Community Action Services at Work
Written by Lenard Murray
Executive Head of Schools
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King.
At SIS Group of Schools our Mission states; To spark curiosity and inquiry while developing values and 21st century skills. We prioritise learners and personalise learning “to make the world a better place.” We believe that by succeeding with the first part of our mission then our students will naturally grow up to be global citizens committed to making our world a better place.
By getting students involved we can help our communities in many ways. Community service isn’t about only helping the impoverished. Helping the less fortunate is a good virtue but there are also many things to be done in the community and people who need our help as well. We need to recognize all areas and do what we can to establish service in as many ways as possible and involve students in this from a very young age, so later is becomes second nature.
CAS (Creativity Action Services) is prevalent in SIS Junior Colleges for IB and Cambridge A level as well. CAS enables students to improve their personal and interpersonal development by learning by experience. It provides opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others, promoting a sense of attainment and pleasure from their work. At the same time, CAS is an important neutralization of academic pressures.
A good CAS programme should have rigour, be gratifying and take students on a journey which they can reflect upon. Each student begins at a different point, and consequently will have different targets and requirements. Nevertheless, for many, involvement in CAS activities can be extremely rewarding and life changing. When students get a taste of what it feels like to do social service at a young age, it usually is something that they will be involved in for the rest of their lives.
Over the years SIS students have been deeply involved in helping the community, each school doing different but all dedicated in acts of kindness and delivering support. From Medical Missions to building homes for Habitat for Humanity, SIS students have shown the commitment to help others. Collaboration between SIS schools and students is also key. By different SIS schools joining forces, students, teachers, leaders and parents were able to use the power of the group to collaborate and help on a larger scale for the tsunami in Ache and last year the devastating earthquake in Palu. SIS Students are always at the forefront to ensure that our community service is active and succeeds in its endeavours.
Please read further on the benefits of students being involved in community service.
