Helping Neighbours

Overview

This is lesson 2 of 4 in “Communities and Religion: Exploring Together”. Students explore how Christian communities help others today (for example, food banks and charities such as Christian Aid) and connect this to the Good Samaritan story, understanding how faith can shape actions that support wider society.

Learning intentions

• Students will learn about Christian initiatives that help others in their community.
• Students will retell the main events of the Good Samaritan story and explain its message about helping.
• Students will consider how helping others can be an expression of responsibility and care.
• Students will create a modern “Good Samaritan” comic strip that shows a helping action and its impact.

Success criteria

• I can name at least one way Christian communities help others (e.g., food banks/charities).
• I can describe what the Good Samaritan did and why it matters.
• I can make my comic strip show a clear problem and a helping solution.
• I can explain how the helping action shows compassion for others.

Curriculum links

• Religious education should encourage empathy, generosity and compassion.
• Religious education should develop students’ own values and attitudes, recognising rights and responsibilities in light of learning about religions and beliefs.
• Religious education should prompt pupils to consider responsibilities to themselves and to others, and explore how they might contribute to communities and wider society.
• Religious education should relate learning to the wider world, gaining a sense of personal autonomy in preparation for adult life.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Starter question. Teacher displays two short statements: “Helping others is everyone’s job” and “Helping others is a choice.” Students choose one, then turn-and-talk to justify their thinking in one or two sentences.

2. 5–15 min · Christian initiatives case study. Teacher introduces examples (plain, age-appropriate): food banks, local church community collections, and Christian Aid as charities that support people in need. Students complete a quick “Spot the help” task: identify what each initiative is doing and who benefits (individuals/families/community).

3. 15–25 min · Good Samaritan story. Teacher reads/recaps the story of the Good Samaritan (from the viewpoint of Jesus’ teaching) focusing on: a traveller in need, the choices of people who pass by, and the Samaritan who helps. Students complete a guided sequence: order 4–5 key events and underline one action that shows care.

4. 25–35 min · Discussion: what does it teach us? Teacher asks: “How did the Good Samaritan show compassion?” and “What might stopping to help look like today?” Students share ideas in a structured way (teacher calls 2–3 examples, then class agrees on common themes: kindness, respect, taking responsibility, seeing the need).

5. 35–43 min · Creative task setup (comic planning). Teacher models a mini-example of a comic panel layout (3 or 4 panels): Panel 1 = problem/need, Panel 2 = noticing, Panel 3 = helping action, Panel 4 = outcome/impact. Students plan their own “modern Good Samaritan” comic strip using their planning sheet: characters, setting, the moment of need, and the helping action.

6. 43–45 min · Quick gallery and exit check. Students do a 30–45 second “gallery walk” with partners to give one kind feedback sentence (“I like how you showed…”) and one question. Teacher collects completed planning sheets or last panel drafts for marking.

Resources

• Teacher story text or slides summarising the Good Samaritan events (no printing needed if teacher uses reading)
• “Spot the help” worksheet with short initiative descriptions
• Good Samaritan story event cards/sequence sheet
• Modern Good Samaritan comic planning sheet (3–4 panels) with sentence prompts
• Art supplies: pencils, colouring pencils/markers, blank comic paper or templates
• Markers for teacher modelling
• Classroom display area for a mini gallery

Assessment

• Formative during “Spot the help”: observe whether students can match initiatives to who benefits.
• Formative during story sequencing: check accuracy of ordered events and identification of compassionate action.
• Exit check: teacher listens for clear explanations linking helping to compassion/responsibility; collect comic planning for a quick check.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters (e.g., “The Samaritan helped by…”, “This matters because…”, “In my comic, someone needs help when…”).
• Support for EAL/SEN: allow oral planning with a partner first; offer a bank of helping-action verbs (notice, support, share, collect, comfort, deliver).
• Extension: students add a short “Why I helped” speech bubble explaining motives using the idea of compassion and responsibility.
• Challenge: ask higher-attaining pupils to include a moment where someone chooses to ignore the need, then show how the helper responds differently.

Extension (optional)

• Omit, since this is lesson 2 of 4.