There is no such thing as CAS points!

It is great that all the CAS interviews are done for the first round now.  Some of you have some really great plans - others are still thinking about what you will do for some strands.  The important thing to do now is to start adding to your portfolio in MB.  Make sure you add evidence as you go along and reflections when needed.  Remember - there can never be too much evidence.  Reflections should be done at meaningful moments - 2 - 3 times a term for longer term experiences.  

Please do keep in mind that:

There is no such thing as CAS points!

and we do not count hours.  That is why it is important that you have a good CAS portfolio with: 

• evidence of participation in CAS experiences in the 3 strands, 
• quality reflections
• evidence of having met the 7 learning outcomes
• a project documented using the CAS stages (must be an experience of longer than a month)
• evidence of participation in CAS continually over 18 months

Personal Profiles

You should have received a message via google classroom to download your personal profile as a pdf and upload it onto your CAS portfolio under 'documents'

Please make sure to do this before the 8th October.

There are many activities being organised by people in the class - look out for sign up sheets and pay attention to announcements!  if you wish to send a message about something you are organising please speak to me - I can publish it here or send a message on MB.

Some ideas

Book Reviews

Ms Larsson is looking for people who are interested in writing reviews for books in the school library.  Contact her if you are interested in this creative experience. 

Rhino March

Every year in October, there is an annual march for Elephants and Rhinos organised worldwide.  In Stockholm the group that organises this march is Försvara Elefanterna.  This year they are meeting up at Mariatorget at 11 am on October 7th to give out information about Elephants and Rhinos. Everyone is welcome to support the cause.  The rhino group will make posters/signs.

Walk for Freedom

You are probably aware that human trafficking is a major issue right now that has grown due to the current world affairs as you are aware. A21 is an non-profit organisation working towards ending human trafficking around the world.This group is organising a walk on Saturday October 14 at 13.00 starting at Humlegården.  See this message from Ms Thompson who is a member of this organisation:

As part of the organisation, I would really like to encourage you to take part in the annual Walk for Freedom that will take place in Stockholm, as well as around 66 cities around the world. Saturday, October 14, at 13.00 starting at Humlegården. It is free to sign up and walk, but you can donate to the organisation by buying the black t.shirt with the logo, Walk for Freedom where all profit goes towards abolishing slavery. I would love for as many SIS staff, parents and students to take part in this walk that makes a difference to those caught in slavery around the world. 

Sign up using either of these links:

http://www.a21.org/content/walk-for-freedom/go8h3c

http://www.a21.org/event-search.php#filter-anchor

Film Festival
Don't forget to send in your application if you want to volunteer for the Stockholm film festival. See details here in Swedish and here in English.  It is November 8th to 19th.

Looking for more ideas?

Try voluntärbyrån

It is great that so many people are involved with hemlösa.se giving out food to homeless people in the mornings.  If you are unable to make it but would like to be involved in a similar project there is a group called Stockholm's Street Angels who meet up on Sunday afternoons to give out food.

Great work this week

Well done to William, Raman and Marc who turned up at 10am on Sunday to play football with a group of refugees from Afghanistan.

Getting experiences - beyond the school

It is great to see that many of you have started getting involved in groups in school and are even in the process of starting new groups.  These are a good way to gain some experience, but in order to have a CAS portfolio that will really help you  get into the further studies/work you should have experiences that take you beyond the school.

A good place to look for these is: https://www.volontarbyran.org

Even though most of  the opportunities here are written in Swedish it is possible for people who don't speak Swedish to apply.  I will try to publish a few of the most appropriate examples when I see them - but you can also look yourself.

Here are a couple from  this week:


Uppsala Photo Festival - 21st to 24th of Sept
Uppsala is just a train ride away.  They need volunteers to work at this event and have even published the details in English!  Check it out here and apply for a great service experience.  Really great chance to meet photographers from all around the world.

Help in the Red Cross Shop
The Red Cross has a shop at Hornstull and they need volunteers.  A good way to practice a little Swedish - we have had non-Swedish speakers volunteer for this previously.

Other opportunities

Stockholm Film Festival
It has become a bit of a tradition for students at SIS to help out at this exciting film festival in Stockholm.  Great for film enthusiasts as you get to see the films for free if you do enough shifts!   They even have the information in English on their webpage

Individual Interviews

I am currently working on a schedule for the individual interviews.  They will be starting next week on Weds if all goes to plan.  I will send the times out on MB and put a copy on the pink notice board. 

Projects

I will also run a session on the project during advisory on the 18th of September.  I expect all students to have started their project this term.  Remember,  you must have at least one project and it:

• must be done in collaboration with someone else,
• should be planned by you and your fellow group members, 
• needs to take more than a month.  
• can be any or a combination of the strands - creativity, activity and service.   
• documented using the  CAS stages document.  You can find the document for recording the stages on the pages on the right - Links to CAS documents.  It is a view only document so you will need to take a copy in order to edit.

Current opportunities

It was great to hear from the grade 12s about the CAS they have been doing over the last year.  Here is a summary of the information with dates and contact people.


