Citizenship - What's it all about?

What are our identities and communities?

What rights should all children have?

How does local democracy work?

What is crime?

How can we make a difference in our communities?

How does the political system work in the UK?

How does the media affect us?

What is the law and how is it changed?

How can citizens bring about change?

Why was the struggle for the vote important today?

What can we do about global problems?

How is the UK governed?

Are people treated equally in UK society?

Why do people move around the world?

How can we manage money well?

Can digital democracy increase political participation?

How can young people play an active role in democracy?

How can we make a difference in society? Active citizenship project

Citizenship

Y7 Citizenship

Key Stage 3

Year 7

Active citizenship

THEME

UNIT

In this lesson, we will learn about our place in our communities, how we can be good neighbours and responsible citizens. We consider the different needs of a community and how these can be met.

What is a community?

﻿Hello, and welcome to Citizenship. My name's Mrs. White. And today we're going to be learning about communities. So let's get started with the lesson.

Before we go any further, make sure you've cleared an area, you've got somewhere to work, and so you can hear, there's no distractions. Grab yourself paper to make notes. You need pen and colours, as well, please. If you've got colours that would be great. And bring your enthusiastic learner head. We've all got those. Just sometimes they have a little rest at home. Just make sure you've got all those things that you need. So this is a lovely picture, isn't it? Kind of looks like a planet, or our planet, even. But it's a nice photo of a big community and we all live in communities that are similar to this. So wherever we are in the community, in the world, so we usually live in a community. Whether that community is static, so like this community here that are built up on the side of the cliff, probably built around fishing or something like that. Or maybe more mobile. Interestingly also a community built around fishing, these are Vietnamese boat people. And we all belong to those communities, so today we're going to learn about what actually makes a community, what is a good neighbour, what facilities should a community have. And then we're going to do a take away task at the end that I'd like you to do before next lesson. So let's have a look at communities, first of all. A community, for many, is about belonging. It's being part of the community that makes you feel like you belong, and it gives you an identity. So right in the middle of this is your identity. And then there's things that you are part of, so it might be your school, your place of worship, a sports team that you're in, or maybe youth group. Also your language, your political affiliations, your hobbies, your work, your age, your hometown, your interests in religions and beliefs, they all come together to actually create your identity. So you're part of all those different things that make you. Now what I'd like you to do is to do an exercise now. So you need to do this on a piece of paper, and I'd like you to draw your own diagram to show the different communities that you belong to. Make notes about each community you belong to. For example, are people your own age or lots of different ages. So I'd like you to do that and you can use whatever method you might want to do, so a spider diagram, or Venn diagrams, or maybe lists. It's up to you how you'd like to do that. But start the video again once you have finished. So have a look at what we did. I've got a model here for you to look at. Which communities do you belong to? And who's in that community? So this example, here, is one of my sons. He's a bit older now; he's 23. So he's got quite a few things that he's involved with and he's still involved with. So he's got school, his work, different places that he's worked, sport teams that he has got involved with, and that he does now, and school. He's obviously been to several different schools for university as well. So he's built up a wider community of different people that he belongs. And all of those things, that's his community. That's what makes him. Now not all of those people are interconnected. So for example the people he goes climbing with aren't necessarily the people that he went to primary school with. However, they are all still part of the communities that he belongs in. So let's have a look at neighbours now. The way we behave and interact in our communities affects everyone who lives there. How can we be a good neighbour? So think about where you live right now and the people who live around you, your nextdoor neighbours, people across the street, people in the flat above or below. The sort of people that you-- That are in your closer community, your neighbourhood. How can we be a good neighbour? So let's have a look at these four examples. Which example is a good neighbour? I'm going read each one, and I want you to decide which you think, which ones you think are examples of good neighbours. So let's have a look at the dark blue one. A good neighbour doesn't interfere and isn't noisy. They don't get cross when you play your music loud. Okay. Pink, a good neighbour does things for the local community and is friendly to others and new people who move in. Okay. So that's interesting. Light blue, a good neighbour is someone that can help. Apologies. A good neighbour is someone that you can call on if you need help. Okay, okay. A good neighbour, in the green, a good neighbour is someone who can borrow things from, who you can borrow things from and does not mind if you don't return it. So out of those four, which ones do you think are examples of good neighbours? Let's have a look. Of course, I've ringed them with red so that you can see. A good neighbour does things for the local community and is friendly to others and new people who move in. That's a good example. And the light blue, a good neighbour is someone that you can call on if you need help. Now the other two, the other one, you might think the dark blue one that they don't interfere when it's noisy, but then they're not complaining when you're noisy. So actually it doesn't quite work, does it? It's a very one-way relationship that way, that one. And the dark green, a good neighbour is someone who you can borrow things from and does not mind if you don't return them. That is quite, that's not very nice is it? It's like you're taking