Hello, my name is Ms. Wyatt and I'm so glad you can join us in our lesson today on how can we get involved in our school community from the unit Citizenship, What's It All About? I hope you're ready to learn quite a lot of new things today, as well as have some fun.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to identify a number of ways you can make a positive difference in your school communities.

We are going to be using some keywords today throughout our lesson, and they are community, active citizen, school council and campaigning.

A community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, an active citizen is someone who takes responsibility and works to improve their community, a school council is a group of pupils representing their peers in school discussions, and campaigning are actions or events organised by an individual or a group of people to achieve an aim.

Our lesson is broken into three parts today.

We're going to start with looking at who holds the power in our school community.

So when you are ready, let's go.

So we all belong to a school community and the school community is a group of people that have a particular characteristic in common.

That particular characteristic is being a member of the school.

Not all school communities are the same.

Schools will have different characteristics and rules.

They will be run in different ways depending on the needs of their pupils.

An active citizen is someone who actively takes responsibility.

They become involved in areas of public concern and they try to make a positive difference within their community.

Even small actions by an active citizen can make a big difference.

There are lots of different ways someone can be an active citizen at their school.

You might know of some active citizens, you might be an active citizen as well.

That means that you have actively tried to take a responsibility and make some positive change.

Alex says, "I helped organise a book drive.

We collected books and donated them to the local hospital for their waiting room." Laura says, "I was an active citizen when I fundraised for more accessible playground equipment." Well done, you two.

So let's check our understanding so far.

True or false, all school communities have the same characteristics, true or false? It's false.

It's false because all school communities are different because they have different values, they have different people, people from different places, they have different needs.

Rules will differ from school to school.

You might know of some friends that don't go to your school that you know from your local communities perhaps, and you might think, oh, that's so unfair, they get to do this at their school.

Well, it's because schools do have different rules depending on the pupils that they have there.

Some other examples of ways pupils can be active citizens include raising awareness for a particular cause or issue, fundraising, petitioning, protesting, writing to key decision makers in the community, for example, your head teacher, the local council or your member of parliament, and volunteering.

Okay, so these are all the ways people can become an active citizen and make change.

It's important that active citizens understand who holds the power within their communities.

By understanding who the key decision makers are, they can make their voices heard and are more likely to be able to bring about positive change.

Jacob has asked, "Who holds the power at our school?" Andeep says, "The head teacher and the governors.

We can have our say too through the school council." Let's check, which of the following are examples of being an active citizen at school? Is it joining the debating team, is it helping a friend with their homework, or is it organising a cleanup day of the playground to improve the area? Pause the video and make your choice.

Good job, everybody.

We should have said organising a cleanup day of the playground to improve the area is an example of being an active citizen at school.

Joining the debating team and helping their friend with their homework is great, they're great positive actions, however, they're not necessarily involved with becoming an active citizen, 'cause remember, it's to make positive difference within our community.

Well done if you got that right.

Aisha says, "Options A and B are great things to do, but they aren't examples of actively taking responsibility or becoming involved in an area of public concern." It's good to know.

One way of getting involved in your school community is to become part of the school council.

You may also get involved by writing a letter to your school council about something you want to change.

A school council might have a different name at your school, for example, it might be known as like student parliament or pupil parliament or a class or a year council, but they all mean the same thing.

I wonder if you have one at your school.

In a school council, elected representatives raise and discuss concerns in the school and the local area.

They challenge ideas and understand differences.

Jacob is the chair of his school council.

Jacob says, "My role as chair is to act as a role model to peers, be an active citizen, and be responsible for helping coordinate the school council meetings and activities like fundraisers.

Pupil voice is really important because it gives everyone a chance to share their views, have them heard and make positive change." Pupil voice is a forum for children to talk about what they want to change and what they like and any challenges they have faced.

You may have taken part in one or you may have organised one at your school.

So let's check our understanding then.

Which of the following statements about the school council are true? So school council is a group of pupils elected to represent their classmates and voice their opinions, raises and discusses concerns about school and local area, helps communicate pupil voice to the people who run the school, or has the authority to hire and fire teachers.

So read back through all of the statements and think about which ones could be true about the school council.

Pause the video and make your decisions.

Okay, everybody, so we should have said A, yep, they're elected to represent the class and voice their opinions, we should have said B, they raise and discuss concerns about school in the local area, and we should have said C, they help communicate pupil voice to the people who run the school, but they do not have the authority to hire and fire teachers, okay? So Jacob says, "School council representatives might meet new teachers as part of their interviews.

However, the power to hire and fire doesn't ultimately sit with them." It's good to know, Jacob.

What I would like you to do now as part of our task is to discuss the following questions with somebody else and then write one or two answers to answer these questions, okay? So the first question I'd like you to discuss and then write an answer to is who are the people responsible for running a school? And then the second question, why do we need to know who they are? So when you are ready, pause the video, discuss with your partner and write one or two sentences answering each question, good luck.

Well done, everybody, great efforts.