Amnesty International Group - Marie L and Sophie C - meet in C10 - Monday break

Student newspaper - Sophie B and others - meet on Weds at 15.30 in C5. You can see the newspaper at -  https://thequirkyquibbler.com/

MUN  - model united nations - Julia V - meetings Tuesday break C5







Invisible People - facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/InvicibleC/
Johan V, Wonsik K Hyung Min C
Speak to them if you are interested



Music group - Sophie C and Elise J - speak to them if you are interested will meet Friday break.  Sign up on the list on the pink board

Rhino group - meetings on Tuesdays break in C10
Watch one of the videos here.  This group is also in the process of making a book and will need people to help sell and market











Giving out food to homeless people in the mornings - Nicolas L - speak to him



Nepal Group - Giordan or Tess in grade 11- speak to them if you are interested - look out for meeting times






Wild Life group - this is a new group - see the posters. Friday 25 August in C5  morning break
Speak to Amelia H, Dorothy 



Do you speak Swedish and want to work with refugees?  
Mondays and Wednesdays from 18.00 to 20.00 FFT holds homework help sessions for refugees on Södermalm.  Speak to Ms Smith if you are interested.  There are also other times and places you can help - see me if you are interested.  We even have a group of students that comes to school on Thursday afternoons.  At the moment Lucas M, Victor S and Johan V currently run this, but will be looking for replacements later in the school year.  You can speak to them or to me if you are interested.


Student Council -meetings in Weds break in C5

Film club - Thursday break in C5.  Speak to Salvador D, Jacob A.

PS if you can't watch the videos on chrome - try Safari!

Welcome Students of 2017 - 2019

Welcome to CAS 2017 - 19.  I am sure you are all going to have some wonderful and educational experiences as part of CAS and I look forward to meeting you all and discussing your ideas.

On this blog, I will publish regular updates about CAS opportunities as well as good examples of CAS.  

You can find all the important documents and links on the pages at the side.  This includes:

•  an electronic version of the CAS handbook
• the CAS profile form (you need to take a copy if you wish to edit it), 
• the CAS stages document that you need for projects (once again, take a copy so you can edit)
• the letter for experience supervisors - this is a Pdf so just download a copy.

Over the next few weeks we will be learning more about what CAS involves and how you can develop your CAS portfolio.  Most of this will take place during advisory time.

Everyone will be called to an initial CAS interview in September/October.  You will be expected to have completed your CAS profile form and uploaded it on to ManageBac under documents on your CAS portfolio.

You can read posts from previous years to see what other students have done - just note that posts older than August 2017 refer to an earlier version of the CAS guide.

I am looking forward to working with you all and hope that you will find CAS and enjoyable and enriching part of your IB Diploma Programme. 


CAS is about getting out there and learning by doing.  There are opportunities close by - you just have to keep your eyes open!

CAS is Complete

Does your CAS portfolio look like this?
That means you have completed your CAS. Congratulations!!!!!

Some of you still have a couple of small things to fix and I am sure you will do that this week.  if they are not marked complete by next week, you will be called for an interview during the study week.  Once I see everything is in order I click the complete box on my page and the above image appears on yours.  That means that you can take a cat nap.

My cat - a CAS blog always needs a cat

It has been great to meet with all of you and talk about what you have done for CAS.  There has been such a wide range of experiences and many challenges faced by students over the CAS period making it hard for me to choose just one person for the CAS award.  In the end, I have chosen more than one.  The awards will be announced at the Graduation Ceremony.

Here are some the experiences that this year graduates have completed:

• Directed a play
• Started a film club
• Made several films
• Organised collections for refugees and helped with a refugee party
• Ran campaigns for Amnesty International
• Held a fund raiser and participated in a march for Rhinos
• Made major contributions to MUN in Scandinavia
• Ran student council along with fundraising efforts for Nepal
• Wrote articles, and edited the student newspaper
• Volunteered for film festivals and sporting events in Stockholm
• Wrote blogs and took photos
• Made websites for charities
• Started a sports group
• Participated in school sports teams
• Performed musical items at various concerts/events and made music recordings and wrote lyrics
• Produced a webpage for a charitable group
• Ran activities such as football, maths club  and story telling for younger children
• Gone to the gym, yoga and dance classes

I have certainly not covered them all.  It was a pleasure to hear all your reflections and thoughts about the IB learner profile.  It's been a great 2 years and you will all be missed - even if you will not miss my constant reminders!   I will send a CAS report to all of you once they are all complete.  Download it as you might find that it comes in use someday!  I have had students asking me for them years after they have finished so put it somewhere safe. Don't forget to unsubscribe from the blog for next year. And do well in your exams. 

And this final blog would not be complete without a corny blog.  I know that congratulations might be a bit early but this is such a great song.

Final CAS summaries

Here is another example of  a CAS summary reflections.

Almost there....

A short post this week as I have written a lot of comments on your portfolios.  I have removed the hour counters - if you were wondering what happened to that.  Hours are not what count but the quality of your CAS.  The hours were to help you keep track of how much time you spent.  In order to have a completed CAS portfolio you must have quality reflections for each of the outcomes, covering all of the strands.  Here are some pointers to help you write good reflections:

Describing memorable moments, obstacles, difficulties, successes. 
Expressing feelings. Show how you felt about your experiences. 
Generating ideas. Rethinking or re-examining choices. 
Asking questions. Questions about people, processes or issues

What do you perceive and notice? 
How do you feel being involved? 
What do you think and feel about the experience itself? 
What does the experience mean to you? 
What value does the experience have? 
What did you learn from this experience, and how might you apply this to your life more generally?

These were mentioned on previous post but there is a possibility that you missed that!!!

Don't write about how good you are but be critical - and make sure you mention what you have learned. Making mistakes and learning from them is valuable experience.

Great video.....