M I D D L E S C H O O L

F R I D A Y
BULLETIN
WEEKLY PUBLICATION FOR PARENTS
Issue # 18 Week of January 29 — FEBRUARY 2  SY1718

Dear Parents,

The first month of the second semester has

raced by and it’s hard to believe that by the
middle of next week, February will be upon
us. Time really does fly when you’re having
fun!

The semester 1 report cards went live on

Wednesday and all parents should now be able
to access them via PowerSchool. We hope you
all found the parent tips shared in last week’s
bulletin a useful source of support as you dis-
cuss the report card with your child.

This week we hosted 3 MS Parent Coffees and

there are a variety of resources we promised to
share via this week’s Parent Bulletin. The docu-
ments can be found in the pertinent sections
below. We very much appreciate the level of
support and engagement that our parent com-
munity shows and would like to thank you for supporting your
child and being a lifelong learner.

 Tom Nehmy Parent Coffee:

What’s
In Thursday’s Parent Coffee Tom introduced parents to the

e ?
“Healthy Minds Wellbeing Wheel.” As you can see from the

Insi d
graphic, this breaks down the concept of wellbeing into 6 differ-
ent areas. He suggested that this tool can be used by adults and
children alike to conduct an audit of their personal wellbe-
ing. Tom recommends that individuals rate themselves out of
10 for each of the 6 components and then try to identify two of
three action steps they can take immediately. For example, in
the area of ‘Primary Relationships’ someone may decide to call
their parents once a week instead of once a month. Rating each
area out of 10 allows individuals to clearly see if they have a Athletics & Activities 3
relative strength or a relative weakness in any of the 6 areas. If
an area of growth is illuminated, you can then consider how to MS Track and Field 5
‘kick-start’ this particular aspect of your wellbeing.
Alumni News 5
As a parent, wellbeing is always on your radar and you may want
to dedicate some family conversations revolving around the Admissions & Advancement 6
Healthy Minds Wellbeing Wheel. Please note that all MS stu-
dents have been introduced to this tool via today’s MS assembly. ISM Upcoming Events 7
Below are some wonderful resources from Dr. Tom Nehmy that
you might like to take a closer look at in order to deepen your
knowledge and understanding about wellbeing.
1. “Take Aways from the MS/HS Parent Coffee”
This outlines the 7 secrets to a healthy mind and was
shared as a handout at the close of the Parent Coffee.
We appreciate that not all parents were able to attend
the session with Tom due to work schedules or previous
engagements.
2. “Unhelpful Thinking Styles”
This resource connects to Secret #4 - Emotions do not
control our behavior, our choices do. This poster con-
tains graphics that help individuals identify unhelpful
thinking styles and urges us to develop ‘psychological
muscle’ so we can identify flaws in our thinking and
make better choices.
3. “The Helpful Thinking Process”
This process is part of Secret #5 and the PDF version
above can be used to work through your thoughts and
feelings in challenging situations or when you feel
‘stuck.’ This is a 6-step tool that can be used by adults Rachel and Amanda
to process their own thoughts and feelings or it can be
used as a tool to scaffold conversations with your child/
children. This is similar to the approach we take at
school when talking to students when they have made
unwise choices.
We hope you find these resources valuable and that they help to
deepen your understanding of the concept of wellbeing.
 MS Honors Program Parent Coffee:
This morning we welcomed approximately 90 parents to a par-
ent session about the English and Math Honors programs. If you
were interested in this event, but were unable to attend, you
can click on the link to the MS Honors Parent Coffee slides to
learn more.
If you have any questions regarding these programs all questions
should be directed to the English or Math Program Leaders. Mr.
David Burke’s and Ms. Yojin Chung’s contact information can be
found on the accompanying graphic.
Please note that the deadline for submitting an Honors applica-
tion is Friday, February 2nd. All application forms must be com-
pleted in full and handed in to Ms. Grace Gabay in the MS Of-
fice.
IMPORTANT DATES:
THIS WEEK: (JANUARY 29 - FEB 2)
 There are no key events for our Middle School this week,
however, parents/students may be interested in supporting
our HS IASAS teams as ISM hosts tennis from Wednesday,
January 31st - Sunday, February 4th. Matches will be held
on the rooftop tennis courts.
 If you are interested in hosting IASAS student athletes,
please contact Mark Pekin (Athletic Director) as we are still
looking for additional housing! (pekinm@ismanila.org)
COMING UP NEXT WEEK (FEBRUARY 5 - 9)
 Grade level CWW trips take place. Please see last week’s
Parent Bulletin or the individual grade level letters for de-
tails.
 Please make sure you spend this weekend checking the
packing list and purchase/borrow any missing items.
Kind regards,
Students here at ISM are hosting a
fundraiser for Renovate to Educate, a
volunteer based organization that helps
renovate education centers for less privileged
children. This fundraiser will allow us to
access the materials needed to help rED’s
mission. A Pesos War will be held outside
The kantina during lunch, every day of
next week. We will be collecting money
to earn house points, where coins
donated are worth 5 points, and paper
bills are worth -10 if you want to lower
another house’s points. Please encourage
your child to bring coins and bills to help
support our cause.
Thank you,
Grade 7 Team
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SY1617

ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES

IASAS week next week. ISM hosts Tennis Jan 31-Feb  Feb 1-3 IASAS S2 Championships- Tennis at ISM/
4 and then in season 3 we host IASAS Track&Field/ Basketball at ISB/Rugby and Touch at TAS/
Golf April 12-14. I am pleased to say all the housing for Swimming at JIS www.iasas.asia for live stream ac-
tennis is now complete, thanks to all who have agreed tion and results
to house and information letters have been sent out via  Feb 5 HS S3 tryouts begin(Badminton/Track&Field/
email this week with guest/tournament information. Golf/Softball/Baseball)
Housing for IASAS T&F and Golf in April is also available  Feb 9-11 Wall climbing team- Hong Kong Climbing
via the links on the home page of the ATAC blog. Please competition/Feb 10&11 ISM Aikido invitational
sign up to support these final IASAS sports events of the  Feb 12 MS S3 tryouts begin(Badminton/
year. Track&Field/Mixed Touch)
Information on our ES/MS Activities program is availa-
Congratulations to…MS Girls Touch team who finished ble on the ES and MS Activities blogs. Links to these
runner up in Div 2 of the local league and to Varsity blogs are on the helpful shortcuts menu on the home
Girls Touch and Varsity Boys Rugby who both won their page of the ATAC blog or accessible via the ISM web-
local league season ending tournaments on Satur- site.
day. Well done to all players and coaches. For our Sailfish swim team program please check infor-
mation about tryouts at Sailfish blog
Season 3 will begin Feb 4 through until mid For gymnastics team information please
April. Tryouts and practice schedules are now post- check Gymnastics blog Look for Coach Jas or Coach
ed on ATAC blog schedules page and on divisional no- Ramon at the MS gym when attending training sessions.
tice boards at school. S3 sports for MS- Track&Field,
Badminton and Mixed Touch. HS S3 sports are Baseball, Please note the practice times for ATAC programs for
Softball, Track&Field, Badminton and Golf. SY 17-18 are as follows:
 All year round team team training sessions are –
The S2 practice schedule concludes this week and 3:15-4:30. See schedule for our All year round
teams will have their final training sessions week of teams program here…
Jan 22-26 for most teams. Thanks to all for your S2 par-  See Sailfish blog for swim squad start and finish
ticipation. times after the tryouts period has concluded and
squads have been finalised.
For our year round teams practice schedules are posted  Gymnastics team training is 3:10-4:50pm every
on notice boards around the school and on the sched- M,W,F
ules page of the ATAC (Athletics) blog and provided in
the ink below. All HS seasonal teams practice from 3:05- 4:50pm.
MS seasonal teams practice 3:15-4:40pm.
All season sports sched 17-18.xls – 17-18 In order to clear the campus prior to 5pm all after
school programs will conclude by 4:50pm or earlier.
Please take the time to navigate the ATAC blog as it is The last bus is 4:55pm this is due to the ever increas-
our one stop shop for all information related to the ing traffic concerns in our area.
competitive ISM sports program.
Parents and students please take some time to peruse
Upcoming Events:*matches at ISM unless specified as the ATAC blog it has a wide variety of information and
*away venue. Check ATAC game schedule at the parent links to our sports and activities program. If you have
portal for all the midweek and weekend matches up- any questions regarding the competitive program of
coming. Please check on a regular basis as venues and sports at ISM after reading the information on the blog
time do change at short notice. Players will always be please send an email to pekinm@ismanila.org and I will
informed by their coaches if times/venues change. assist you as best I can.
 Jan 27 Rugby finals at Faith (u/13, u/15 and u/17
divisions/HS Basketball teams at Faith for Harde- Best Regards,
man Tournament/MS Tennis at ISM/MS Basketball Mark Pekin
semi finals at ISM Director of Athletics & Activities 3
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SY1617

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 MS TRACK & FIELD ALUMNI NEWS

Open to all Middle School Students!!

