ES Parent Bulletin Vol#19 2012 May 25 - Welcome to Our World of ...

International School Manila 

ES PARENT BULLETIN 

Volume 19 

25 May 2012 

MAY 

28 

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER 

1st Annual Junior Bearcat Talent Showcase - 

Grade 3 & 4 @ 2.45pm, AMR 

30 Student Late Start @ 8.30am 

31 

AUG 

Grade 4 Moving-On Ceremony @ 8am, Fine Arts 

Theatre 

Early Student Release @ 12pm 

Distribution of Section Cards, Accounting Office 

End of Semester 2 

6 Start of SY12-13 

21 School Holiday for Ninoy Aquino Day - No Classes 

27 

School Holiday for National Heroes Day - No 

Classes 

From the ES Administration 

Dear Elementary School Parents, 

Faculty Update 

We are at the time of year when we start to say farewell 

to colleagues and friends who are moving on to new 

adventures and who will, sadly, not be with us here in 

the Elementary School in 2012-13. We will be saying 

goodbye to Amber Shortridge and Elaine Faustino (Grade 

3), Linell and Irene Diaz (Music), Matt Pelkey and Karen 

Gacusan (Preschool), Mary Rose Domingo (Art), Rachael 

Huelskamp, Jessica Reischel and Susan Piper (Learning 

Support), Kelley England (Elementary Intern), Ria Ruiz 

(Grade 4), and Toni Narvaez (AFAC). We wish these 

wonderful educators all the very best in the next phase 

of their lives and thank each and every one of them for 

their service and talents in working with children at ISM. 

In addition to those leaving our school, Abigél Tomsits 

(Preschool) will leave our Preschool to work as a 

substitute teacher across the Elementary School next 

year, and Pippa Beetson (ESL) will move to the High 

School to teach Psychology. There is one person, 

however, that we would like to particularly 

acknowledge. Coach Noli Reloj has been an ISM faculty 

member for 33 years and will retire this year. We would 

like to honor and highlight the enormous contribution of 

Coach Noli, who has had a significant impact on so many 

students’ lives. Noli will be greatly missed. 

Along with these departing teachers, we have some 

considerable movement of teacher positions next year. 

All decisions about teacher placement with teams and 

grade levels are about what is the best for our students – 

that is, matching teacher skill sets and experience with 

students’ needs. Teacher professional growth is also an 

important, although secondary, consideration. Section 

cards, with information about your child’s classroom 

teacher for the new school year, can be collected from 

the Accounting Office starting May 31st. 

Part of welcoming in the new school year is to welcome 

new faculty to our ISM Elementary School. For the 2012- 

13 school year we will be joined by: Joanne Chang 

(currently at the Tiger Tots American Preschool in 

Taipei), as our new Kindergarten Program Leader; Megan 

DeBaun will teach Preschool (moving from the 

International School of Helsinki); Meg Landry as Speech 

Language Pathologist in our Learning Support team (from 

New England); John Van Gaalen will join us from The 

British International School, Shanghai to teach PE; 

Melissa Wosmansky (International School Ho Chi Minh 

City) will also join our Learning Support team; Robbie 

Smith (Maple Bear Canadian Kindergarten in Hanoi) will 

teach Music; as will Peachy Miller, who many of us 

already know for her wonderful talents as a substitute 

teacher across the school here at ISM; Virginia Van 

Gaalen (The British International School, Shanghai) will 

work in our ES Art team; Jillian Markham will move from 

Middle School to Grade 4 (back to the ES where she 

started); Iliana Sucre will join us as ES intern from 

Washington, D.C.; Sofia Soler (ISM alum) will join 

Preschool as a Teacher Assistant; Edvie Baral will be our 

new Grade 4 Teacher Assistant; and Kristine Fong will be 

the face of After School Activities here in the ES Office. 

We look forward to welcoming our new members of the 

ES to the ISM community. 

Lastly… 

Our last day of the school year is Thursday, May 31. 

Students will be dismissed at 12pm. At that time, we will 

say goodbye to 77 students from the Elementary School 

as they move on to new schools, new countries and new 

adventures. We wish the families leaving us all the very 

best of wishes. For everyone, leaving or returning, 

please enjoy a relaxing and safe summer break. 

Adam Campbell 

Elementary Principal 

Michael Rourke 

Elementary Asst. Principal

Elementary School Parent Bulletin 

11 May 2012 

From the Guidance Office 

Attention Parents! 

Elementary School Parent Book Group for Fall 2012 

During the first semester of the 2012-13 school year, the ES Counseling Department 

will be hosting yet another Parent Book Group for ES parents. We are 

making this announcement now in order to allow participants time to get the 

book, as well as suggesting potential summer time reading. Please see the 

announcement below: 

The Whole-Brain Child: 

12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive 

Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive 

Your toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. Your preschooler refuses 

to get dressed. Your fifth-grader sulks on the bench instead of playing 

on the field. Do children conspire to make their parents’ lives endlessly challenging 

No—it’s just their developing brain calling the shots! 

