CAS - harmony day
Primary School celebrated Harmony Day with an assembly and as part of the CAS programme the Year 11 students hosted a very popular fundraiser selling delicious cakes and beautiful Harmony Day bracelets with the generous donations going to a Girl & her world, our school's chosen charity.
Thank you so much to Mungo, Rosa, Orlando, Cedric, Lina, and Emma from Year 11 for their hard work and dedication and a very special thank you goes to Mungo's mum and aunt who baked the amazing cupcakes and beaded the lovely bracelets.
The GISS Kiosk also helped celebrate Harmony Day and treated us to an incredible spread of dishes from around the world, adding flavour to our festivities!
We continue to embrace cultural diversity at GISS.
Hello everyone, We are the Harmony Day Group and first and foremost we would like to thank everyone for their donations. We were able to raise over $550 for a Girl & her world. These funds will be donated directly to support girls in Fiji who need financial support to go to school. Once again many thanks. From, Mungo, Orlando, Cedric, Rosa, Larissa, Lina, Emma
Die Grundschule feierte den Harmony Day mit einem Zusammenkommen in der Sporthalle und als Teil des CAS Programmes veranstalteten die SchülerInnen der 11. Klasse eine sehr beliebte Spendenaktion, bei der sie leckere Kuchen und tolle Armbänder zum Harmony Day verkauften. Die großzügigen Spenden gingen an die von unserer Schule ausgewählte Wohltätigkeitsorganisation, a Girl & her world.
Vielen Dank an Mungo, Rosa, Orlando, Cedric, Lina und Emma aus der 11. Klasse für ihre harte Arbeit und ihr Engagement und ein ganz besonderes Dankeschön geht an Mungos Mama und Tante, die die tollen Cupcakes gebacken und die schönen Armbänder aufgezogen haben.
Der GISS-Kiosk half auch bei der Harmony Day Feier und verwöhnte uns mit einer tollen Auswahl an Gerichten aus der ganzen Welt, die unseren Feierlichkeiten noch mehr Geschmack verliehen!
Wir begrüßen weiterhin kulturelle Vielfalt an der GISS.
Year 11 study german b
In Year 11 German B is taught in a combined class of SL (Standard Level) and HL (High Level).
For this particular lesson the HL students had prepared a PowerPoint presentation on one of our core topics: Health and Wellbeing. There were many suggestions and discussions on how best to cope with stress and wellbeing in the IB.
The SL students listened carefully and were encouraged to ask questions on the content of the presentation.
TOK (THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE)
Our Co2024 have begun writing their final assessment for their ToK course, the ToK Essay. Students must choose one of the 6 set titles on which to write their essay of 1600 words.
Working in pairs and groups, our first ToK Essay workshop was designed to brainstorm and unpack each essay title to focus and make visible their thinking, to ponder which title to choose.
Over the term break, our Yr12s will be busy completing their essay planning and outline sheets, for drafting to begin in Term 2. We aim to have our ToK Essay completed by the end of Semester 1.
- Does our responsibility to acquire knowledge vary according to the area of knowledge? Discuss with reference to history and one other area of knowledge.
- In the production of knowledge, is ingenuity always needed but never enought? Discuss with reference to mathematics and one other area of knowledge.
- How might it benefit an area of knowledge to sever ties with its past? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge
- To what extent do you agree that there is no significant difference between hypothesis and speculation? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and one other area of knowledge.
- In the production of knoweldge, are we too quick to dismiss anomalies? Discuss with the reference to two areas of knowledge.
- In the pursuit of knowledge, what is gained by the artist adopting the lens of the scientist and the scientist adopting the lens of the artist? Discuss with reference to the arts and natural sciences.
We've powered through our mid-term assessments and Term 1 learning, ready to complete our EE over the Autumn Break, and our IAs throughout next term.
Sitting practice papers for our mid-terms is a good reminder of the approach and style of IB exam questions, and the assessment criteria and expectations to score top marks.
Self and peer assessment helps us engage more fully with the marking keys and criteria, which helps us to improve our exam performance. (Yr12 English B)
Annie Thomson
Head of IB
mid-term assessments - making it real
The Creativity, Activity, Service Program is one of the core components of the IB Diploma Program.
All IB students have to be involved in creative, physical and service experiences, and projects in a local, national or international context for at least 18 months. The CAS Program is about the education of the IB students beyond the classroom and the emphasis is on learning by doing.
It encourages students to share their energies and talents while developing awareness, concern, and the ability to work cooperatively with others.
We are planning to feature various experiences and projects in upcoming issues of the Gutenberg Post to provide insight to our school community what CAS Experiences and CAS Projects our IB students are involved with.
Ulrike Miehle, CAS Coordinator
CREATIVITY ACTIVITY SERVICE PROGRAM
This is just the case, for one of my many CAS activities. Every two weeks, I head down to Curl Curl Beach, to do voluntary lifeguarding, in order to fulfil two of these strands: Activity and Service. It is only because of the CAS program, that I had the initiative to at first even become a lifeguard, but now I love it and look forward to it.
This activity in particular has helped me develop and change in so many ways. Firstly, it fosters a strong sense of responsibility, as lifeguards are entrusted with the lives and well-being of others. Furthermore, it requires quick decisive action in emergency situations, which have allowed my critical thinking and problem-solving skills to grow exponentially. Lifeguards must also work in a team, which furthers my communication and social skills, as during dire situations, it is vital that team members relay information to one another effectively, an ability that is vital in the IB program.
These skills, from one activity alone, have set the foundation and groundwork for who I am today, and have changed the trajectory of my life for the better. I have grown as a person since I started lifeguarding, and take these skills into my everyday life, using them as tools to carve myself a better future. And without CAS, it would not have been possible.
Hey, my name is Richard, and I am an International Baccalaureate or IB student at GISS. The IB diploma program is deeply fulfilling and even fun to do, but can be very intense at times, which may lead to me feeling a bit stressed.
Therefore, an important component of the program exists, called CAS. This light at the end of my sometimes dreary tunnel is an acronym for what it involves, Creativity, Activity, and Service. Students in the IB must partake in activities, which involve at least one of these strands of CAS.
Throughout the IB, students must participate in activities that contain at least one of each strand, while also writing reflections on these activities which serve as the evidence to the students’ involvement in the activity. CAS is extremely important, as it allows students to destress themselves, but also allows them to learn some skills and lessons that may carry them further through life, while also building character.