So we should have had a go at discussing the following questions and then writing one or two sentences to answer them.

We could have said for the first question that there are many people responsible for running a school, the governors, the head teacher, the deputy, the assistant teachers, heads of years, class teachers, and school council, school parliament all play a part.

Most importantly, you also have responsibility and power.

The second question, our answers could have included, well, we need to know who they are because it's important to know who the decision makers are and where power lies as, by understanding how the school or any community is run, you will be in a better position to make your voice heard by them.

Then if you have an issue or concern, you know the right person to write to in order to help resolve it.

It might make your time a lot quicker if you do choose to do something like this within your school, it might make your decision quicker to do when you know who to write to and who to inform.

Well done, guys, great efforts.

We have now looked at who has the power in our school community.

Now we are going to look at what campaigns have we seen.

So one method an active citizen can use is campaigning.

Campaigning means actions or events organised by an individual or a group of people to achieve an aim.

Usually campaigning is focused on a social or political issue that people want to change.

Now there are lots of famous examples of campaigns that you might have heard about or learned about.

For example, Jun says, "I've been taught about the Civil Rights Movement in the USA." Sofia says, "I have learned about that too.

I've also learned about the campaign for women getting their right to vote in the UK." I wonder if you have heard about any of these campaigns before.

Raising awareness is an important element of campaigning.

Some campaigns use social media to reach audiences in a low cost, impactful and effective way.

They might use platforms such as Instagram and TikTok where their messages can be shared very easily and very quickly.

Often campaigns wanting to engage younger people will use social media to gather support.

Campaigns can also use more traditional advertisements, like they can be within a newspaper, a magazine, or posters on a billboard, for instance.

Some people use demonstrations or protests as part of their campaign.

This is when citizens will come together in public to show support for issue.

They sometimes try to gain attention for their issue by causing disruption.

Jun says, "When I learned about the Civil Rights Movement, I found out about Martin Luther King Jr.

He led the march on Washington in 1963 to gain attention for the civil rights for African Americans.

200,000 people marched on the American capital that day." So let's see, what are all the different ways people can campaign? We need to tick all that apply.

So can people campaign through reading a book, can they campaign by sharing on social media, can they campaign by attending demonstrations and protests, and can they campaign by using traditional advertisements? Pause the video and see which ones apply.

Okay, well done, everybody.

So we should have found out that B, C and D all apply.

Reading a book doesn't really campaign for anything.

It's a brilliant activity, I would agree.

However, it doesn't do anything for campaigning.

Well done, everybody.

So we are looking at what campaigns we have seen, and you might recognise the person within this image.

So Greta Thunberg is an active activist for the climate who started to learn about climate change aged eight.

She raises public awareness about the effects of climate change and what it is doing to the planet.

In 2020, she wrote a letter to the European leaders about the importance of addressing climate change.

And this is the opening of the letter, I will read it to us.

So she said, "Dear presidents of the European Union, the climate and ecological crisis cannot be solved within today's political and economic systems. That's no longer an option, it's a fact." Okay, so she has wrote a letter to these big European leaders about how serious it is that we try and address climate change and recognise it, okay? Many other young people also campaign about the impact climate change is having.

For example, when he was a teenager, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez gave numerous speeches rallying young people to fight for sustainability and raise awareness of climate change.

You might know of him.

He also became a youth director of the environmental charity Earth Guardians, and spoke at the United Nations.

Very, very big conferences.

Both Greta Thunberg and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez are examples of active citizens who became involved in campaigning when they were young and still at school.

We can use their example as a way to motivate and inspire us to be involved in our school community as active citizens, because remember, they were really young when they first started.

So talking about how young people are, how old was Greta Thunberg when she first learned about climate change? Can we remember what we said? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, hopefully remembered that she was eight years old when she first started learning about climate change.

Well done if you got that correct.

Greta said, "Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.

So instead of looking for hope, look for action.

Then, and only then, hope will come." What we're gonna do now is we're gonna use the information learned in this learning cycle about the different campaigns that we've seen to complete the following sentences.

So we need to finish these sentences off.

So the first one says, two active citizens who have campaigned for climate action and sustainability are, can you remember their names? Maybe you know some different ones.

They were campaigning because, what was the reason for it? Some actions they took include, what did they do to campaign? I think this issue is or is not important because, and explain your reasoning.

And other famous campaigns I have learned about include.

So pause the video and have a go at this task.

Remember to finish off the following sentences.

Good luck and have fun.

So your completed sentences could look a little bit like the following.

So we might have said, two active citizens who have campaigned for climate action and sustainability are Greta Thunberg and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

They were campaigning because they felt strongly that if action is not taken to reverse the impact of climate change, it will have catastrophic consequences, really, really negative and bad consequences for us and future generations.

Some actions they took include giving speeches to raise awareness amongst young people, writing a letter to European leaders and speaking to the United Nations.

So finding out who are the relevant people that they need to speak to.

Question number four, so I've said I think this issue is important because campaigning for climate change and sustainability helps protect our planet.

