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Dear Parents, I hope you read this message in the knowledge that this is a long weekend, at least for the students that is! The school had calendared next Monday as a holiday with an expectation that it would be declared a holiday to celebrate the EDSA Revolution Day. I refer you to Mr. Toze’s letter attached in this bulletin which explains the calendar process in more detail. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank the outgoing PTA High School Vice President; Mrs. Dina Paterno for the excellent service she has provided to the high school over a number of years. Her experience and organizational abilities will be missed. At the same time I would like to welcome Mrs. Liza Van Klaveren who has been elected to replace Dina. Liza has a graduating senior Rachael and next year will have a son in grade 9. I am very excited to be working with Liza and commented at our Parent Coffee morning last Tuesday how for a lady with so many talents, she had to date, escaped this sort of role! It has been a busy week with the High School Parent Coffee on Tuesday and then grade 9 and 10 parent evenings to help explain the Course Registration process for next school year. All high school students should now have the HS Course Offerings book for 2009-2010, which clearly lays out all the course description on offer in the high school and the likely pathways that students can take to meet ISM graduation and IB Diploma requirements. Please take time to discuss these important course selection decisions with your child. Next week you will probably hear a lot about IASAS Cultural Convention. ISM is so lucky to have outstanding talent on display in the various fields of; Dance, Drama, Forensics and Debate events. These talented performers, speakers, dancers and debaters will all be performing at various times next week as they hone their skills for the IASAS convention to be held on March 5-7 in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Finally I am very pleased and excited to say that we have done exceptionally well with sourcing our new teachers for next year. I will be able to provide more information about our new hires at a later stage, but for now I feel very excited to be looking forward to working with such a talented bunch of international educators.

William Brown Caroline Brokvam William R. S. Brown Caroline Brokvam High School Principal Assistant Principal

For the week of February 23 - 28

Monday, February 23

No School

Tuesday, February 24 HS Course Registration Week

IB 12 Japanese/Korean A1H World Lit DUE ISSBA Meeting with Councils (1057) 2.30-2.50pm Incoming Gr.11 Course

Registration (MC Computers) 5.30pm HS Sports Awards (HS Gym)

Wednesday, February 25

HS Course Registration Week Student Late Start

10.55 Grade Level Assembly 11.30-12.00pm Cooking Club Bake Sale

5-7 pm IASAS Music Previews (LT)

Thursday, February 26 HS Course Registration Week

IB 11 Math Portfolio DUE 5-7 pm IASAS Dance/Drama Previews (FAT)

Friday, February 27

HS Course Registration Week IB 11 math Portfolio DUE

Gr11 Student Course Selection DUE IB 12 Film Independent Study DUE

IB 12 Film Production DUE (journal) IB 12 Theatre Arts Major IA (IPP) DUE IB 12 Theatre Arts major IA (IPP) DUE

5-7 pm IASAS Music Previews (LT)

Saturday, February 28 5-7 pm IASAS Dance/ Drama Previews (FAT)

7-10pm Battle of the Bands

International School Manila For ATTENDANCE concerns, please

contact the HS Office (Sam Ramos or Laurie Atilano)

Tel: 840 8650 / 840 8653 or email

HSOffice@ismanila.org.

HS FRIDAY BULLETIN

Dates to Remember:

Mar 2: IB 11 EE Proposal DUE Mar 3: GEO Field Trip Gr. 9 Taal Volcano Mar 3: IB 11 Econ Comm DUE Mar 5-7: IASAS Art/Music (ISKL) Mar 5-7: IASAS DDF (SAS) Mar 7: CCV Field Trip/ Mar 7: GK Field Trip

February 20, 2009

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From the Athletics Office:

2nd Season IASAS:

