Plan a CAS experience with a real purpose
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| service/ˈsɜːvɪs/ | 服务 | fú wù |
| challenge/ˈtʃælɪndʒ/ | 挑战 | tiǎo zhàn |
Begin with a need
- A neighbourhood group asks for help restoring a neglected garden. Ask the group what is useful before designing an activity for them.
- A service 服务 experience should respond to a real need. Taking a photograph beside the garden is not the same as making a contribution.
What should happen before planning the garden project?
Service begins with understanding a genuine need and working with those affected.
Connect the strands
- Creativity can involve designing signs or planning a workshop. Activity can involve sustained physical effort appropriate to the participant. Service involves work with others for community benefit.
- An experience may connect more than one strand. Explain what you actually do rather than attaching a label only to fill a record.
Writing the word “creativity” on a record proves that an experience develops creativity.
The record must explain the activity and learning, not just assign a label.
Set a useful aim
- Agree on an achievable aim, such as preparing two safe planting beds with the group. Identify responsibilities, tools, time and the support you need.
- Discuss permission and safety with your CAS coordinator. Check who will maintain the beds when your part of the work ends.
Plan evidence of learning
- Keep a short record of decisions, feedback and changes. Evidence may include a plan, a participant’s response or a revised design; photographs alone may not show learning.
- Identify a challenge 挑战 that could develop your skills. Explain how you will notice progress instead of promising success before starting.
Which record best shows learning?
The sequence shows decisions, response to feedback and development.
Work with people, not around them
- Listen when the group’s priorities differ from yours. Change the plan if the people using the garden identify a better need.
- Confirm the current CAS requirements with your coordinator. This is planning practice; it does not approve an experience or certify completion.
Finishing this online lesson approves a student’s CAS experience.
Approval and completion decisions belong to the school’s CAS process.
Match each term to its role in this lesson.
The distinctions help you explain your decisions clearly.
Which actions support a purposeful experience?
Choose actions supported by the evidence and the purpose of the task; reject shortcuts that hide limitations or invent information.
The group asks for accessible signs rather than more planting beds. Revising the plan to design clear signs demonstrates listening and can connect creativity with service.
Completing an online quiz does not approve an experience or certify a CAS requirement.
Start with a genuine need, agree an achievable purpose, plan safely and record evidence of learning with the people affected by the work.