advantage of that person. So it's the good examples there are the two, are the two I've ringed. So let's have a look at the wider community and the facilities that are needed in that community. So what do the people in the community need, want, and like to have? Now you think of people from birth to death, you have to think of everybody from birth to death, and everyone in between when we consider what they require. So even mothers who are pregnant and expecting a baby have needs, as well as people who, unfortunately, have passed away. And everybody in between, throughout their whole lives, there's lots of things that communities need to live happily together and to have a good life. So we need to know the difference between a need, a want, and a like. So let's have a look at the differences between those three things. So the first one is a need, the things a person needs to survive and have a happy life. Their basic human rights, okay? So food, healthcare, education, shelter. For example I need clean water to drink. So these are essentials. Without these, you would not have a happy life. Now a want isn't necessary for survival, but it makes life a lot easier. So for example I want hot and cold water in my house so we can stay clean. I can manage as long as I have clean water, but I'd still have to boil water in a pan on the hob, and things like that. But actually having it, you know, coming to the tap in my house makes life a lot easier. So I'd want that. But the like is the luxury end of the scale. And if we could have it then it would be lovely, but it's not necessary. So for example, I would like an ensuite bathroom so I don't have to share with my sister. This sounds fair enough, doesn't it? But even if we don't need those things, but they are the extras. So a bit about the facilities that meet the needs of the people in the neighbourhood. So let's look at facilities first of all. We need transport, schools, shops, playground, maybe swimming pools, community centre, youth club. And safety needs of people, safety needs, safe to cross roads, maybe cycle lanes, safe pavements, streetlights, safe parks, and no derelict buildings. Services: doctors and health centres, library, recycling centre. And also the appearance of the neighbourhood, that can make you unhappy if your neighborhood's really scruffy and un-looked-after, unkempt. So clean and cared for environment with no litter issues, graffiti, or pollution problems. Those are important in your neighbourhood. Now I've got an exercise for you to do now. Thinking back to our needs, wants, and likes, which community facility do you think is a need, a want, or a like? I'd like you to copy down these two small tables. And in the spaces on the right-hand side of each example, I'd like you to write whether or not you think it's a need, or want, or a like. Please pause the video and restart it when you finish the activity. So let's have a look. Did you write the same answer as me? I'd like you to get a different colour pen so that you can make corrections as well, you can see the work that you've done and make corrections. So let's have a look. A doctor's surgery, well that's a need. Everybody's got a right to healthcare, so they need a doctor's surgery. A swimming pool, well that's a want. It's not luxury end. It's a really, really good way to keep fit, and it's important to learn how to swim for your safety. So I've got that as a want, but perhaps it's a need. That's quite interesting. A school is a need. And it's a need because everybody's got a right to education. And everybody's got that all the way through from preschool to 18 years old. And then you can go off to university to go and train, as well, maybe as an apprentice. So education is really important. That is a need. The youth club, now I've written want. But actually is a youth club more important than that? It's somewhere for young people where they can go, and be safe, and have fun with their friends, and have someone to call on for advice. Is that a need or a want? I'd like you to decide that. I've written it as a want but maybe it's not. Food shops, that's a need. We have to have somewhere we can buy food. A tram service, well tram service is a form of transport. It's a like to have. Perhaps we could have buses, electric buses and things like that, and public transport that we can move around easily with. But tram service, I put that as a like. A playground, every child has the right to play. That's one of the 10 children's rights, main children's rights. And so that's a need. And a daycare centre, and I'm thinking daycare centre for elderly people in this situation, and I think that is a want. But maybe people get to a stage where they, for them to have a happy life, they need the care. They need food. They need companionship. And maybe that's a need as well. So I want you to make decisions on those. It's not as black and white as it could be. Okay. Right, let's move on to the next slide. So this is what we've learned today. We've learned what makes a community and how we actually are part of lots of different communities. And that makes up our identity. We thought about what is a good neighbour. And we've also thought about what facilities a neighbourhood should have, and the needs, wants, and likes that that neighbourhood needs, and the things that they have, and the services they have, and the facilities that a neighbourhood has. So let's have a look at the take away task. This is something I'd like you to do for next lesson. So I'd like you to discuss with people at home, discuss what facilities are available in your local community to meet the needs of the people that live there. And I'd also like you to investigate what things do you like in your community? Everybody in your family, what do they like? Are there things that are missing or could be improved? I want you to keep the notes you make, because these will be important for future lessons in this unit of work. I'd like you to ask questions. So think about who is it for? Where is it? Why is it there? When is it open? What is it? All those questions that help you to get to the bottom of an issue. And I'd like you to enjoy investigating further. Feel like a detective. Go and enjoy what's out there. Go and enjoy the activity of investigating, and researching, and finding out what is there for everybody. Now we've got to the end of the lesson today. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd like you to do the quiz at the end and see how much you've learnt. And I will see you next time. Thanks very much. Bye.

