Service Learning

ASL’s service learning program provides students with invaluable opportunities to learn and grow by taking considered and consequential action in our community.

Our program is greatly enriched by our outstanding connections with our local community partners. These links give our students the opportunity to move beyond ASL and connect with and learn from the broader London community.

Service learning is integral to our core values, offering opportunities that cultivate respect for diversity, inspire social responsibility, encourage kindness, promote integrity, and empower our students to have the courage to act.

Projects are driven by our students’ curiosity about the world in which we live, and draw upon their interests, talents, determination and sense of justice. The program enriches every aspect of the School, extending learning both within and beyond the curriculum.

FAQs

How is service learning different from community service?

Community service is outcome oriented—the primary goal is to contribute to the local community, whether by tutoring children or clearing garden waste. Many ASL community service projects are organized by the PCA Community Service Committee.

Service learning develops students’ skills and understanding through engaging in an experiential educational project. The emphasis is on the learning process, not the end result.

Student-centered work encapsulates “The Five Stages of Service Learning,” outlined by Cathryn Berger Kaye:

• Inventory and investigation
• Preparation and planning
• Action
• Reflection
• Demonstration

ASL students are given multiple opportunities to engage in these five stages of learning.

If students already have after-school commitments, can they still get involved?

Most service learning in the Lower and Middle schools is integrated into the curriculum. In the High School, the core of the program takes place after school, although there are a number of school-based projects organized during the school day. For more details, visit the service learning leadership opportunities by division on the left.

How does ASL choose its community partners?

We have a protocol that guides our decisions regarding potential partner organizations. For more information, members of our school community should contact our service learning team.