HUGE congratulations to our varsity boys’ tennis team who defended their IASAS GOLD medal at Bangkok. This is an outstanding result from athletes and coaches to win GOLD two years in a row. Our touch team also made it into the gold medal playoff game against SAS and in a very tight game lost in a heart breaker with seconds to spare on the clock. The girls played outstanding touch all three days and to bring home silver in such a narrowly contested final was no doubt a little disappointing but they should feel very proud of their efforts to win silver two years in a row. Boys rugby lost another heartbreaker game in the bronze medal playoff match. They let TAS get a big lead in the first half but pegged them back and tied the game with seconds to spare, sending the game into overtime. Unfortunately TAS came out the victors scoring first in the extra time period. Girls and Boys Basketball both placed 4th in Taipei however both teams played some great matches in the tournament and pushed all other teams they played to tight games. Girls tennis has some solid results and were in the running on Friday to finish in 2nd place but ended up 5th showing how close the competition was in the girls section of the tournament. Our swim team place 6th but we had over 80% of our swimmers post personal best times which shows a great improvement at the meet and demonstrates the hard work that has been occurring in the swimming pool during training sessions.

All 3rd season sports are now in full swing with students and coaches making a very smooth start to the season after tryouts week concluded. I would like to remind all participating students to complete the ATAC on-line registration. 3rd season has a number of interruptions and as such students and coaches can lose the flow of the season easily. Please stay in contact with your coach regarding practices and weekend matches/meets as they relate to your particular sport this season.

HIGH SCHOOL END OF SEASON AWARDS Event: HS Sports Awards Where: HS GYM Date: Feb. 24, Tuesday Time: 5:30 pm

IASAS All Tournament Players: **Well done to the following athletes who were selected to IASAS All Tournament Teams: Rugby: Jimmy Go and Jonathan Pisano Touch: Pats Limcaoco, Mercedes Olondriz and Sara Jane Ahmed Basketball: Pat Reed and Michelle Martin Tennis: Josh Ho and Marco Del Rosario IASAS Sportsmanship Award: ISM Girls Touch Team. 3rd Season Sports: MS/HS - Badminton, Track and Field and Softball

ES/MS/HS track meets dates for this year are: Feb 21st MS/HS only at ISM March 7th at Brent March 28th at Brent April 3-5 Varsity track at Singapore (IASAS exchange weekend) April 18-22 3rd Season IASAS at Jakarta.

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From the Superintendent’s Office: Dear Parents: As I’m sure you’re aware, we begin the planning of the school’s academic calendar some twelve months in advance. There are various factors that we take into consideration:

• The contracted maximum number of teacher contact days – 180. • The contracted maximum number of teacher working days – 190. • The location of public holidays and special holidays. Public holidays are tied to particular dates: Maundy Thursday,

Good Friday, All Saint’s Day, Christmas Day. Special holidays, meanwhile, are part of the annual calendar but may be moved at the discretion of the President: Bonifacio Day, National Heroes’ Day, Labor Day. Included in the category of special holidays are days that may or may not be calendared at the discretion of the President. These include Ninoy Aquino Day, Eid ul Fitr and EDSA Day.

You can imagine that it is not always easy to meet the contractual obligations, predict the variables and still maintain the appropriate shape and balance to the school year that is best suited to teaching and learning.

For the past twenty one years, we have seen EDSA Day become a feature of the annual calendar. Its official celebration should be held on 25th February, but recently the President declared that she was going to locate such holidays on the nearest Monday to avoid disruption of the working week and encourage families to enjoy the many attractions of the Philippines. We had therefore circled Monday, 23rd February as EDSA Day but placed an asterisk by that date to indicate that, at the President’s discretion, this holiday could be moved. Now the President seems minded not to have an EDSA Day holiday at all, which leaves me in something of a quandary.

I could, of course, decide to hold classes on 23rd February as usual, but I am mindful of the fact that we published in our official calendar the number of teacher contact days; I am uneasy, at this stage of the school year, in increasing this by one. I know, too, that many families have booked holidays for the long weekend in the expectation that we would not have classes on February 23rd. I’m also aware that the political fall out from this decision by President may yet lead to a change of mind, and it is conceivable that an EDSA holiday could still be declared - but so late that families would find it difficult to book planes and hotels if they were traveling out of Manila. I am also aware that if this happens the holiday could revert to its official date of 25th February.

What I’m proposing is this: in order to keep true to the spirit of the original calendar, we shall keep February 23rd as a non-teaching day. If, however, at some later stage, the President were to declare an EDSA holiday on a date other than the 23rd, then we would still consider Monday 23rd February in lieu of any other declared EDSA holiday. In the meantime, I shall work with HR to try to refine our calendar such that we are prepared for such events in the future. I’m sorry to have to announce this decision so late in the day. I can only plead in mitigation that I am as frustrated as you are by this situation. Yours sincerely,

David Toze

REMINDERS: Cashier’s Office will be closed on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 and will resume office on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009

BILLING INFO In line with our intention to continuously improve our billing system, we would like to inform everyone that the School plans to start sending the billing statement of the tuition fee and other charges via e-mail starting March 2009. In this regard, we would like to request all parents and guardians to please update e-mail addresses by contacting our School Offices

PHOTOS Parents/Students who ordered photos please don’t forget to send payment. The HS Office will only accept check payments. Please make the check payable to PHOTO CONCEPTS STUDIO.

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From the MODERN LANGUAGE DEPT: Summer Language Study / Home-stay / Travel Program to SPAIN

The ISM High School Modern Language Department is pleased to announce its Summer Language Study / Home-stay / Travel Program to Spain from June 6th to July 4th 2009 for students aged 13 to 19 years old. The program aims to develop students’ language proficiency and to broaden his/her cultural knowledge. This program is being offered in cooperation with Escuela Internacional Madrid (TANDEM), a school in Madrid and San Sebastian, Spain. Students will continue learning and, more importantly, will practice Spanish through total immersion in the classes and during the home-stay. The school finds families for students to stay with, assists in locating appropriate local resources for the group’s activities, plans outings, maintains a list of local medical and emergency resources, and helps with the orientation for group leaders. The language course proposal is to have 4 class sessions (45 minutes each) of language and culture from Monday to Friday, from 09.30 to 13.00 each day (with a break from 11.00 to 11.30). The classes will include language and culture subjects as well as adequate preparation for the cultural visits. Students will complete a placement test in order for the school to form groups based on the level of Spanish. Last year, 15 students from ISM traveled to Spain and all of them reported dramatic improvements in their acquisition of the Spanish language as well as outstanding experiences with their home-stay families and one another during their time in Spain. If you are interested in receiving more information about this summer course, please contact Laurie Atilano or Samantha Ramos in the High School Office, or email Adriana Vargas at vargasa@ismanila.org.

From the Fine Arts Office:

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CONGRATULATIONS: NAME OF STUDENT COLLEGE / UNIVERSITY Richard Abasta Simon Fraser University

Kamran Heinrich Ahmad University of Bristol, University of Edinburgh, University of Durham, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Sarah Jane Ahmed Loyola University Chicago, Concordia University Mark Jedric Ang De La Salle University Manila, University of the Philippines

Daisy Birchenall Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University Manila, University of Dundee, University of Leeds, University of the Philippines, University of Stirling

Antonio Brias University of Maine Antoinette Brillantes Syracuse University (Accelerated Liberal Arts) Gil Buenaventura Saint Mary's College of California Peter Burton University of Dundee, University of Leeds, Nottingham Trent University Isabel Chamberlain Mills College, Saint Mary's College of California Brandon Chin Coventry University Louie Chua University of San Francisco John Jacob Benjamin Co De La Salle University Manila, Ateneo de Manila University Vicente Jaime Constantino Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines Jan-Michael Nadora Cruz De La Salle University Manila Jasmin Dargani Lesley University, Pace University, Loyola Marymount University

