CAS Week at Northbridge embraces a new approach in the new normal

CAS Week at Northbridge embraces a new approach in the new normal The Northbridge International School Cambodia CAS Fair is an annual event which invites Grade 12s to showcase the CAS experiences they’ve been working on over the last year. Our NGO partners are also welcomed to the school to present the essential work they carry out in the community. The Primary School cafeteria, where the fair is hosted, becomes a hive of activity with grade 12, our community partners, staff and students in attendance. In short, a social distancing dilemma which required a fresh look for 2020.

The Northbridge International School Cambodia CAS Fair is an annual event which invites Grade 12s to showcase the CAS experiences they’ve been working on over the last year. Our NGO partners are also welcomed to the school to present the essential work they carry out in the community. The Primary School cafeteria, where the fair is hosted, becomes a hive of activity with grade 12, our community partners, staff and students in attendance. In short, a social distancing dilemma which required a fresh look for 2020.

The new format challenged grade 12s to present their experiences on camera highlighting the learning outcomes, and provide advice to future DP students. Shot in various locations around the school over 4 days, the videos were then jigsawed together and spiced up with a soundtrack. They were then played to Secondary students in assembly and during a week of homeroom advisory sessions.

After each morning’s latest installment, watching students were given the chance to reflect on what they’d seen, and add ideas to a shared padlet of how they could get involved in service. By the end of each morning, every class had contributed dozens more diverse and imaginative ideas thanks to the inspired CAS involvement of our grade 12s!

What had once been a fair, hosted over one afternoon and would be over in a flash, had now become something much more enduring and powerful over the course of a whole week. This new look allowed for more collaboration and MYP student engagement looking for service opportunities. Finally, not only would these videos now be a valuable future resource, they would also be a lasting legacy of grade 12 students’ engagement in CAS, long after they graduate.

So here are my takeaways from this year’s CAS/ SA Week:

And finally, with so many barriers to what was previously possible, it’s easy to look back with rose-tinted glasses. But if this year’s CAS/ SA Week proves anything, it’s that we can achieve even greater things than before by moving forwards collaboratively and creatively together. As the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

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All Northbridge Diploma Programme students engage in an extracurricular activity known as Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS). Click here to learn more.