In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author 

of the bestselling book Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, 

explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” 

which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in 

young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can 

seem—and feel—so out of control. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, 

argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Raise calmer, happier 

children using twelve key strategies, including: 

NAME IT TO TAME IT: Corral raging right-brain behavior through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left 

brain’s affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension. 

ENGAGE, DON’T ENRAGE: Keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting. 

MOVE IT OR LOSE IT: Use physical activities to shift your child’s emotional state. 

LET THE CLOUDS OF EMOTION ROLL BY: Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help 

them understand that feelings come and go. 

S.I.F.T.: Help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they 

can make better decisions and be more flexible. 

CONNECT THROUGH CONFLICT: Use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success. 

Complete with clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations 

that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate 

healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected 

lives. 

Additionally, check out co\author Tina Bryson’s blog Parenting Matters. 

Enjoy the holidays! 

Be well!! 

2



From the Treasury Office 

Dear ES Parents: 

ES secon cards for all returning students from Preschool to Grade 04 

for School Year 2012‐2013 will be released starng May 31,2012 at the 

Accounng Office (P051) from 7:00am to 4:00pm. However, secon 

cards will only be released if accounts are cleared for school year 11‐12. 

Parents whose child(ren)’s accounts remain unseled will be asked to 

go directly to the Cashier’s Office to sele before the release of secon 

cards; only CASH payments will be accepted. 

To avoid the long queue of line on the last of day of school, we advise all 

parents to kindly sele before May 31. 

For your reference of the latest billing, please visit our online web at 

www.ismanila.org . 

From the Children’s Media Center 

Reminders from the CMC 

All items that have been borrowed from the CMC 

need to be returned by 3:00pm on Friday May 25. 

The replacement costs of items not returned by this 

time will be automatically charged to school accounts. 

Borrowing has ceased for this school year; items 

are not available for borrowing over the summer 

break. 

The CMC will be closed from 12 noon on Thursday, 

May 31 and will reopen again for general use 

at 7:00am on Monday, August 6. 

To those moving on, the CMC staff wish you all the 

very best in your next location, and to those returning, 

we look forward to seeing you in the library many 

times during the next school year. 

From Human Resources 

Canteen Service 

All those interested in signing up for ES Canteen 

service for your child/children for the school year 

2012-2013 can do so from May 28 th – 31 st to 

avoid the rush. Parents have an option of signing 

up with Urban Chef or Yogi Chef (Vegetarian) and 

offices of Urban and Yogi are located in the MS/HS 

canteen. Sign-ups will resume on July 

30 th . Should you wish to view menu samples they 

can be found on the ISM website under Canteen. 

Michelle Mapua 

Human Resources 

3 

Cut-off date for the ac- 

ceptance of check payment 

SY2011-2012 

2012 

Please be informed that for 

the purpose of clearing the 

accounts of students for 

SY11-12, peso checks will no 

longer be accepted after the 

second Friday of May (May 

11) while US$ checks drawn 

from US banks will no longer 

be accepted after the second 

Friday of April (April 13). 

This is to allow enough time 

for the checks to get 

cleared by the bank in time 

for the student clearance in 

May. 

From the Learning Coordinator’s Office



From Service Learning 

From the Operations & Security Office 

4



May 25, 2012 

I. IDs for the New School Year 

Parent IDs 

Current parent IDs will continue to be valid for the new school year 2012-2013. 

Parents who require replacement school IDs due to loss or damage can acquire these from the Security 

Office upon payment of Php100.00 to the Cashier. 

Student IDs 

All students will be issued with new ID cards at the beginning of the new school year. This year 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 parent’s employees and representatives need to be replaced for next school 

year. As of August 31, 2012 the blue 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, 2012. 

Each family will be given two free school passes. Additional school passes may be obtained after paying 

a processing fee of Php100.00 each to the Cashier’s Office. 

2, Car Stickers for the New School Year 

The car stickers for school year 2012/2013 will be available from the security office beginning July 1, 

2012. 

For vehicles already displaying an existing sticker, parents should submit a completed renewal form 

with a copy of a current LTO official receipt. For new vehicles, parents are reminded that a copy of the 

vehicle’s certificate of registration and a current official receipt need to be submitted with the application. 

Applications for vehicles registered with companies or other institutions should be supported by a 

letter of assignment. 

Each ISM family will be issued one vehicle sticker free of charge. Any additional stickers will be issued 

following payment of P100 to the cashier’s 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. 

Mike Flynn 

Director of Operations 

and Security 

5



From the Fine Arts Office 

6



From the Admissions & Advancement Office 

RE-ENROLLMENT AND WITHDRAWAL PROCEDURES 

Dear Parents, 

Re-Enrollment for school year 2012-2013 is ongoing. 

