At Questfield, we believe that giving back to the community is an important part of education. Our Service-Learning program provides opportunities for students to connect their classroom learning to real-world issues. Through service learning, students learn the importance of civic engagement and social responsibility.
Questfield is officially part of the international schools network Central and Eastern European Network of Service Learning Schools and of CLAYSS. The network includes schools from many countries in our region and its objective is to promote the service learning principles, to encourage involvement in the community and to correlate school`s involvement with cross-curricular learning objectives, through a multi-disciplinary approach. Our school`s adherence to CLAYSS and to CEEN SL promotes collaboration, sharing of best practices and common projects. It is a first step that our school has taken into becoming an active actor of the international schools community.
Let`s Quester Bloom
Service Learning Project, 2022-2023
The Service Learning project of this academic year is called “Let’s Quester Bloom.” Students began by drafting a survey on what they could do to improve their campus, then identified areas that needed improvement and used their creativity to envision how they wanted those areas to look.
In Arts class, they painted these areas according to their imagination and researched which plants and flowers would be most suitable.
After this research and planning stage, they involved community members, such as parents and partners, to actually carry out the improvements. This stage also involves scheduling an appointment with the Mayor to ask for approval of planting the sidewalks.
The project’s objectives were integrated into subjects such as Arts, ICT, Leadership, Global Perspectives, and Science.
United through Childhood Games
Service Learning Project, 2021-2022
Awarded 1st Place in the in the National Service Learning Awards
The initiative “United for childhood games” was a part of the Service Learning project “Educate the right kind of leaders,” which aimed to support and assist the families of Ukrainian refugees.
We started incorporating Service Learning concepts and methodology when the children identified a need in our community, specifically with the Ukrainian refugee situation. Our students were involved as leaders in the activities and we used childhood games as a tool to connect Romanian and Ukrainian students. This expanded the volunteering services already being provided by humanitarian associations and our parent community, with students from Kindergarten, Primary, and Middle School participating.
During our Service Learning meetings, we recognized the importance of introducing this concept at a young age and as part of a larger project to assist Ukrainian refugees. Together with the students, we identified specific activities that could benefit both communities and create an educational environment based on familiar activities such as games, dances, traditions, habits, and school rules.
Our methodology was based on learning through games and projects, and the children came up with the idea of using self-regulation games for a quick integration of the Ukrainian children. Given that at the age of 5-6s, children are developing through games and movement, we opened a discussion about the games they played with their families.
Our target was to offer emotional support to both Romanian and Ukrainian children through activities organized by the 5-6s Kg Group and the Student Leadership Team. Some of the games proposed by the children included Hopscotch to help them learn the language and numbers, and “Elasticul” (the elastic band) which included a lot of movement, teamwork, and attention skills.
After discussing with the parents of the Ukrainian students who were registered at our school, we realized that their true need was not financial or material assistance, but to make friends and feel integrated in the new environment. Additionally, to find common interests with our students and community and eventually create a bond and sense of belonging. Based on this specific need, we expanded our activities to the larger community of Ukrainian refugees, whose feedback was very positive. They appreciated the fact that the project was based on a real need and not just an assumption. This helped them feel more connected and supported by the community.
