Exploring Community Uniqueness

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Overview

Age Group: Post-16 SEND students (16-19 years)
Class Size: 11 students
Duration: 30 minutes
Unit: Discovering Our Community (Lesson 1 of 2)
Subject: Other (Personal and Social Development)
School Context: Specialist SEND setting including learners with ASD, ADHD, and fine motor difficulties.

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Curriculum Links: Curriculum for Wales (2022)

• Well-being and Attitudes to Learning

  • Developing as Ethical, Informed Citizens
  • Learners develop an understanding of their local community and their role within it.
  • Focus on communication and social interaction skills.

• Cross-curricular Skills

  • Oracy: Use discussion to express ideas and listen to others.
  • Creativity: Use visual tools to represent knowledge (mind mapping).

• Statements of What Matters

  • "Communities and cultures influence identity and sense of belonging."
  • "Active participation helps us feel connected to the communities where we live."

• Literacy and Communication Framework

  • Speak audibly and confidently in discussions.
  • Use appropriate methods to record and present ideas.

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WALT (We Are Learning To)

• Identify key features of our local community through discussion and visual representation.
• Recognise what makes our community unique and important to us.

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Success Criteria

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Name at least three key places or features in their local community (e.g., parks, schools, shops).
• Participate in a group discussion, listening and contributing ideas respectfully.
• Help create a simple mind map showing community features using words and symbols.

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Resources Needed

• Large paper or whiteboard for mind map
• Coloured markers/pens
• Picture cards or real images of local community features (parks, shops, schools, community centres)
• Alternative communication aids (symbols, speech-to-text tablets, or boards)
• Fine motor toolkits (e.g., adaptive grips, pens, or digital tablets)

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Lesson Breakdown

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

• Teacher activity: Greet students warmly; introduce the lesson WALT and Success Criteria in clear, simple language.
• Starter question: “What places do you visit near your home?”
• Use picture cards to support understanding.
• Differentiation: For learners with ASD needing predictability, use a visual timetable showing lesson steps.

2. Whole-Class Discussion (10 minutes)

• Discuss key aspects of the local community: parks, schools, shops, etc.
• Encourage students to share experiences, using picture prompts to assist communication.
• Use ‘think-pair-share’ for students who may be shy or have communication difficulties:
  • Think quietly.
  • Turn to a partner to talk.
  • Share with the whole group.
• Differentiation:
  • For students with ADHD, incorporate short physical movement breaks before sharing (e.g., stretch or shake hands).
  • Provide sentence starters or communication frames: “I like the park because…”, “My favourite shop is…”

3. Creating the Mind Map (10 minutes)

• Collaboratively create a mind map on the board or large paper titled "Our Community".
• Use both written words and pictures/symbols.
• Assign roles: one learner draws, one writes (on behalf of students struggling with fine motor skills), others suggest ideas verbally.
• Use colour-coding to differentiate types of places (e.g., green for parks, blue for schools).
• Differentiation:
  • Students with poor fine motor control can use digital devices with touch or voice input to add ideas.
  • Visual learners encouraged to use picture symbols.
  • Students with ASD can have a structured template of the mind map beforehand.

4. Recap and Review (5 minutes)

• Review the completed mind map with the class.
• Ask simple questions: “Can you find the park on the mind map?”, “What else might be missing?”
• Reinforce the WALT and success criteria, check students’ understanding by thumbs up/down or visual emotion cards.
• Set expectation for the next lesson: exploring the community outdoors or through virtual tours.

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Assessment & Feedback

• Informal formative assessment through observation of participation in discussion and contribution to the mind map.
• Use of communication aids to gauge understanding (e.g., Yes/No cards, thumbs up/down).
• Positive verbal feedback focused on effort and participation.
• Completion of mind map as a visual record of learning for portfolio or Individual Development Plans.

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Differentiation Summary

Needs	Strategies
ASD	Visual timetable, structured turn-taking, predictable routine, clear and concrete language
ADHD	Short movement breaks, chunked activities, visual prompts, immediate positive reinforcement
Fine motor difficulties	Writing support, using laptops/tablets, adaptive grips, taking on roles (dictating ideas)
Communication difficulties	Alternative augmentative communication (AAC), picture cards, sentence starters

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Next Steps

• Lesson 2 will include a sensory or virtual tour of local community spaces, reinforcing knowledge from this lesson, focusing on sensory experiences and personal engagement with community spaces.

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This lesson plan ensures all learners access the curriculum through multisensory and inclusive strategies, reinforcing their sense of belonging and identity in line with the Curriculum for Wales vision for learners as active, ethical citizens.