AUGUST

MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL

ISSUE # 2
SY 2014 2015
WEEK OF:
AUGUST 18 to 22
Weekly Publication for Middle School Parents
Friday Bulletin
Inside this issue:
Events & Actvites:
SEPTEMBER
25-26 CWW
30 S. Quate Parent Cofee

Dear Middle School Parents,

This week we were able to spend tme in classrooms observing our students and
teachers in full acton now that we are underway with the school year - our frst
full week! Teachers and getng to know students is one of the most important
things that happens in the classroom throughout the year. When we know our
students, we can ensure that we are best supportng and developing their learn-
ing, increasing engagement and motvaton, and understanding challenges that
are being faced to create the optmal learning environment.

We had a great turnout to our new parent cofee on Thursday morning. ISM is a
big place with many systems in place - this is a lot to learn at the beginning. We
encourage all parents if they are struggling or feeling overwhelmed with com-
municaton or they do not understand something to please be in contact with
the Middle School Ofce, with a member of the PTA or your child's counse-
lor. We are here to help and make your transiton and tme at ISM as positve as
possible. Please use the parent portal accessed through our main website
(www.ismanila.org) as a one stop place to access all informaton - if you do not
have your log in username and password please see Grace in the Middle School
ofce.

Next week is a short week for students. Thursday we will have a faculty profes-
sional learning day where we will be focusing on our assessment and grading
practces along with our advisory program. Friday and Monday are then naton-
al holidays. Please note that Wednesday August 27 from 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. is our
Middle School Back to School Night. You will receive an email from the Middle
School ofce on Monday with an invitaton and the detailed program so you
know what to expect in advance.

The Afer School Actvites (htp://ms-actvites.ism-online.org) sign up started
yesterday and Afer School Actvites in the Middle School will ofcially begin on
Thursday, August 28. You will receive communicaton in advance confrming
what actvites your child has been enrolled in to partcipate this semester.


Fine Arts / Guidance
Operatons & Security
Athletcs & Actvites
Afer-School Actvites
ISM Upcoming Events
22 Natonal Holiday
27 Back-to-School Night
8-12 FCD
21 School Holiday
23 Parent Cofee
Human Resources
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Campus Card Update: Setting up Individual Accounts v.s. Family Account

For all those using the Campus Card (ID debit system), money that is loaded onto the indi-
vidual cards are stored initally in your family account. Parents have the opton to re-
quest to have individual accounts, this will allow students to manage their own accounts
and not be connected to another sibling. Please do keep in mind that this will require in-
dividual logins and individual loading of cards. Should you prefer this sort of set up for
your family kindly let us know by sending an email to campuscard@ismanila.org.
With an individual account, parents with campus cards will be atached to the youngest
child's account. Once this is set up, any remaining fund balance will be retained in the
youngest child's account, therefore you will need to top up the other children's accounts
so they can contnue using the campus card. Please also keep in mind that all purchase
history prior to the change will be listed under your youngest child in campus card re-
ports.

Thank you.
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Contnuaton
At Back to School Night and in communicaton from each grade level you will learn more about our upcom-
ing Classroom Without Walls September experience (September 25 and 26)... Grade 5 will be on campus,
Grade 6 will be going overnight to Island Cove, Grade 7 will be going overnight to Tagaytay, and Grade 8 will
be going overnight to Caliraya. These two days are all about team building and developing a sense of com-
munity within our Middle School.

We hope everyone had a great frst full week, and we look forward to seeing you around!

Yours in Educaton,
Simon Gillespie, Middle School Principal
Amanda Pekin, Middle School Assistant Principal

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CALLING COMMUNITY SINGERS:
ISM's 5th Annual "Great Works Concert" will feature Leonard Bernstein's
"Chichester Psalms" performed by the HS auditoned music ensembles, and guests,
on Wednesday September 24th. The choir would like to invite all interested and
experienced singers from the ISM Community to partcipate in this challenging
masterwork with us! Great rehearsal aids are available to help learn and review
the rhythms, pitches, and especially the Hebrew text. The tmeline is short, and
the musical reward is great! Please email Melodie Hausman for rehearsal sched-
ules, questons, and music. hausmanm@ismanila.org

Access and parking within the campus are important security and safety issues. For the well-being of all members of the ISM
community, those entering the school campus are requested to take note of the informaton and procedures outlined below.

Parent IDs
The parent IDs issued in SY 2013/14 (black) will contnue to be valid for the new school year. The old parent IDs (burgundy)
issued before this year are no longer valid and must be replaced. Standard parent cards will be 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.

Applicatons for parent IDs can be processed through the Security Ofce.

