vaccination Day
Wednesday, May 31 from 7:00am to 4:00pm in the Clinic

Last day to sign up/pay Monday, May 22

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR THE 2017 QUADRIVALENT FLU VACCINATION!

PHP - 700.00 for Quadrivalent

FLUQUADRI (Sanofi-Pasteur)
To be protected against influenza you should get vaccinated annually, since the circulating strains of the virus
change, hence the composition of the vaccine is always kept up to date. The Quadrivalent influenza vaccines
provide broader protection as they include both co-circulating B lineages. Vaccination is especially important
for people at high risk for serious flu complications (persons 60 and above, with chronic health condition and
women getting pregnant during the flu peak season) and their close contacts.
Fill in and sign one Influenza Vaccination Consent Form per person: DOWNLOAD HERE
Forms are also available from the cashiers office or the clinic and can be downloaded from the ISM website.
Present both documents on the vaccination date.

CHECK YOUR VACCINATION RECORD IF YOU NEED A TDAP BOOSTER

(tetanus/lockjaw, diphtheria and pertussis/whooping cough)
PHP 900.00 for TDap booster ADACEL (Sanofi Pasteur)
A TDap booster is needed every ten years, and it is usually prescribed within 24
hours after the slightest scratch acquired outdoors, if a person is not protected.
College freshmen are generally required to have an updated immunization record,
also for TDap.

Fill in and sign one Tetanus Vaccination Consent Form per person: DOWNLOAD HERE
Forms are also available from the cashiers office or the clinic and can be downloaded
from the ISM website. Present both documents on the vaccination date.
Everyone with a valid ISM ID, teachers and their children may are eligible to be vaccinat-
ed. Please complete the vaccination payment form (available at the Cashier office
and the Clinic) and make your payment to the Cashier (open Mo Fr 7:00am 3:15
pm). Payment must be made not later than Monday, May 22. The vaccines will then be ordered and no further
registrations can be accepted.

If you have any questions please contact Jowell Custodio or Dorothee Binsfeld at the clinic:
Clinic numbers: 840 8581 (Dorothee)/82 (Jowell) Clinic email: BinsfeldD@ismanila.org

Please note:
Influenza and Tetanus (Tdap) vaccines can be given simultaneously.
The Flu shot will not give you a 100% protection even the strains included in the vaccine
Influenza virus shots do not protect against common cold, sometimes also referred to as flu.
The minimum age for the vaccination in school is 3 years. Infants 6 month and older may be vaccinated by
their pediatrician.
Children (9 years or younger) with no prior flu shot will need a second shot after 28 days.
Pregnant women can get both shots from the second trimester onwards.
Please refrain in case of egg protein allergy.
Vaccines will be solely administered at the clinic and cannot be handed out. All unused vaccines will be for-
feited.

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 Important Information on Re-Enrollment for SY 2017-2018
Dear Parents:

Online Re-Enrollment for SY17-18 is now open. 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 your divisional office.

Please note that you must register online by 4PM on Friday, May 26 at the latest. PowerSchool will close on
that date and will not re-open. We have over 500 students on our waitpool, and we will assume that your
children are leaving if you have not registered online by 4PM on Friday, May 26.

If your child/ren will not be returning for SY17-18, you MUST follow the Withdrawal Procedure and submit a
Withdrawal Notification Form on or before Friday, May 12.

How to Register Online Deadline: 4PM on Friday, May 26

Visit www.ismanila.org and click on Parent Portal under the Community drop-down menu. Log-in to the
Parent Portal and click on PowerSchool.

Look for the Re-Enrollment Clearance icon on the left hand panel. Click on the icon and update:
Parent/Guardian Contact Information
Health History & Immunization Status

Once complete, you will receive a confirmation message and an email notification verifying that you have
been successful in registering online. The email will outline instructions for the remaining steps of Re-
Enrollment.

You MUST complete the entire Re-Enrollment process before the start of SY17-18. Upon completion, you will
receive your FINAL CLEARANCE NOTIFICATION, which is necessary for your child to attend class on August 7,
2017.

To check status of Re-Enrollment, please visit the Parent Portal page.

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