The British School Manila continues partnership with One Million Lights, and CAS Week

On Monday 23rd May 2016, The British School Manila’s Year 4 students went on a visit to a rural community in Tagaytay to distribute 75 solar powered lights to 75 families. The visit had a notable effect on the students and staff who spent time with the community, donating one light each to a family.

The solar panel lights donated by BSM make a real difference to the lives of people living without electricity. The amazing fundraising efforts of our Year 4 students, parents and staff throughout the year should be congratulated. The students raised funds from a stall they ran during the BSM Fete in May, as well as designing, making and selling Mother's Day cards. It is wonderful to see all of the hard work result in such a life-changing contribution.

Year 4’s activity is part of the BSM Service Learning programme and happens in the same week our International Baccalaureate students set out for Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) Week with the highlight on Bayanihan. The common aim of all of BSM Service Learning projects is to let our students engage with an issue of global importance and to plan and initiate a project to tackle this at a local level. Our students collaborated with a range of NGOs and charities, as well as community members; these were all committed and equal partners in the various endeavours. The range and diversity of the projects that our students were involved in last week was remarkable: building chicken coops, refurbishing computers, certificating adult education, modelling and developing interview techniques, engaging in art and drama workshops with elementary children and refurbishing a tired playroom for young children in hospital. The locations ranged from Alabang to Quezon City, from Tagaytay to La Union in the Ilocos Region, to BSM.
   
Results from the various projects underscore how the BSM student’s service learning goals are highly achievable and the truly life changing impact this can have on local communities. However it is not only the practical outcomes that we consider valuable, but also the partnerships and sense of community engendered by this BSM Service Learning initiative. The smiles, hugs and handshakes at the farewell moments were powerful; this experience will remain in the minds of many, for a long time.

It was indeed a privilege to see our students reach out to the local communities and work with external providers, seeking to understand local needs and empower local stakeholders to develop their own solutions.

Read about BSM Bayanihan initiative
Read about BSM partnership with One Million Lights
Read more of BSM community service activities
Read more about curriculum
Read more about The British School Manila

Everyone had fun at The British School Manila Annual Fete

The school was looking fantastic, the PTA and operations teams had worked all hours, our Raffle tickets sellers had given up on sleep and were ever present, the sun was beating down, the water iced for ‘dunk the teacher’ and our fantastic volunteers from all sections of our community were manning and organising stalls.

The British School Manila was again fully geared up to accommodate the hundreds of our extended community who joined us for the annual Fete – and boy no one was let down. Another wonderful event, entertaining our youngest to our older attendees with bouncy castles, tea rooms, paint ball, coconut shy, the list was endless.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all who helped on the day and especially the PTA who exemplified teamwork and did such a fantastic job (giving up hours of their time) to coordinate the programmes. The day was undoubtedly a major success on every level--funds were raised, fun was had, food and beverage consumed.

But most importantly, in my mind, we came together as a community, young and old, not only to enjoy the day but also to ensure that tradition that has been part of BSM for the last 39 years and 9 months continues into our 40th year. Our sense of community was both maintained and enhanced through the organisation of such a huge event and also enjoying the actual day.

"Bayanihan" the new approach at BSM’s service learning

The British School Manila is justifiably proud of its commitment to service learning.  The idea of developing students as global citizens is central to our vision and mission. We are looking for our students to leave us with skills that allow them to make sense of a rapidly changing world whilst also being able to contribute to making their world more peaceful, fair and sustainable.  

The Creativity Activity Service (CAS) programme is an integral part of the International Baccalaureate core programme and is in many ways the perfect realisation of the work we do with our older students. Our International Baccalaureate team recently completed the end of course CAS interviews with the current Year 13 cohort and it was clear to us that it was the service learning experiences that had the most resonance and impact upon the students’: personal, social, emotional and even moral development. The Year 13 students spoke eloquently and thoughtfully about their work with local schools, orphanages and hospitals.  They talked about the work they had done, the relationships they had formed and ethical implications of the work that they were undertaking. The depth of reflection in evidence was confirmed by how often the discussions centred on poverty, inequality and individual responsibility.

This year we have had the opportunity to remodel the CAS programme to create more of these moments of epiphany.  Our new approach, led expertly by Mr. Owen, is called “Bayanihan” from the Filipino word ‘bayan,’ which captures the spirit of community we see in Filipino culture and which we seek to mirror. The students have been encouraged to develop projects in line with their own passions and interests within broad categories such as ‘Health’, ‘Environment’ and ‘Education’.

The strategic developments this year were framed following a successful and insightful pilot last year led by Mr. Owen in Tagaytay. This venture presented a group of IB Business Management students with a problem - ‘How can they use their business acumen to help develop a sustainable income for a group of 16 mothers’? It was a privilege to observe how the students worked together to empower a group of local women with great ideas to become successful entrepreneurs.

The projects this year are incredibly diverse. We have groups preparing “baby boxes” for maternity hospitals, building chicken coops, certifying language skills for adult learners, developing hydroponics systems and fixing computers to improve education in a community.  The projects have many layers, with strong educational themes and all the projects focus on sustainability and the fostering of partnerships which we hope will be nurtured and maintained beyond CAS week in May.

One distinctive feature of the Bayanihan projects this year is the emphasis on independence; the projects will have staff mentors available but our students will be encouraged to take ownership, make decisions, assess risks and manage uncertainty as groups.  This takes us back to our BSM vision and mission; these experiences will equip our IB students with the ability to reflect, to be resilient in adversity and to thrive with challenge.  We look forward to sharing the outcomes with you later in the year. Written by Chris Jones, Secondary Deputy Head

British School Manila EYFS & KS1 Production presents "Christmas with the Aliens"

Last December 2015, The British School Manila was filled with Christmas cheer. They had a Christmas shop open all week for the children to buy their families and friends gifts for the holidays and the Main Hall was transformed into a festive theatre.

BSM began the celebrations on Thursday morning, 03 December 2015 with the EYFS and Key Stage 1 show ‘Christmas with the Aliens’ by Nikki Lewis. The traditional Christmas story is retold to some alien visitors who become stranded on earth and meet a group of schoolchildren rehearsing their Christmas play. This show was performed by Year 1 and 2 children after many weeks of rehearsals and lots of hard work. The children made the faculty and parents very proud with their fantastic acting and singing of great songs such as “Where am I?” and “A Star Kept Shining”.

The Nursery and Reception children were twinkling stars, dressed in spangly silver and gold. They entertained with their wonderful performances of the traditional Christmas Songs ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Little Donkey’ and the ever popular ‘FelizNavidad’.

This was a spectacular way to begin the festivities at BSM culminating in the rapturous applause at the finale, of their ever supportive community. BSM’s youngest children in school not only sang beautifully and looked amazing in their costumes but also delivered their lines with confidence and panache, testament to the practice and hard work put in by the students guided by their teachers to get to this level of performance. The EYFS and KS1 production reminded us all what Christmas is all about: bringing everyone together regardless of our differences.