Key Stage 3 citizenship · Communities and participation

KS3 citizenship: improving your community and school life

In Key Stage 3 citizenship, pupils learn how citizens work together to improve their communities, including through school-based activities. This is the practical part of the subject: spotting a problem, finding evidence, working out who can change it and taking action. The programme of study includes opportunities to take part in school-based activities, and the aim is for young people to develop a commitment to responsible participation that lasts into adulthood.

Improving communities, explained

A community can be a street, a school, a town or a group with a shared interest. Citizens improve communities in many ways: neighbourhood clean-ups, community gardens, fundraising, campaigns for a safer crossing, petitions, taking part in consultations and contacting councillors or MPs. Some of these work through formal democratic routes, and others through voluntary groups or informal teamwork. Pupils learn that real change usually needs both individual effort and people acting together.

The programme of study specifically includes opportunities to take part in school-based activities, so the school itself is treated as a community. Examples include a school council, eco committee, peer mentors who support younger pupils, anti-bullying ambassadors, charity events, student surveys and clubs run by pupils. The curriculum does not say which a school must run, so the choices differ, but each gives pupils a chance to practise democracy in a place where the stakes are real. Many schools elect their council by secret ballot, just as adults would.

Teachers often use a simple cycle of informed action. First, identify an issue pupils care about. Second, gather evidence, perhaps with a survey, counts or photographs, so it is a fact-based case and not just an opinion. Third, work out who has the power to decide: the school, the council, a landowner or a national body. Fourth, choose an action, such as a letter, a presentation, a petition or a supervised event. Finally, review what happened. Not every campaign succeeds, and partial progress still counts.

Pupils develop skills that go with this: researching and questioning evidence, debating different viewpoints, presenting reasoned arguments and working as a team. They discover that communities hold different views, since a skate park for some people is noise for others, and that compromise and listening are part of the process. They also learn to act lawfully, peacefully and safely, and to protect their personal information when they work online.

The topic links closely to the others in the strand. Public institutions such as councils take decisions that campaigns try to influence, and voluntary groups give citizens a way to organise. What makes this topic different is the emphasis on doing: lessons often end in a real project or presentation. A confident, well-informed teenager who knows how to get a hearing is one of the lasting outcomes of citizenship teaching.

Words your child will hear

Community: A group of people connected by a place or a shared interest, such as a street, a school or a club.
Campaign: Planned action over time to bring about a change.
Petition: A document, often with many signatures, asking a decision-maker to act.
Consultation: A period when a council or organisation asks the public what they think before deciding.
Councillor: An elected local representative who sits on the local council.
School council: A group of pupils chosen by their classmates to share ideas and views with the school.
Compromise: An agreement where each side gives up something to reach a fair outcome.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 3 says:

Pupils should be taught about the roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups in society, and the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities, including opportunities to participate in school-based activities
Pupils should use and apply their knowledge and understanding while developing skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints, present reasoned arguments and take informed action.
Aim: pupils develop an interest in, and commitment to, participation in volunteering as well as other forms of responsible activity, that they will take with them into adulthood.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: planning a campaign

Pupils walking to school from the bus stop find rubbish along the path and no bins. Plan a piece of informed action.

Build the evidence. Tally the pieces of litter along a measured stretch of path on five different mornings and take dated photographs. Ask a sample of pupils how they feel about the path. Facts and numbers make a stronger case than opinions.
Find who is responsible. Litter bins on public land are usually provided and emptied by the local council, whereas land owned by a private landowner or the school is their responsibility. A quick enquiry settles this.
Choose actions with a clear request. Write a polite letter to the local councillor and the council asking for a bin at the bus stop, with the evidence attached. Pupils could present it to the school council and, with an adult’s help, collect signatures for a petition.
Anticipate objections and offer solutions. A bin costs money and must be emptied. With the school’s agreement, the group could offer to run a supervised litter pick each term and suggest the position where a bin would be most used.
Review the results. Record any reply, repeat the litter count after a month and thank people who helped. If the answer is no, ask why and decide what to do next.

A good plan states the problem with evidence, names the decision-maker, makes one specific request, offers help and a solution, and includes a way to check whether it worked. Success may be a new bin, or it may be an explanation and a partial step, which still counts as progress.

Common mistakes and how to help

“You have to be old enough to vote before you can change anything”

Voting is the most obvious way to influence decisions, so people who can’t yet vote feel they have no say.

What helps: Point to everything a 13- or 14-year-old can do: school council, surveys, letters to councillors, petitions, volunteering and campaigns. Ask your child to name one.

“Sharing a post online is enough to make a difference”

Sharing is quick and visible, so it feels like action, but it rarely reaches the person who can actually decide.

What helps: Ask who exactly can change the situation, and whether they have been told. A short, polite message with evidence, sent to the right person, usually does more than a post.

“Campaigning means complaining or protesting”

News coverage tends to show marches and arguments, not the meetings and letters behind most successful campaigns.

What helps: Talk about what makes a request easy to say yes to: a clear problem, evidence, a specific ask and an offer of help. Complaints without solutions are easy to ignore.

“If we didn’t get everything we asked for, the campaign failed”

Pupils may expect an all-or-nothing result, especially if they have put in a lot of effort.

What helps: Look at what changed: someone listened, a smaller fix was made, a date was given or the issue was put on an agenda. Decide together on the next step.

How to help at home

Back a school role. Encourage your child to stand for the school council, join an eco group or become a mentor. Ask what they want to change and what evidence they could gather to support it.
Spot one thing to improve. Walk around your neighbourhood and note a problem, such as litter, a broken fence or a dangerous crossing. Work out who is responsible for it before deciding what to do.
Draft a letter together. Let your child write to a councillor or the council about a local issue. Check that it is polite, specific and backed by facts, and keep personal details to a minimum.
Take part in a supervised clean-up. Join a local litter pick or community project. Wear gloves, avoid roads and sharp items, and follow the organiser’s advice. Afterwards, talk about what changed and what more is needed.
Practise compromise at home. Choose a family decision, such as a day out or a shared space, and let everyone state their case and then agree a fair solution. It is the same skill that community decisions need.