British School Manila students ready to Make a Difference in 2023

This month, international school students in Years 7-10 at the British School Manila will leave their classrooms to spend a week focussing on improving their own community and helping other communities across the Philippines. The week is one of the initiatives students experience as part of the school’s mission to develop students as “positive global citizens” who are willing to contribute to improving their world. 

During “Make A Difference Week”, students will focus on Service and Sustainability through activities on campus and further afield through day trips and residential trips supported by MAD Travel, a socially conscious tour operator that offers opportunities for participants to take different trips around the country and make a positive social impact, with focus on farmers, forests, indigenous peoples, and sustainability. Raf Dionisio, Co-Founder of MAD Travel, commented “Learning how the concepts of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals connect to real world situations and communities is a powerful experience and a great opportunity for students to identify on the ground opportunities to create a better future for people and the planet."

Students will go beyond the classroom and learn by taking part in activities including conservation and reforestation in Mount Purro and La Mesa Nature Reserves, where they will learn from indigenous groups about initiatives to protect and rebuild forest and water ecosystems and help with the ongoing projects. In Las Piñas - Parañaque Wetland Park, students will learn about the risks faced by this critically endangered yet crucially important habitat and help with clean-up efforts.

Other groups will learn about the lived experiences of marginalized communities by working with BSM’s Service and Sustainability partners Chosen Children Village, Stepping Stone Foundation, and Gawad Kalinga - Taguig Chapter, to understand their challenges and successes and support their current work. 

On campus, students will also be busy developing ideas to design more sustainable clothing and examining what waste the school generates and how it can be further reduced.

Michael Guinness, Senior School Service and Sustainability Curriculum Coordinator, commented “We really want our students to recognise their place in the world. Understanding both their socio-economic context and that of the communities they are working with should be powerful in contributing to making a difference in the world and in themselves”.

Make A Difference Week, which ran pre-pandemic and online during the pandemic, aims to focus on long-term solutions, enabling students to visit the same locations in future years to measure the impact of their actions, build connections with the communities there and become social advocates with a greater understanding of their place in the world and how to improve it.