Student IDs
All students will be issued with new ID cards at the beginning of the new school year. The cards will be compatble with the
cashless payment system. There will be no need for returning students to visit the Security Ofce as we will be utlizing the
photographs taken for the yearbooks.

School Passes
School passes issued to parents employees and representatves need to be replaced for next school year. As of August 29,
2014 the grey bordered passes will be invalid.

The security ofce is now acceptng applicatons for new school passes, however the cards will not be available for collecton
before July 1, 2014. These passes will not be compatble with the cashless payment system.

Each family will be given two free school passes. Additonal school passes may be obtained afer paying a processing fee of
Php100.00 each to the Cashiers Ofce.

Visitors Passes
All visitors must secure a pass from the guardhouse at Gate 3. Before entry will be allowed, a telephone check will be made
with the relevant ofce to confrm the visitors business within the school. Visitors will need to surrender a photo-ID upon
entry to campus.

Car Stckers
The car stckers for school year 2014/2015 are available from the security ofce.

For vehicles already displaying an existng stcker, parents should submit a completed renewal form with a copy of a current
LTO ofcial receipt. For new vehicles, parents are reminded that a copy of the vehicles certfcate of registraton and a cur-
rent ofcial receipt need to be submited with the applicaton. Applicatons for vehicles registered with companies or other
insttutons should be supported by a leter of assignment.

Each ISM family will be issued one vehicle stcker free of charge. Any additonal stckers will be issued following payment of
P100 to the cashiers ofce.

In order to facilitate the easy recogniton of authorized cars at the gates, the stckers should be afxed to the top right corner
of the windshield. ISM stckers issued in previous years must be removed.

Vehicles not displaying a current car stcker will not be allowed access from August 29, 2014.


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Vehicular Access
During drop-of and pick-up tmes, vehicles may enter through Gates 2 and 3. Those entering through Gate 2 should proceed
to the drop of area and, once the student has alighted or boarded, they should exit via Gate 1. Those vehicles entering
through Gate 3 must turn into the covered parking area and use the designated drop-of areas. All vehicles must exit
through Gate 1.

Please note that Gate 2 may only be used by those drivers and passengers who have an ISM ID card and who are in a vehicle
displaying a valid ISM vehicle stcker.

Alternatvely, vehicles entering through Gate 3 may park in the covered car park. The spaces reserved for parent-driven cars
should only be used by those vehicles which are driven by parents themselves. Vehicles in which parents are traveling, but
which are driven by a driver, should not use these spaces. Rather, they should park elsewhere in the covered car park or
make use of the outside spaces next to the power center.

Visitors to ISM must enter through Gate 3. There is an area for short-stay visitor parking near Gate 1.

The Pedestrian Gate
The pedestrian gate is located in the perimeter fence mid-way between Gate 1 and Gate 2. There is a paved area between
the road and the perimeter fence, allowing easy access to the gate. The pedestrian gate is solely for the entry of members of
the ISM Community at the beginning of the school day. It will only be open between 7:00 am and 7:45 am (8:00 am to 8:45
am on Wednesdays). Due to parking restrictons, and in the interests of security, it will not be open in the afernoon for pick-
ups. During the tme it is open, it will be under the supervision of members of the ISM Guard Force.

Drivers should stop adjacent to the paved area and students should alight from the right side of their vehicle. The driver
should then move of, clearing the space for other vehicles dropping of students. Under no circumstances should a student
be dropped of from the middle lane. This is dangerous as the student would need to walk in front of another vehicle. Driv-
ers are reminded that trafc regulatons forbid parking on the roads around ISM. Therefore, vehicles should only be stopping
for the brief tme it takes for a student to alight. Drivers must not wait for anybody to return to the vehicle.

Drop Of/Pick Up Passes
Following their introducton in 2012/13, we will be contnuing the use of pick up and drop of passes at Gate 3. This is for non
-regular drivers who are entering school to drop of or collect visitors or members of our community but who do not intend
to park within the campus. Our regular checks to confrm the identty of drivers and their purpose for entering the campus
will contnue to be made, but we will not retain a photo-ID in return for the issued pass. The use of these new passes will
avoid delays at the Gate 1 exit and reduce trafc congeston at busy tmes.

Vehicle checks
The practce of inspectng vehicles will contnue. During of-peak hours all vehicles will be checked before they are allowed
to enter the campus.

During peak hours (drop of and pick-up tmes), all vehicles without valid stckers and randomly selected vehicles with stck-
ers will be asked to undergo an examinaton.

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Whether an examinaton is conducted or not, it is important that the security staf at the gates are able to identfy the occu-
pants of vehicles entering the campus; therefore IDs must be clearly displayed. Vehicles with tnted windows must roll down
windows to allow a clear view of the interior of the vehicle.