If we don't do this, then we could face problems like extreme weather and loss of animals.

By campaigning, we can make sure that the Earth stays healthy for future generations.

Maybe you agree or disagree with me.

Some other famous campaigns I have learned about include the Female Suffrage Movement, wonder if you've learned about that at school, the Civil Rights Movement, Jamie Oliver's campaign for healthy Eating in school and Marcus Rashford's campaign for free school meals in the school holidays.

I wonder what other campaigns that you have learned about that I have not listed, I'd be really interested to know.

We have now completed the first two learning cycles of our lesson.

Well done, everybody.

We are now going to look at the last part, which is how can we get involved? So how can we get involved in our school community? An active citizen is someone who works towards making a positive change in their communities.

Remember, it's one of our key words.

As an active citizen, it's important that you have the right knowledge to be able to make your voice heard by key decision makers and those in power.

Two key areas active citizens need to know about are democracy, human rights, okay? Democracy means rule by the people.

When you live in a democracy, you can influence decision makers and those in powered by campaigning.

When you live in a democracy, your human rights are protected.

Our human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to, okay? The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a law that protects your rights.

And Article 12 of this law says that you should be free to express your views in all matters that affect you.

So you should be allowed to say what you agree or what you disagree with, and you are protected by law to do that.

Article 12 means that children have the right to express their views.

And so, as active citizens, we should aim to adhere to this right.

We should use this right in the best way as possible.

Therefore, we should stand up for things we believe in and fight for fairness in society and within our communities, including our school community.

Becoming involved in your school community can take many different forms. You could join your school council, you could write letters to those in charge, like head teachers and governors, you could campaign, you could speak to pupil voice, those that are on your school council, for instance.

These are all excellent examples of being an active citizen.

So can we have a go at matching the word to its correct definition? So the words you've got are democracy, active citizen and human rights.

Can you tell me what are the definitions that match up to those words? I'd like you to pause the video and have a go at this task.

Okay, let's have a go at checking our answers.

So democracy means rule by the people.

Well done if you got that correct.

Active citizen is someone who works towards making a positive change in society, which leaves human rights to mean freedoms all people you are entitled to, okay? So freedoms that we have that we should be entitled to.

Well done if you got those three correct.

Can we remember what Article 12 from the United Nations Convention states? Was it actions or events can be organised by an individual or a group to achieve an aim, was it the basic rights and rules and freedoms that you're entitled to, or was it you should be free to express your views in all matters that affect you? Pause the video and make your choice.

Well done, everybody, we should have remembered that Article 12 states that you should be free to express your views in all matters that affect you.

Well done if you got that right.

What I would like us to do is have a go at writing a letter to our school council or school parliament or student parliament, whatever we call it, to raise awareness on an issue that is in important to you.

I would like you to try and set it out in the same way as on this slide and on the next.

So on our letter, we need to write the address of our recipient here.

So just put the school's address.

Underneath, we're gonna address who it's going to, okay? And then in the top right hand side corner, we put our address on here.

Then you need to put your opening paragraph underneath your main body and a closing statement.

When you sign it off, say something like, "We look forward to seeing you and hearing from you, from," and your name, okay? So when you are ready, have a go at writing a letter to the school counsellor to raise awareness on an issue that's important to you.

This might require some time to think about an issue that is important to you within the school.

However, good luck and have fun with it.

Okay, well done, everybody.

So some of our letter and our answers might have included the following, okay? So we've got, firstly, if I go back, firstly, we've got the address of the school council and then we've got our made up address on the other side.

I have addressed the school council representatives and said, "I'm writing to you to raise awareness about the amount of litter on school grounds.

There are many reasons why littering is bad and should be taken more seriously.

One reason is that it's a hazardous impact on wildlife and it also has a negative impact on our safety.

I suggest that the school council discuss this issue and resolve it by investing in more bins, not just in the classrooms, but also around the school grounds.

This will therefore give no excuse to why people are littering.

I also suggest that, as a school, we should address littering and establish consequences for it.

I'm looking forward to this being addressed in the school council meetings.

Yours faithfully," and then the name.

So I wonder if you put the same issue as me as littering, maybe that's an issue within your school grounds.

Hopefully it isn't.

But if it is, we are doing the appropriate thing and we are trying to address it through the school council.

Well done, everybody, that was a great job.

We have now come to the end of our lesson, and I have really, really enjoyed this lesson today.

I'm going to have a go at summarising what we have learned so far.

So there are many people responsible for running a school, the governors, the head teacher, the class teachers, the school council, but most importantly, you do have responsibility and power within your school community.

Being an active citizen in your school community means that you take responsibility and you become involved in areas of concern to try and make a positive difference.

But it's important to know who the decision makers are in your school community and to raise awareness and make change by campaigning on issues that are important to you.

I really have loved this lesson today.

I think we've learned a lot about how we can get involved in our school community, and I'm looking forward to hearing of lots of positive change to come.

Thank you, everybody, for your efforts, bye-bye.