M I D D L E

Issue # 01 August 13 to 17, 2012

Student Bulletin
August 13 to 17, 2012

S C H O O L

WEEK AT A GLANCE
Monday, August 13 Tuesday, August 14 Wednesday, August 15 Regular Schedule Regular Schedule Student Late Start/Regular Schedule
Grade Level Assembly (11:40 A.M.): Gr. 5 - Homebase; Gr - 6 - FAT; Gr. 7 - Lofthouse; Gr. 8 - MS Gym

Thursday, August 16 Friday, August 17

Dear Students: Welcome back to Middle School!

Regular Schedule Regular Schedule

We hope you had a memorable vacation and are excited to see your old friends, meet some new ones, and get started with your classes and activities. On the topic of activities, remember to check the activities blog at ms-activities.ism-online.org for registration information about all the clubs, activities and sports. There is everything from swimming to circus skills. For those students who are new, many middle schoolers say the afterschool activities program is one of the best parts of ISM. Register now because activities start on Monday, August 20. Open House takes place on Tuesday, August 14 from 5:00 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. The event will start in the FAT and your parents will have the opportunity to attend all your classes and meet the teachers. Please encourage your parents to come and see what your day is like here in the Middle School. If you wish to help families in need due to the recent flooding, donations of rice, noodles, canned goods, biscuits, and clothes can be brought to the FAT lobby. Your support is greatly appreciated. Yours in Education, Mr. Gillespie and Ms. Sayson

Upcoming Events in the Middle School

14 21 27 31 September 01 08 10 to 14 20 21 August Open House (5:00 P.M., FAT) School Holiday (Ninoy Aquino Holiday) School Holiday (National Heroes Day) New Student Social Activity Service Learning Trip Service Learning Trip FCD Visit Courtyard Event (3:00 P.M.) School Holiday (Faculty In Service)

PowerSchool Grade Update

Aug. 24 - Grade Update Sept. 07 - Progress Report Distribution (via courier)

FROM THE ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES OFFICE

The ATAC (Athletics & Activities) Department extends a warm welcome to all our ISM community members for the start of school year and extends a special welcome to our new ISM families, we hope you have a smooth start to the school year. Our program kicked off on day 1, August 6th with 1st season tryouts for High School volleyball, cross country and soccer teams. The tryouts on Monday were very well attended despite the terrible weather at the start of the week. With the school closure to after school programs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a revised tryouts schedule has been posted on notice boards around the school. Middle School tryouts for Volleyball and Cross Country teams and soccer tryouts now start on Friday, August 10th, for MS boys and girls teams and Monday, August 13th. Normal practice schedule begins from August 14th. Elementary School soccer tryouts for 1st season teams which compete in the RIFA festivals also begin this Friday at the ES field and continue on Monday, August 13th. ISM will enter one ES team in the following age divisions (students born, 02, 03, 04, 05 and 06). More information about our ES soccer teams, the RIFA festivals etc can be found here http://atac.ism-online.org/atac/1st-season/essoccer-rifa-league-festivals/ The 1st season practice schedule which runs from August 14th to October 12th is now posted on notice boards around school and is also now available on the ATAC blog. http://atac.ism-online.org/schedules/hs/ The All year round program for Sailfish, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Aikido, Table Tennis, Chess, Gymnastics and Wall Climbing will start from Monday, August 13th. For detailed information about our Sailfish Swim Team program please visit the Sailfish blog and get in contact with Coach Andy. Please see the schedule for the all year round program on the next page. Our annual HS Friday twilight opening season soccer and volleyball matches will be on August 17th vs. Faith Academy. This will be a great chance to come out and show your support for our ISM varsity teams. Soccer matches will start at 4:00 P.M. at the HS and MS fields and the volleyball will be in the HS and MS gyms. Varsity soccer teams both boys and girls play at 4:00 P.M. to allow a number of our student leaders to catch a bus straight after their game to the student leadership retreat. Varsity volleyball will also start at 4pm in the HS gym, with JV teams playing in the MS gym. 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 http://powerschool.ismanila.org/public/. You will need your PowerSchool username and password to access the game schedule. This service will not be open until PowerSchool opens to the community. BEARCAT DEN: http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/ Our Bearcat Den is up and running and 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 Melanie Ball at melaniehball@gmail.com our volunteer coordinator. We have a new range of dri fit t-shirts now available along with new Bearcat bags. Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: Wednesday and Friday, from 11:30 A.M. 1:00 P.M. & 2:30 P.M. 4:00 P.M. Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, from 2:30 - 4:00 P.M. Have a great year at the Home of the Bearcats! Regards, Mark Pekin Director of Athletics/Activities