Saint Mary's School of Sagada

Saint Mary’s School of Sagada

Principal’s Bulletin, 2011-2012 Series # 11

November 18, 2011

Dear Parents, Students, Alumni, and Friends:

This week is the Festival of the Sciences in Sagada. The festival is being held all over the world for two weeks from November 14 – November 26 by UNESCO and other sponsoring agencies. The activities revolve around the UNESCO theme “2011: The Year of the Forest.” The Science Film Festival started last year and in the Philippines the festival was only held in Metro Manila. The organizers decided to expand outside Manila this year and we’re blessed that Sagada has been chosen as one of the recipients. This is different from the annual Science Festival sponsored by DepEd wherein we choose students to represent Sagada to the division level up to the national level.

The Sagada Science Festival is composed of three components: the viewing of science films, the mobile science classroom of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the different science competitions. This is a week-long activity. It started last Monday, November 14, and will culminate tomorrow, November 19.

a. Viewing of Films – We were able to get 25 documentary films from ABS-CBN Foundation and were shown in all nine elementary and five secondary schools of Sagada from November 14 until November 18. The science films are the entries of different countries in the Science Film Festival which was held in Bangkok, Thailand. The festival organizers from the different countries agreed to show the films to selected areas all over the world with the objective of promoting science and technology among school children. The film viewing is accompanied by activities such as experiments, demonstrations and games to reinforce the concepts introduced in the videos. Eight films will be shown via big screen at the gymnasium this Saturday, November 19. It is open to the public and we would love families to watch. Everybody is invited. It will start at 8 AM until 5PM. Please be guided by the following schedule of the public film viewing.

Mobile Science Classroom of DOST – This is one of the projects of the Science Education Institute (SEI) of DOST. The bus is a venue where students can go and perform interactive activities on different topics under the supervision of some staff members of the Institute. They also have the opportunity to watch some of the science films. Before they enter the bus, the children are given snacks which are provided by DOST because they are expected to stay for the duration of the session, which is two hours. Each session can accommodate thirty pupils.

Originally, the bus was intended to service Sagada only. They decided to cater to other districts of Mountain Province through the request of Mr. Rosendo Cacap, the MAPEH division supervisor. This is made possible also because of the partnership of the provincial government, Dep-Ed Mountain Province and the participating districts that housed and fed them.

The DOST team arrived at Mount Data on November 12, Saturday. They had six (6) sessions with the elementary pupils of Bauko on November 13-14 on the grounds of Mount Data Lodge and a teacher workshop in the afternoon of November 14, Monday, at Mount Data Elementary School. They travelled to Sabangan last Tuesday, November 15, and had three (3) sessions with the pupils on the municipal ground and a teacher workshop at Sabangan Central School. Bontoc, Sadanga and Barlig elementary children enjoyed a total of four sessions which was held in front of the Provincial Capitol last Wednesday and Thursday, November 16-17. They came to Sagada yesterday afternoon and catered to one hundred twenty (120) Sagada elementary children today. The bus is parked in front of Saint Theodore’s Hospital as the bus cannot go inside the school campus. The elementary school children from Besao are scheduled tomorrow. They are then expected to cater to six hundred thirty (630) elementary pupils this week. As much as they want to accommodate high school students, they cannot do it due to time constraints. However, they promised to come back in the future.

Science Competitions and Speakers’ Bureau – We will have different science competitions tomorrow in the classrooms of Saint Mary’s School as organized by the science teachers of the district. The participants are elementary and high school students of Sagada. The different activities are as follows:

c.1. Time : 9:00 AM – 12:00 noon

c.2. Time : 1:00 – 3:00 PM

Prizes for the winners will be in the form of appropriate science books for elementary students and scientific calculators for high school winners. The materials needed during the competitions and the prizes are donated by ABS-CBN Foundation.

c.3. Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM – Speakers’ Bureau: Some elders will speak on indigenous science practices in Sagada.

Recognition: We had the recognition of honor students during the second quarter last Tuesday, November 17. Sixty-five students or 39.4% of our student population made it to the honors list. There are some students who were disqualified either due to disciplinary reasons or a grade below 80% in at least one of their academic subjects.

REPORT CARDS: The Report Cards are ready. Parents please come and get the report cards of your children as it is important for you to discuss the comments of the teachers with your child and to guide your child to make a plan of action to improve his performance. For those who want to receive an electronic copy of the card, please send your request through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

PAST EVENTS

Parent-Child Encounter: We had the parent-child encounter on October 29 and 30. The activity was facilitated by family psychologist Gary Faustino and his wife, Anne, together with the Arguellaz family composed of the mother, father and 5 children. We had been knocking at their doors for two years and we are happy that they finally came up with a schedule. Through the encounter I was able to understand the differences in the characteristics of the teenagers (age 13-19), the early adults (age 20-39) and the middle adults (age 40-65). One of the highlights of the encounter is learning the art of listening, which is sometimes difficult to us adults, particularly the women. We enjoyed and learned a lot from the activities. However, we are disappointed with the attendance. Only 7 parents with their children showed up. The activity was announced during the 2^nd Quarter PTA meeting on October 22 where16 parents committed to join. It was placed in the Oct 25 principal’s bulletin and was announced through Radyo Sagada. Padi Mayapit also mentioned it in his homily in Demang and Ambasing. Do we need this activity? The team is willing to come back but it will be through the invitation of the parents.

Gawis ay agew!

Nemia Lite

Acting Principal