Introduction to IB CAS for Year 11 students

Introduction to IB CAS for Year 11 students Year 11 students, who will start IB next year, were introduced to the Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) elements & participated in service work at Roundabout last week.

Recently, the Year 11 students have completed their iGCSE examinations at BSB. A large number of the students have returned for an Introduction to the IB Diploma in the last two weeks of school. On Monday 15th June, the Year 11 students present at school were introduced to the IB CAS course.

Mr. Mounter introduced to the students how the course covers Creativity, Action and the Service element that is undertaken over the 2 years. In detail we also looked at the 8 learning outcomes that must be achieved during the course to successfully complete this unit.

The 8 learning outcomes for IB CAS are:

• increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth.

• undertaken new challenges. A new challenge may be an unfamiliar activity, or an extension to an existing one.

• planned and initiated activities.

• worked collaboratively with others.

• shown perseverance and commitment in their activities.

• engaged with issues of global importance.

• considered the ethical implications of their actions.

• developed new skills.

In detail the students also discussed some possible service and creativity projects for next year. During lesson 3 and 4, the Year 11 students walked down to Roundabout to participate in service work for two hours. When the 23 students arrived at Roundabout, the volunteers were very excited to have BSB students working on service projects with them. Students from BSB helped sort electrical items, books, games for children and other positive service work within the organization. Most of the goods sorted by BSB students were priced and placed on the service floor for sales. All money raised at Roundabout goes to support local charities in Beijing. The BSB students worked very hard during the 2 hour service introduction. We are also going back on Thursday 18th June and Thursday 25th June for further service work.

Ms. Pratt (IB Coordinator), Mr. Mounter (IB CAS Coordinator), Ms. Usher (IB CAS Advisor) and Ms. Hemming (IB CAS advisor) are looking forward to working with the new IB CAS cohort from August 2015. Already, the returning students have some fantastic creativity and service ideas that will help our students become actively involved in community work in the local area.

Update from: Mr. David Mounter, IB CAS Coordinator