In this lesson, we will look at the school community, learn about the importance of community cohesion and explore how the school community links with our wider communities.

What role does our school play in our local community?

In this lesson, we will look at the important contribution of community groups in our society. We will look at case studies of charities, NGOs and communitiy groups and explore what impact they have had on their local area.

What do charities, NGO's and groups do in our local community?

In this lesson, we will learn how to get involved with community improvement. We will also learn about the UK Youth Parliament and its impact locally and nationally.

How can citizens get involved in community change?

In this lesson, we will introduced to the ACTive Citizenship Award.  We will then use the framework of the ACTive Citizenship Award to choose and plan our own citizenship action project.

What can we do as active citizens to improve our community? (Part 1)

In this lesson, we will continue to develop our citizenship action project.  We will put our ideas into action, we will reflect on the effectiveness of our project and we will measure the impact that our projects have had on our local community.

What can we do as active citizens to improve our community? (Part 2)

﻿Hello, everyone, welcome to Citizenship. My name is Mrs. White, and this is our final lesson in how we can make a difference in our communities. And today it's all about your action. So let's get started. So before we get going, let's make sure you've got everything that you need. So you need some paper to make notes, pen and colours, and usually, I say your enthusiastic-learner heads, but you've already got that, I hope, 'cause you've managed to make it to the end of the six lessons. This is the last one of this unit. So I'd like you to make sure you've got your plans for action, because today's going to be a lesson that split. You're going to split it, because the start of the lesson is going to introduce it. And then you're going to go off and take your action, then you're going to come back. So make sure you've got these plans with you. So it is time for action, let's get going. So what we're going to learn today? Well, we're actually going to take action and record it. Not necessarily by video, but you can, if you like. I want you to reflect on your actions. So think about what you've achieved, and I want you to measure the impact, and then write a report. And that's what today's lesson is about, no takeaway task. I want you to celebrate when you've taken your action, and you're going to submit your project to ACT, which is the Association for Citizenship Teaching. So you'll need to find that later on, and ask a parent, or carer, or your teacher to do that for you. So now you might not be able to carry your action out within the next hour of this lesson, okay? So I really expect you to pause, like I said before, at this point and then go and carry out your action. When you do it, make sure you collect the evidence. So photographs, emails that you might have written, images of advertising, posters you might've made as well. You should be really proud of the things that you do to carry out your action. And when you finish the action, and I realise that this might be in a few days' time, come back to this lesson. If however you've carried out your action already, then we can continue from here, okay? So I want you to put those plans into action and write down the things you use as evidence to demonstrate that you've taken action to try to address the issue. So this is a bit more of your planning, if you like. So the evidence you could have could be notes, leaflets, posters you made, photographs of the things that you did, comments from local people, about the impact that you made. I want you to include anything that you, that made you feel proud as well, please. You can keep an action journal of what happened. Remember this is about skills and knowledge as well as taking action. So is about your development as well as the action that you take. So go off, take the action. Do whatever you need to do. Come back in a few days' time. If that's how much it's taken, a couple of weeks, if it needs to, but come back, and then we're going to finish the rest of the lesson, okay? Hello, here we go. So now you've taken your action. Let's think about how successful you've been. This part of the lesson is all about reflecting. So let's have a think about you yourself, and the skills that you've... that you may have developed during this process, it's starting to really build up. And you can put these skills into your CV when you start to think about that in the future. Also now you know how to do these things. Projects in the future are going to be much easier because you've developed these skills. Have a look over each one of these and think about the times you've had the opportunity to practise each skill during this actual project. Take a few moments to consider what you've gained. So have a look. There's one I've