CAS+Expectations

A good CAS program should be both challenging and enjoyable, a personal journey of self‑discovery. Each individual student has a different starting point, and therefore different goals and needs, but for many their CAS activities include experiences that are profound and life‑changing.

For student development to occur, CAS should involve:

• real, purposeful activities, with significant outcomes

• personal challenge—tasks must extend the student and be achievable in scope

• thoughtful consideration, such as planning, reviewing progress, reporting

• reflection on outcomes and personal learning.

All proposed CAS activities need to meet these four criteria. It is also essential that they do not replicate other parts of the student’s Diploma Program work. Concurrency of learning is important in the Diploma Program.. Therefore, CAS activities should continue on a regular basis for as long as possible throughout the program, and certainly for at least 18 months.

Successful completion of CAS is a requirement for the award of the IB diploma. CAS is not formally assessed but students need to document their activities and provide evidence that they have achieved eight key learning outcomes. This is regularly monitored by their CAS Advisors and the CAS Coordinator at school. If a student is failing to meet the goals, and outcomes that they set out to in their activities, and they are not reflecting every other week for each activity and or the quality of their reflections is poor, then students will not easrn hours for this activity and they will need to meet with the CAS Coordinator to plan how they can meet the outcomes and goals in another activity.

Students must complete at least 50 hours in each off the CAS areas for a MINIMUM total of 150 hours. Students are required to keep reflecting on their CAS activities up until March of their second year so, most students should go well beyond their minimum.

A school’s CAS program is regularly monitored by the relevant regional office.