Contributing to your community
You do not need to wait until you are an adult to make a difference — plenty of ways to help a community are open to teenagers right now.
Part of your national curriculum
- Law and justice: Understand the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering
Key learning points
- • Volunteering
- • Fundraising and campaigning
- • Everyday contributions
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 14 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 14
Watch first
Contributing to your community
An English teaching video on this topic from Bitesize Education. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 14
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Volunteering
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 14
Learn
Volunteering
Volunteering can mean helping at a food bank, litter-picking, tutoring younger pupils or supporting an environmental project. Many charities run schemes specifically designed for young people to get involved safely.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 14
Learn
Fundraising and campaigning
Organising a sponsored event, running a bake sale, or campaigning for a local cause such as safer crossings all count as active citizenship. These actions raise money and awareness at the same time.
Quick check
Part 5 of 14
Quick check
Which is an example of volunteering?
Reset break
Part 6 of 14
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 14
Quick check
What is one benefit of a sponsored fundraising event?
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 14
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Everyday contributions
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 14
Learn
Everyday contributions
Contributing does not always mean a formal project — being considerate to neighbours, reporting problems like broken streetlights, and encouraging others to get involved all strengthen a community over time.
Quick check
Part 10 of 14
Quick check
Which everyday action helps a community?
Challenge round
Part 11 of 14
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 12 of 14
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Contributing does not always mean a formal project — being considerate to neighbours, reporting problems like broken streetlights, and encouraging others to get involved all strengthen a ____ over time.
Mastery quiz
Part 13 of 14
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Contributing to your community
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which is an example of volunteering?
2. What is one benefit of a sponsored fundraising event?
3. Which everyday action helps a community?
Lesson round-up
Part 14 of 14
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?
After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.
A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.
The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
- Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
- Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.
Reading and response
ReadingRead the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingFind one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.
1 story, 4–5 sentences
Two sides of the argument
WritingWrite the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.
3 paragraphs
Poster or leaflet plan
DiagramPlan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.
1 planned page
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover
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Understand the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering