Community & Service

The IST school philosophy places great emphasis on the importance of our local and global community.  In addition, as part of the IB curriculum, all students are regularly involved in a range of community and service activities which are coordinated by the NPK-12 Community and Service Coordinator. 

Elementary School

International education must extend beyond intellectual attainment to include not only responsible attitudes but also thoughtful and appropriate action. IST, like all international schools, aims to meet the challenge of offering all learners the opportunity and the power to choose their actions, to act, and to reflect on these actions in order to make a difference in and to the world.

Community and service in the elementary school does not have to be grandiose, and begins at the most immediate and basic level: in the children’s families, in their classrooms, in the hallways and playgrounds. Children at IST are encouraged to exercise their own initiative in taking responsibility for their actions, and, especially for younger children, it is grounded in their own concrete experience. Teachers provide appropriate support in order to facilitate student efforts and provide alternatives and choices for them as they seek to make a positive difference in their world.

Secondary School

Community and service plays a central role in the Secondary School curriculum.  Students are taught to develop their skills of researching, planning, implementing and evaluating project work within the curriculum.  Student-led initiatives like Teen Acts for AIDS and Roots and Shoots are also encouraged.

IB MYP Community and Service
MYP students at IST have five Areas of Interaction through which their curriculum is delivered, one of which is Community and Service.  The goal of the Community and Service Area of Interaction is to help students answer these questions:

How do we live in relation to each other?
How can I contribute to the community?
How can I help others?

By answering these questions students learn about themselves and the communities in which they are members. 

IB Diploma Creativity, Action & Service (CAS)
The spirit of Community and Service is continued in the IB Diploma program through Creativity, Action, Service program which forms a core component for grades 11 and 12.  The aims of the CAS program are to develop:

• An appreciation of the potential of the human mind and spirit
  
  
• Knowledge, skills and understandings
  
  
• An awareness of humanitarian issues across the world
  
  
• A recognition that education imposes lifelong ethical responsibilities
  
  
• A willingness to inquire and an enjoyment of discovery
  
  
• Confidence in one’s ability to initiate change, both individually and collaboratively
  
  
• Autonomy and self-reliance
  
  
• An appreciation of one’s own and others’ talents.