Creativity: exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or performance
Activity: physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle
Service: collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need
The CAS programme formally begins at the start of the Diploma Programme and continues regularly, ideally on a weekly basis, for at least 18 months with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity, and service.
All CAS students are expected to maintain and complete a CAS portfolio as evidence of their engagement with CAS. The CAS portfolio is a collection of evidence that showcases CAS experiences and for student reflections; it is not formally assessed.
Completion of CAS is based on student achievement of the seven CAS learning outcomes. Through their CAS portfolio, students provide the school with evidence demonstrating achievement of each learning outcome.
Students engage in CAS experiences involving one or more of the three CAS strands. A CAS experience can be a single event or may be an extended series of events.
Further, students undertake a CAS project of at least one month’s duration that challenges students to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making. The CAS project can address any single strand of CAS, or combine two or all three strands.
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.
Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, of which some are more developed than others.
LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skills may be shown through experiences that the student has not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in an established area.
LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience. This may be accomplished in collaboration with other participants. Students may show their knowledge and awareness by building on a previous experience, or by launching a new idea or process
LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Students demonstrate regular involvement and active engagement in CAS
LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
Students are able to identify and demonstrate their understanding of global issues, make responsible decisions, and take appropriate action in response to the issue either locally, nationally, or internationally.
LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.
Jennifer Peters, NBCT
SHS IB CAS Coordinator
Sumner High School, Sumner WA 98390
jennifer_peters@sumnersd.org