From the Head of School

The IB Core “I didn’t want to do it, but now that I did, I am really glad of the experience” was the verdict on the CAS experience from one of our Grade 12s. In fact, any one of them could have said the same thing. For those not fluent in IB jargon, CAS stands for Creativity, Activity, Service and is part of the core of the IB Diploma. Students are not graded for it, but must demonstrate engagement and reflection to qualify for their full diploma. For some, being asked to put so much effort into activities outside the classroom focusing on creativity, wellbeing and social awareness feels like a troublesome distraction. They would rather be getting on with what they feel is the real business of school: academic study. And that can be equally true of the other parts of the Core - Theory of Knowledge (ToK for those in the know!) which asks students how we know what we claim to know and to explore diverse ways of thinking - and the Extended Essay (EE), an independent research project of thousands of words. But all the students, with support from their teachers, manage these demands, and come out the other end, as this week’s ‘Core Exhibition’ demonstrated. One described ToK as “a crash course in thinking about thinking”, another observed that “it alters a person’s way of thinking”. Students appreciated CAS (in retrospect, of course!) because it “challenged [them] to try new things” and experience “planning events”. They talked about the collaborative skills they developed. In completing the Extended Essay, they learnt that “planning and research are more important than the actual writing.” For most students that don’t get these experiences until university or in some cases until they leave education altogether. It is no surprise that universities and employers consistently rate an IB education so highly. More importantly are the many students who return to ISA after a year or more at university to tell us how useful it has been to them. Sometimes you only appreciate things in retrospect.

Jane in Grade 12 explaining to Toby in Grade 11 the benefits of the IB Core