added on from the last time that we looked at these slides last lesson, and that's planning, deciding on... and design, or make a plan of something to happen, be made or built. She organised and planned the garden from scratch, for example, so planning, we've done that too. So have a look at the skills you think you might have done at this stage. Take a look at this table, and I want you to think about the things you've done over the course of the last six lessons. You've gained an awful lot of citizenship knowledge, and you might not even have realised it. So go through this list and think about whether you put a tick or cross against each item. If there's new words on the list, write the word and its definition down in your notes, because it's important to build your vocabulary. Now, I want you to reflect about what you've learned about your issue, and you're... you're used to doing this at school, you know, whether you use WWW, EBI, or DIRT time. You think about what you've managed to achieve, and how you can improve upon things as well. So in this section you need to explain what you think is successful about your project. And have you got any feedback or comments from anyone involved as well? So that's, it could go into what-went-well section. EBI, even better if, if you repeated your project again, what would you do again next time? What would you do? How would you change it? Did you have any problems and how would you solve them next time? And what improvements could you make? What advice would you give others if they took the same action as you? Now, I'd like you either to use the principle worksheet, and writing, or you can just write what went well, and then even better if on your paper. If you can't print, that's absolutely fine, okay? So pause the video whilst you write those answers down, what went well, even better if. And then start again when you're finished. So if you remember, I looked at the issue of elderly people when I was planning my project, last lesson, we were talking about that, okay? So now reflect on the action that I've taken, and here's example of what I've learnt in my project. See if you can go into as much depth of this, I'm sure you have a lot more to add to your own table. Now you can use the table in the worksheet, or you can copy down the headings onto paper as well. It really doesn't matter how you do that. So let's have a look. Knowledge about, throughout this project I have learned knowledge about, I found out about the numbers of elderly people in my town, and how they're affected by loneliness. I was shocked when I found out that somebody's life can be short, if they're very lonely, and it can be a very sad existence for elderly people on their own. Now that's, all of that stuff, citizenship knowledge, isn't it? Because it's understanding about our society, and the impact of different actions on it as well. So let's find out that in my research, the new information I've found out that I discovered that there was some local charities that support elderly people, and that it is possible to become a volunteer and befriend elderly people. I found out that projects work better with collaboration. So much better when you work with other people. The skills that I've developed, communication skills, and planning skills, resilience. As I thought I was going to give up, I didn't. I learned research skills and problem solving skills. So about myself, let's have a look. That I enjoy spending time with elderly people. They have lots of interesting stories about life, and it makes me feel better when I can make other people happy. I can be confident, and talking to the local council has made me excited to extend my project because the local council, want me to spread this idea out to more people across our community. And about others. Well, this is an example, remember? That me and my mum get on really well when we worked together, and that's really good. So that goes back to collaboration as well. But I didn't really realise that my mum and dad, my mum and myself could work together so well. So this is an example, and I'd like you to make your own. So pause the video to complete your own table, okay? So use the worksheet. You can pause the video and go back to the worksheet. Copy the worksheet out if you can't print it out, and then fill in your own table about what you've learnt. Start the video when you have finished. So now it's all about reporting. It's about telling everybody else about your action. So I'd like you to write a short reflective piece in the style of a newspaper article to explain what you did, what you learned from the action, why you did it, and if you think you made an impact on your local community, and why not, okay? So you'll talk about the action that you took. So include photographs, remember quotes. So if people have said things that they liked about the work that you're doing, remember to put those quotes in, and say where your community is as well, because it's really nice to put that information in. So what to include in your news item. the first of all was the headline. And this is words that get the main part of your issue across to your audience. And then the next bit is the leader. Now these are one or two sentences that give the basic facts about your product, and the change or improvement you wanted to make. It also makes people want to read more. 