We advise all families to begin the process 

early to avoid long lines. 

Please drop by the Admissions Office to pick-up your 

RE-ENROLLMENT CLEARANCE FORM or 

visit our web site at http://www.ismanila.org > AD- 

MISSION > Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal to download 

the appropriate forms. 

Clearance signatures are required from the 

following offices: 

Admissions 

Health Clinic 

Cashier’s Office 

Step 1 

Admissions forms will need to be signed and submitted 

to the Admissions Office. 

Step 2 

All students are required to submit the Health Clinic 

Updating Form directly to the Clinic. This may 

be done at any time. Incoming Grade 1, 5 and 9 

students must have page 2 of the document completed 

by a licensed physician. We do recommend that all 

children have an annual check-up. 

In addition, all incoming Grade 5 and 9 students will 

need to submit the Tuberculosis Screening 

Form. 

Step 3 

Beginning May 31, 2012 you may visit the Cashier’s 

Office to settle your accounts. 

The Re-Enrollment Clearance Form will need 

to be submitted in exchange for your child’s 

section card and/or class schedule. Please do 

not discard this form. 

WITHDRAWAL PROCEDURE 

If your family will be leaving before or at the end of 

SY11-12, we would appreciate that you submit the 

official Withdrawal Notification Form in order 

to initiate the withdrawal process. Please note, this 

does not pertain to Grade 12 students who will graduate 

in May. 

Please submit the completed Withdrawal Notification 

Form as early as possible. 

All forms are available here: http://www.ismanila.org 

> Admission > Re-enrollment and Withdrawal 

WITHDRAWAL NOTIFICATION FORM 

(required by ES/HS/MS students) – Please 

submit this to the Admissions Office 

MIDDLE SCHOOL CLEARANCE FORM – 

Once completed please submit this to the 

Cashier’s Office 

HIGH SCHOOL CLEARANCE FORM – Once 

completed please submit this to the Cashier’s 

Office 

IMPORTANT DATE to remember: 

May 11, 2012 – Withdrawal Notification Forms for 

School Year 2011-2012 must be submitted. Forms 

received after this date will incur a penalty of USD 

$1000 on the refund of the FUD. 

For detailed information regarding receiving Report 

Cards, Transcript of Records, obtaining a yearbook 

and/or the refund of the FUD please visit our web 

site at www.ismanila.org under the Admissions TAB 

< Re-Enrollment & Withdrawal. 

We appreciate your notification as we have many 

families awaiting word for enrollment for next school 

year. Please feel free to contact us at admissions@ismanila.org 

for any questions or concerns. 

Sincerely, 

Stephanie H. Hagedorn 

Director of Admissions & Advancement 

International School Manila 

www.ismanila.org 

7



From the PTA 

PTA OFFICERS 

We are pleased to announce the PTA Executive Committee and Governing Board SY 2012-13. 

Executive Committee: 

President 

ESVP 

MSVP 

HSVP 

Treasurer 

Assistant Treasurer 

Recording Secretary 

Coordinating Secretary 

Tish MacDougall 

Winnie Kuefner 

Terri Madrigal 

Diane Daoust 

Maria Handa 

Paulyn Navales 

Annette Whall 

open 

Governing Board 

Preschool 

Kindergarten 

Grade 1 

Grade 2 

Grade 3 

Grade 4 

open 

Olga Hoover 

Leni Perreras 

Jana Sly 

Sonali Hutchinson 

Margaret Versantvoort 

open 

Ziyoung Yoon 

Tricia Anderson 

Hansa Raj 

open 

Grade 8 

Grade 9 

Grade 10 

Grade 11 

Grade 12 

Hospitality 

Salma Lall 

Melanie Ball 

Ruchira Lahiri Goswami 

Kathleen Lewis 

Charlotte Kirkpatrick 

Ann Kobayashi 

Bushra Jabeen 

Yvonne Borromeo Mutuc 

Liza van Klaveren 

Marilen Villanueva 

Simran Uttamchandani 

Grade 5 

Shweta Mangal 

Bonnie Santos 

Maria Handa 

Marsha Ronald 

Grade 6 

Wendy Worley 

Karin Neider 

Bulletin board: 

Bushra Jabeen 

Grade 7 

Amanda Nicholls 

open 

Please feel free to contact ism_pta@yahoo.com if you are interested in an open position. Thank you! 

8



From the Athletics Office 

On behalf of the ATAC office we wish all parents/students a happy and safe vacation and we look forward to welcoming 

everyone back for an exciting and action packed program next school year starting in August. Stay safe, 

stay fit…Go Bearcats! 

This week the HS Honors and Awards ceremony was held and it gives me great pleasure to announce the winners 

of the various Athletics/Activities awards as voted by our team of Head Coaches: 

Awards criteria can be found at- http://atac.ism-online.org/atac/overview/awards-and-recognition/ 

Athletic Directors Award: Ray Oo and Girls Badminton Team 

Outstanding Athlete Awards: 

Freshman: Abigail Nathan and Joachim Samson 

Sophomore: Valerie Toze and Daniel Um 

Junior: Katrina Gavino and James Woldring 

Senior: Lindsey Bruce and Arlan Parry 

Sportsmanship Awards: Sarita Morris/Angela Sy and Arlan Parry 

Scholar Athletes: 

Grade 9 

Laetitia Herold 

Jun Woo Jang 

Grade 10 

Andrea Ayala 

Isabel Benares 

Lynda Bray 

Yusuke Fukuyama 

Kimberly Go 

Jae Woo Jang 

Andres Limcaoco 

Andrea Narciso 

Regina Rovira 

Karina Swee 

Jasmine Tan Ho 

Valerie Toze 

Daniel Um 

Joy Yuen 

Grade 11 

Seong Chan An 

Ines Diaz 

Lewis Flowers 

Oda Fodstad 

Katrina Gavino 

Chelsea Hamaguchi 

Keun Cheol (Josh) Lee 

Son Ho (Sierra) Lee 

Kara Maeda 

Timothy Metzger 

Linh Nguyen 

Seo Yeon (Esther) Park 

Daniel Luke Smith 

Myungin (Moonie) Sohn 

Ricardo Squillantini 

Tyler Sy 

Annika Weilbach 

James Woldring 

Grade 12 

Gabriel Ayala 

Lindsay Bruce 

Ki Jeong (Daniel) Cho 

Denise Francisco 

Jacob Kobza 

Benjamin Mcgee 

Sarina Samson 

Julia Saubier 

Angela Sy 

Alonzo Virata 

Daniel Viray 

Lynn Yu 

Please take note tryouts dates/information is now posted http://atac.ism 

-online.org/schedules/tryouts/ for those of you making plans for volleyball/cross 

country and soccer when the new school year begins. HS 

tryouts will start the first day of school August 6th thru Aug 8th and MS 

tryouts for teams will begin later in the first week of school. 

Grade 8 transition day next Monday May 28th: As a part of the HS 

Guidance organized Grade 8 transition day next week all of the grade 

8's will be given a brief presentation of ATAC and Fine Arts offerings for 

the HS next year. What is on offer, how to sign up for activities, ATAC/ 

FA blogs will all be covered to ensure all incoming freshman will be on 

top of all that is happening and available to them in the co-curricular 

program next school year. A big thanks to the HS Guidance team for 

allowing us to be a part of this important day for our 12-13 HS freshman. 

AFAC and ATAC All Year Round teams and Sailfish: Parents 

9 

(Continued on page 10)



From the Athletics Office 

(Continued from page 9) 

please note this Friday May 25th is the final day for all afterschool activities. There will not be any after 

school programs next week with the 3 1/2 day week and early finish on Thursday May 31st. 

HS Student registration for ATAC activities: (new for school year ’12-13) A google doc registration is now available 

for all HS students who will take part in any ATAC seasonal sports teams, MUN and Cultural Convention programs. 

Please take the time to complete this online registration for activities that you plan on joining next school year. 

Please access the form via the HS Student Registration tab found under the Helpful Shortcuts bar on the ATAC blog 

home page. *please note this is for next school year’s HS students only 

ATAC Events coming up: 

May 25 th Last day for all ES/MS AFAC and ATAC All year activities and Sailfish program. No afterschool activities 

next week! 

May 29th All year round sports teams awards. Lofthouse 3:15- 4:15pm (Chess, Table Tennis, Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, 

Judo, Wall Climbing) 

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 http:// 

powerschool.ismanila.org/public/ You will need your power school user name and password to access the game 

schedule pdf. 

http://atac.ism-online.org/bearcat-den/ 

New dri fit t-shirts are now available along with new Bearcat bags… 

Regular Opening Hours for the Bearcat Den: 

Wed and Fridays from 

11:30am – 1:00pm and each 

afternoon from 2:30-4pm. 

Anyone interested in joining the den next school year starting in 

August names are being taken, please contact our new volunteer 

coordinator Melanie melaniehball@gmail.com to submit 

your information and expression of interest. 

Please note final day for den sales this school year is Wednesday 

May 30th. Thursday May 31st the den volunteers will be 

doing inventory and closing up the den for summer hibernation. 

The den will not be open for sales on the final day of school 

May 31st 

Mark Pekin 

Director of Athletics/Activities 

E-mail: pekinm@ismanila.org 

ISM Website:http://www.ismanila.org/ 

ATAC Blog: http://atac.ism-online.org/ 

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ES Parent Bulletin Vol#19 2012 May 25 - Welcome to Our World of ...

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