Suzannah Davis Bangor University, University of Exeter, University of Sussex, Lancaster University, University of Stirling

Cristina de Leon Loyola Marymount University Alexandra Amanda Eduque Barnard College Michael Fong Dominican University, Saint Mary's College of California Ron Richard Chow Habla Ateneo de Manila University

Sung Yeon (Tammy) Joo

University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Liberal Arts & Sciences), New York University (Tisch School of the Arts), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey at New Brunswick (School of Business), University at Buffalo The State University of New York

Shao-Ting Ko Fordham University (College of Business Administration), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Liberal Arts & Sciences)

Michelle La O' University of Asia and the Pacific, Ateneo de Manila University, La Salle University, Saint Mary's College of California

Jennifer Labrie Simon Fraser University Jobo Lau Loyola Marymount University

Da Hee Lee Pennsylvania State University-University Park, Purdue University, Temple University, Washington State University

Jun-Ho Lee University of Michigan Louie Angelo Lee University of Pennsylvania Patricia Maria Josefina Limcaoco Stanford University

Carlos Lopez Menlo College Marine Charlotte Maupin University of Dundee, Middlesex University

Maria Lourdes Margarita Mojica Ateneo de Manila University, University of British Columbia (Sauder School of Business), University of Durham, University of Edinburgh, University of Nottingham

Marie Elysee Murray University of British Columbia, McGill University Arjun Nandkishore Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Jeane Catherine Catherine Napoles Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Irvine

Jeanne Napoles Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Irvine Gabriella Alexandra Navas Glion Institute of Higher Education, Johnson & Wales University

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Jennifer Patricia Ng Savannah College of Art and Design

Marianne Oh University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Yu Ohyama Glion Institute of Higher Education Rina Noelle Opinion Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines

Janina Marie Paredes Menlo College, Saint Mary's College of California, University of San Francisco, Notre Dame de Namur University

Ana Laura Laura Perez O. Santillanes

The University of Tampa, University of Florida (College of Business Administration)

Maria Rebecca Pelaez Plaza Ateneo de Manila University, University of Edinburgh, University of the Philippines

Antheia Brittni Rae Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design

Saadia Rahman

University of British Columbia (Science, Faculty of), McGill University (Faculty of Science), McMaster University (Faculty of Science), Queen's University (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), University of Waterloo (Faculty of Science), University of Western Ontario

Katz Razon Saint Mary's College of California Daisy Recto Ateneo de Manila University, Randolph-Macon College

Kannah Marie Alvarez Salazar Ateneo de Manila University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Engineering), University of Michigan (Engineering), Purdue University (School of Engineering), Wentworth Institute of Technology

Zara Sibtain Manhattanville College, Randolph College Laura Smith Queen's University, University of Western Ontario Caitlin Marie Tan Glion Institute of Higher Education

Kenley Aldridge Tan De La Salle University Manila, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey at New Brunswick

Kenichi Tsusaka (Cumagun) Ateneo de Manila University Solongo Tumurbaatar Glion Institute of Higher Education Anh Hai Vo South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Winnie Wong Mills College Mariama Wurie McGill University, Queen's University, University of British Columbia Amanda Yong Yu Duke University Wei Onn Yuen Cornell University (College of Art, Arch., & Plan.) Nissim Zeitoune Curry College, Manhattanville College Brian Zimmerman University of South Dakota

LET’S GO GREEN:

Poetry for our planet A competition for all ISM students

To celebrate our earth, ECo are inviting you to write a poem on the topic of Environment. This can be an ode, an elegy, an epic, a limerick… it’s totally up to you.

The winning poem will be published in the yearbook! Please submit all entries to:gillmanr@ismanila.org By Monday March 9th

I dream of a better life, And to myself I say: “If we had been more concerned about this planet… …would earth have turned out another way?” (Grade 6 student, 2004)