BISS Goes to Portugal!

BISS Year 13 CAS students

An essential part of the IBDP, CAS (creativity, activity, service) allows students to grow personally and socially through their engagement of experiential learning. Through a myriad of initiatives, CAS at BISS creates chances for self-direction and teamwork, promoting a sense of achievement and enjoyment in the students’ activities. It also helps counterbalance the academic demands of the Diploma Programme.

This school year, our Year 13 students recently travelled to Lisbon, Portugal for their CAS service trip. They spent two days working at Jardins do Bombarda, a project led by a group of artists who are seeking to redevelop a former psychiatric hospital to be used as a space where the community can meet and build relationships. Students carried out a variety of tasks there, including varnishing, painting, gardening and designing an awareness campaign. Later in the week, they visited A Avó Veio Trabalhar - ( Grandma Came To Work), which is an inter-generational creative hub, where elderly women meet to take part in creative projects.

Our students had a wonderful trip, bonding with each other and with their staff chaperones. Their experience of service in a foreign country also reaps the benefits of developing global awareness, enhancing teamwork and problem-solving skills, promoting resilience and adaptability outside of their comfort zones and, perhaps most importantly, developing a sense of responsibility towards the well-being of the world.