Drivers, Helpers and Bodyguards
Drivers, helpers and bodyguards should not wait on campus for students throughout the school day. Afer dropping of stu-
dents they should exit the school grounds and not return earlier than 30 minutes before dismissal tme. Those who repeat-
edly fail to comply with the regulaton will have their access privilege suspended.

Only those vehicles carrying parents or other people with business within the school will be allowed to return to the campus
before the scheduled pick-up tme.

There are designated areas for unaccompanied drivers, yayas, helpers and security escorts to wait for parents and students.
Unless specifcally authorized, they may not enter any other area. In the interest of security, and to prevent congeston at the
pedestrian entrances to the covered parking area, parents are requested to emphasize to their employees the importance of
cooperatng with the security staf and remaining in the appropriate areas.

Firearms
All members of the ISM community are reminded that it is strictly forbidden for frearms to be brought onto the campus. This
includes concealed weapons carried by bodyguards for close protecton. Any person arriving at the school with a frearm
should inform the gate guard, and arrangements will be made for the weapon to be safely and securely stored during the
visitors stay.

Security staf directons
Our security team is endeavoring to make the school as safe and secure an environment as possible for all members of our
community.

We ask that everybody cooperate with us in this important task. In partcular, all those entering our campus are requested
to comply with any directons given to them by members of our guard force.

If you are confused or unclear as to the purpose of such instructons, please seek clarifcaton from the security ofce. Please
note that it is the parents responsibility to advise their staf accordingly.

Thank you for your cooperaton. We are looking forward to another great year at Internatonal School Manila.


Best wishes,

MIKE FLYNN
Director of Operatons
And Security
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Welcome to SY 14-15 Bearcats! The ATAC (Athletcs/Actvites) Department hopes you setle in quickly to enjoy all that
ISM and the Philippines has to ofer.

Our frst match for the year is today so come on out to the MS gym to help cheer on our HS Varsity Girls Volleyball team
as they take on a visitng team from Shisedo HS, Japan. The game will start at 3:30 P.M. and be a full 5 sets of volleyball.
Parents and students please take some tme to peruse the ATAC blog. It has a wide variety of informaton and links to our
sports and actvites program. If you have any questons regarding the compettve program of sports at ISM afer reading
the informaton on the blog, please send an email to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will endeavor to assist you as best I can.
It was great to see so many students trying out for our ES/MS and HS 1st season teams this past week. The season prac-
tce schedule is now in full swing through untl mid October. It is posted on the ATAC blog and on notce boards around
school.

ES soccer players in grade 1-4 had their tryouts for the Rifa Festval competton teams earlier this week. Parents please
see more detailed informaton about the ES Soccer Festvals at this link htp://atac.ism-online.org/atac/1st-season/es-
soccer-rifa-league-festvals/. Informaton fyers are also posted on the ES notce board and are posted under the big tent
at the ES feld. Festval dates are posted on notce boards and the link above.

Our ATAC all year round teams also began this week (see all year round practce schedule) for Wall Climbing, Gymnastcs,
Taekwondo, Aikido, Chess and Table Tennis and Sailfsh swim team. New students who would like to join one of these
teams and compete at local compettons please go to the venue as per the schedule to register and meet the coaches.

The AFAC (Afer School Actvites) program has a wide variety of recreatonal/experiental oferings for ES and MS stu-
dents. Links to online registraton and informaton booklets can be accessed via the ATAC blog and by going to the AFAC
sites directly. Registraton is now open for MS AFAC and ES AFAC registraton opens on Mon 18th. Programs for ES/MS
AFAC begin on Aug 28th.

New Bearcat Den: Drop by our fantastc new spirit store to meet Rica and Francine and give them a big Bearcat welcome.
There is a range of new products and items to purchase including items from our service partners.
Bearcat Den hours of operaton: 7:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. MondayFriday.

The ATAC game schedule pdf which is updated regularly by Triz Gonzalez (ATAC Athletcs Coordinator) gives the most up
to date informaton on where/when and who our Bearcat teams will be playing throughout the school year. Access to the
game schedule is via the ISM parent portal not via power school as in the past. Use this link to access the parent portal,
log in with your user name/password and look for the ATAC Game Schedule tab. Remember to refresh the page when the
pdf schedule appears so you view the most current schedule.

Game schedules can change at short notce check ofen to ensure you keep up with the most current games/tmes and
venues.

To access season practce schedule and the all year round team schedule fnd them on the drop down menus under the
schedules home bar tab.

Go Bearcats!

Regards,
Mark Pekin
Director of Athletcs/Actvites
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AFAC start date is on AUGUST 28th !!!
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