ACHIEVING AND CONTRIBUTING SESSION PLAN
SESSION: ACHIEVING AND CONTRIBUTING
Expected Progress: Identify ways of achieving Description: In this activity, young people learn about different ways of achieving, developing their
own goals and contributing to a community.
own skills and getting involved in their communities. They identify opportunities that allow them to do
these things and can create action plans to achieve their goals.
Resources required:
 Achieving and Contributing
Personal Shields Resource
 Action Plan Resource
 Computer with access to
internet
 Achieving and Contributing
Worksheet
 Achieving and Contributing
Action Cards
LLN Opportunities:
 Take part in
informal group
discussions
 Practise scan
reading and
detailed reading
techniques
 Spell key words
correctly
STEM Opportunities:
Qualifications Opportunities:
N/A
 Using search engines
 Using internet browsers
effectively
DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY
RESOURCES
Introduction and Icebreaker
Achieving and
Contributing
Personal Shields
Resource
Personal Shields
Ask the young people to create their own personal shields which revolve around their
ambitions, what they care about, their personal skills and their interests.
LEARNING OUTCOME
1 (August 2016)
ACHIEVING AND CONTRIBUTING SESSION PLAN
 Understand the meaning of
‘achieve’ and ‘contribute
 Think of creative ways of
using your talents, skills and
passions to benefit yourself
and others.
Bringing Things Together
Explain that in the icebreaker, we thought about all these things that make up our
personalities as being separate parts of the shield. But they are not always separate;
sometimes they fit together well. Give the young people an example: a young person
might have said that their ambition is to own their own business, that they care about
animals and that their personality is friendly. In theory, they could combine these things
and be great at running a dog grooming business! Their different areas might not work
together perfectly, but they might be able to figure out some ways of combining them.
Add the following words and any others that come up to the word wall: Achieve:
successfully bring about or reach a desired objective or result by effort, skill, or
courage. Contribute: to give something (time, money, support) in order to help achieve or
provide something. Make sure dictionaries are available and encourage young people to
look up definitions and add them to the word wall.
Who Benefits?
When the young people understand the meaning of both words, ask them about achieving
and contributing: does one of them seem more like something you do for yourself, or
something you do for others? Sometimes it might seem like you achieve things for yourself
(achieve good grades, good GCSEs, get a job etc) and you contribute for other people
(volunteering, community projects, helping someone out, even doing your bit in a group
project as school). Explain to the young people that while this is sometimes true, there are
lots of examples of times when you can achieve and contribute at the same time. This
means doing something that you get a lot out of yourself but which also lets you do
something for others. Can the young people think of any examples?
Achieving and
Contributing
Action Cards
 Be aware of how actions
affect others
 Identify opportunities to
achieve and develop
Get the young people to work in pairs or small groups. Hand out the action cards and give
the young people 2-3 minutes to think about how their action can help someone achieve
something for themselves and also do something for others at the same time. Read out
the example if you think they need it. Before they start the activity, remind the young
people to think about how the action makes them and others feel, what skills they will use
and whether they will get any recognition for their action (for example, a qualification).
2 (August 2016)
ACHIEVING AND CONTRIBUTING SESSION PLAN
Before this activity you should prepare young people to take part in a small group
discussion by establishing ‘discussion rules’ or ask the group ‘what makes a good
discussion?’. Elicit answers. Responses should include: speak clearly; acknowledge and
listen to the views of others using appropriate body language, eye contact; ask questions
to clarify and confirm understanding; take turns and do not talk over others.
Setting Goals
Young people should use a range of fact-finding methods to find opportunities for them to
contribute in their community. Young people can use their worksheets to identify the
opportunities they find, and more capable young people can write about how that
opportunity will benefit them and others. Use the word wall to support the spelling of key
words. Tell the young people they should try to find at least three possible opportunities
that would help them contribute in their community (whether that is the Achieve club, the
school or the wider local community) while gaining experience and achieving something
themselves. Get each young person to set a goal for how they are going to contribute
and/or achieve – this could be getting more information about an opportunity, applying to
volunteer, or making a simpler change in their own lives or behaviour at home or school.
Remind them that their activities don’t have to be official – they could be as simple as
offering to help more at school or home.
Computer with
access to internet
Achieving and
Contributing
Worksheet
 Find and describe
opportunities that allow you
to achieve and contribute at
the same time
Young people can demonstrate digital literacy by knowing how to use search
engines and identify good search terms to find the information they need, as well as
how to bookmark that information or send it to themselves so they can look it up later.
3 (August 2016)
ACHIEVING AND CONTRIBUTING SESSION PLAN
Young people can practise a variety of reading strategies to locate specific
information from web pages. For example: skim and scan reading or detailed
reading. Explain that it is sometimes necessary to read a text closely to locate specific
information, you may even have to re-read to make sure the information you have is
correct. For example, to identify what happened in an accident report . This may require
accurate details such as the person’s name, location, time etc. However, it is not always
necessary to read every word to locate information. For example, when reading a web
page to find out when an event is on. You can use organisational features such as
headings, tables, images and text boxes to find the information you need. Ask young
people where else they may need to read in detail or scan read. Elicit responses.
Signposting
If the young people feel comfortable doing so, they can share some of the opportunities
they found which interest them. If anyone needs more inspiration, you can signpost them
to the following organisations, projects and websites. If any young people are interested in
pursuing an opportunity outside the club, they can add it to their Action Plan.
Computer with
access to internet
Action Plan
Resource
 Young people have options
to go further and volunteer
outside the Achieve club
Volunteering England
Volunteering Wales
Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland)
Youth Link Scotland
British Youth Council
Do It (search volunteer opportunities by area)
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Envision (youth social action projects in London, Bristol and Birmingham)
The Challenge (delivering National Citizenship Service)
Fixers (young people-led social action projects)
Vinspired (helping young people find volunteering opportunities)
#iwill (a national campaign to promote youth social action)
4 (August 2016)