Puzzles, games and puzzle hunts · Maths CAS idea
Strategy game afternoons for a community centre
ServiceProject-ready
Run regular strategy board game afternoons at a community centre or care home, playing alongside residents or members.
Where the maths comes in
Strategy, probability and teaching rules clearly.
Which CAS strand it fits
- Service: Unpaid, voluntary work with others that also has a learning benefit for you.
Your CAS coordinator decides how an experience counts at your school. Strand summaries are provisional (our words, being checked).
How to run it
- Arrange the partnership through your CAS coordinator.
- Ask the centre which games and times suit people.
- Attend regularly with a small team.
- Ask staff and members how it is going.
This can grow into a CAS project if your CAS coordinator agrees: see planning a maths CAS project.
How to evidence it
- Attendance log
- Notes after each visit
- Staff feedback
Date everything and keep it in your school's CAS portfolio as you go. More on what counts as evidence.
Reflection prompts
Questions to think about, not answers to copy. Write your reflections in your own words, in whatever form your school accepts.
- What did you learn from the people you played with?
- How did the sessions change over the months?
- What did you do when someone found a game hard?
Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show
- Commitment and perseverance. When did you feel like stopping, and what kept you going? What does your record of sessions or meetings show about how regularly you took part?
- Collaboration. What did someone else bring that you could not have done alone? Describe a disagreement or a mix-up in the team. How was it resolved?
- Global significance. How does the local need you worked on connect to a wider issue? What did you learn about that issue that you did not know before?
Whether you meet an outcome depends on what you actually do and reflect on, not on the idea. Outcome labels are our short summaries, being checked.
Safety and ethics
- Follow the centre's volunteer and safeguarding rules; go as a group.
Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.
For puzzle ideas to adapt (never copy), browse competition maths.