'Cause they're like, oh, this story going to be interesting. It's got some interesting parts to it, so I'm going to read more. The story, the main part of your report is one or two short paragraphs describing what action you took. You might like to include a photo as a piece of evidence in that because you know, every newspaper, it's nice to have a photograph as a sort of visual reference. And I want you to explain how you feel your action made a difference, and then describe what changes you'd make next time. So that's, remember that we talked about what went well and EBI, well, that's kind of, if you put it into a newspaper form. And then the ending is a final sentence with a summary or statement that gives you a sense of the story. So I would like you now to spend some time writing your news item. So let's have a look at an example. Young people cross the generation divide to help others. So that's my headline. The leader is, three local academy students created a new network of support for elderly residents in Weymouth. That's my leader. "Oh, that's interesting," says the reader. Let's carry on. So now it's main part of the story. After an inspirational citizenship lesson, three local 12-year-old youngsters decided that loneliness wasn't something our elderly residents should suffer. They realised that some older people weren't being able to access all of their human rights, such as the right to peaceful assembly because they were trapped in their homes. So the students set up a coffee and chat network to regularly meet with people who are living alone. They worked hard to build a network of people to support older people in the Coronavirus crisis, creating a neighbourhood rota where elderly people were regularly visited by young people and their parents. This carries on let's go. This included, chatting, reading newspapers and stories to them, and of course, plenty of tea, coffee, and biscuits. The students said that the number of people being helped was small to start with, 14 elderly people have been involved. The enthusiastic and kind students are keen to get more people on board and hope to extend their project across the town. 84 year old Margaret of Weymouth, said that it brightens her whole week looking forward to their visits. And she's really enjoying the company of her new-found friends. Local council have been in touch and would like to talk to students about how they can support their project and create a town-wide strategy for improving the lives of elderly residents. So that's the kind of format that I'd like your story to be, okay? We've got the headline, and we've got the leader, then we've got the main story, and my summary at the end, okay? So pause whilst you write your own... whilst you write a newspaper report, please. And then start the video again when you're finished. So now you've done your project, you have taken action, you've got evidence of that action, you've written a news report. I'd like you to submit that application, please. You don't have to, but it'd be really good if you do, because then you get an award from ACTive for doing that. To do that you need to get a parent or carer to... go on to the Association for Assistantship Teaching website, and find the ACTive Citizenship Award. And in there, you'll find details of how to submit your application. Please make sure your parents, do it not you. So what did you learn today? Well, we learned about taking action and recording it. So we did the action. We talked about what we needed to have evidence for photographs and things like that. Then we reflected upon the action, thoughts about what we did, whether it's successful or not. We talked about measuring the impact and reporting, and then I want you to celebrate, and submit to ACT. So we've talked about celebrating. You should be so proud of yourself, what a brilliant job, well done, okay? You've learned many new skills, and these will be useful throughout your future life, and hopefully given you a taste of what it's like to take an active role in your community. Well done, I'm proud of you. You should be proud of you, and hope to see you again soon. So if you'd like to share your work with Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. So there we go, everybody, that is the end of today's lesson. And that's the end of the whole unit of work. If you've managed to take some action, well done. Let's hope this is the start of you becoming an active citizen and building your knowledge, standing up for other people, making our community a better place for everybody. Take care of yourselves. And I hope to see you again, bye.

Unit Overview: How can we make a difference in our communities?

National Curriculum

Unit Question

Lessons: