IB: Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS)
CAS is an extra-curricular programme that takes the importance of life outside the world of scholarship seriously, providing a refreshing counterbalance to academic studies. It develops students into reflective thinkers and active participants who are willing to accept new challenges and new roles. CAS broadens the mind, promotes teamwork and collective thinking and enables students at Bromsgrove to become actively involved in matters of international importance. Students are expected to be involved in CAS activities each week and to reflect on their CAS activities on a regular basis using IB Managebac software.
CAS is broken down into three parts:
Creativity: arts and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
Activity: physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
Service: an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student and a worth to society, either locally, nationally or internationally.
There is a high-level of personal choice involved in the CAS programme and it often enables students to find an activity or cause they are really passionate about. They can use the school’s extra-curricular programme to support their CAS portfolio but also are advised to seek activities and experiences outside of School. It gives students a broad and balanced education for life.
CAS Handbook
Click
here to access the CAS Handbook and Guide.
Assessment
During the course of the IB, students are required to keep a record of their CAS activities on the Managebac System. These online portfolios are monitored by staff and will need to be kept up-to-date. Guidance is always available from the IB staff, who will provide advice on the suitability of proposed CAS activities and can help find placements and suggest activities if a student is struggling for ideas to help them develop an exciting and reflective CAS portfolio.
The IB Diploma cannot be awarded if the CAS programme has not been completed.
CAS Projects
A CAS project is a collaborative series of sequential experiences lasting at least one month. Pupils must be involved in at least one CAS project during the programme that challenges them – the project must show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making.
We have created some snapshots of IB pupils who have shared their CAS Projects with us.
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Name: Bianca
Year Group: IB2
My CAS Project: This term, I am taking part in the Prep Readers’ activity. I listen to the pupils read, and correct or explain what a word means. It has been good to see how they have become more comfortable over time, and it makes me feel like I am helping them. Overall, I really like this activity because it allows me to spend time with the children and get to know them better each week.
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Name: Wennqing
Year Group: IB1
My CAS Project: Bromsgrove School offers amazing creativity opportunities for CAS. Life drawing is my current creative activity. It introduced me to several methods for depicting the body and forms of objects. I have tried drawing with pens, chalk, charcoal pencils and even a pipette. By practising and drawing the model in different poses, we learned how to capture details of the body form while coordinating with the lighting. This activity is truly an experience.
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Name: Naomi
Year Group: IB2
My CAS Project: Since the Michaelmas Term, I have participated in the Chadsgrove Outreach programme. We design and carry out science experiments with the children of Chadsgrove School.
A particular memory of this activity was when my partner and I hosted our own demo experiment for the students; it was on the Digestive System. It was messy but extremely fun, and the Chadsgrove students seemed to enjoy it the interactivity.
I have made friends from Chadsgrove and I love getting together with them to learn some science.
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Name: Rita
Year Group: IB2
My CAS Project: This week at athletics, I practiced long and triple jump, focusing specifically on my technique. For long jump, we tried some run up exercises, making sure I had a good run-up landing on the line every time, and then moving on to technique. We worked on specific exercises such as placing an elevated target on the line to give our jumps more height. Then, we focused on the movement of our arms to help bring us forward. At first, my personal best (PB) was 4.06m and now, after 5 months of work, my PB is 4.52m. If I keep improving this skill, I will hopefully be selected for the long-jump team in the Summer Term. This will allow me to make use of my newly attained skills, as well as learn from other competitors and perform under stress.
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Name: Naomi
Year Group: IB1
My CAS Project: I am a music helper for the Prep School pupils - it is a wonderful and educating experience, especially assisting the students in learning songs. We rehearse each song and then join up with a mini band to put it all together. I have been able to make song suggestions, and it became so successful that we were able to perform at a School concert.
For my second CAS Project, I joined the Bromsgrove Service Blog, where I write blogs on the various Service activities. Two weeks ago, I visited the Young Archivists' activity and a week later, I wrote a blog about it. You can read about it here.
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Name: Mikayla
Year Group: IB2
My CAS Project: I decided to spread awareness of a very sensitive topic, mental health. As part of my CAS Project, I created a series of videos to educate people about some of the uncontrollable symptoms of mental health. This allows for a more understanding community and enables those who suffer from these symptoms to feel more welcome.
I love creating content, whether it’s taking photos or creating videos. I’ve been posting videos on TikTok for just over a year and I’ve been fortunate to gather a following of 80,000. This for me was my easiest resource to use to create awareness, as the message reaches lots of people. I was pleasantly surprised when a few of my videos went viral, with one even reaching 1.1 million views. You can watch a selection of the recordings here.
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To read more about CAS from a pupil perspective, please click the links on the left hand side, or view them here:
Henry's CAS Story
Marie's CAS Story