MS TRACK SIGN UP HERE

PLEASE COMPLETE BEFORE THE TRYOUTS

CALENDAR DATES:
Tryout Dates (attendance both days is a MUST to be selected
for the team)
 Mon 12 Feb - 3:15-4:45pm - HS Track
 Tues 13 Feb - 3:15-4:45pm - HS Track
 PLEASE NOTE if there is a valid reason that you
are unable to attend a session please email me
beforehand relfc@ismanila.org
Practice Days (attendance both days is a MUST to be selected
for the team)
 Sprints, Distance, Jumps - Mon & Thurs - 3:15-
Raul Herrera ‘76, a partner in Arnold &
4:45pm - HS Track Porter Kaye Scholer was selected to lead
 Throws - Mon & Fri - 3:15-4:45pm - HS Track
the Legal Department in the Green Climate
 PLEASE NOTE TRACK TRYOUTS & PRACTICE
DAYS DO NOT CLASH WITH MIXED TOUCH Fund. The GCF was established by the Unit-
TRACK MEET DATES: ed Nations for the sustainable development
 Sat 24 Feb 6am - 4pm @ Brent of climate change. Please click HERE to
 Sat 10 Mar 6am - 4pm @ Brent
 Fri 6 Apr Twilight 4-8pm @ ISM read more.
Thanks,
Please contact Maica Cruz of the Alumni Office
Coach Relf & Coach Quinn
at alumni@ismanilaorg to share your Alumni
Bearcat News! 5
 ISSUE # 36
SY1617

ADMISSIONS & ADVANCEMENT

Leaving ISM?

Students Leaving During the School Year:

Parents are obliged to officially inform the Admissions Office through a Withdrawal Notification Form
at least (15) days prior to your child’s last day of school.

Students Leaving at the End of the School Year:

Parents are obliged to officially inform the Admissions Office through a Withdrawal Notification Form
on or before the second Friday of May.

The Withdrawal Notification Form and complete Withdrawal Procedure can be down-
loaded from HERE and submitted to the Admissions Office.

Instructions for Demographic Update

We encourage all families to check their demographic information and make necessary
updates. CLICK HERE for the step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
Please contact your School Office for PowerSchool log-in information.

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SY1617

ISM UPCOMING EVENTS

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 ISSUE # 36
SY1617

Call for Art: Gavel & Block + ISM Art Auction for the Benefit of
the VSH Scholarship

Gavel & Block and ISM would like to invite you to take part in
"benefit" -- an auction in support of the Vicky SyCip Herrera Filipi-
no Scholarship. The Filipino Scholarship Program seeks to fund
local national students of exceptional ability but whose parents
lack the financial capacity to fund an education at IS Manila. Since
1967, ISM's Filipino Scholarship Program has changed the lives of
over 150 students -- and often the lives of their families as well.
Your participation in this auction will contribute to the fund that
that will provide for the continuing tuition and support for an ad-
ditional, truly deserving Filipino Scholar.

We welcome consignment or donations of art pieces, jewelry,

antique & modern furniture, as well as other valuable items.
Please email images and details of your items
to alumni@ismanila.org before February 28, 2018.
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Calling all ISM families for the first PCA event of 2018! Join
us for the ISM PCA Family Build event with rED on Saturday,
27 January 2018 from 7:30 am - 12:00 noon.

rED or Renovate to Educate aims to restore classrooms, li-

braries and playgrounds of public schools all over the Philip-
pines. For our upcoming event, we will visit a local high
school in Taguig (just over 4 km from ISM) to help with re-
storing chairs, tables, and painting a community mural.

Slots are limited. Please sign up through this link: https://

goo.gl/forms/LO89LrebxcCYhR9o2

Please note that this is a parent-child event. Meet us at the

ES playground or at the build site.

Directions to the site:

Rene Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High
School
https://goo.gl/maps/fvmM13UEK942

Hope you can join us!

ISSUE # 36
SY1617

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