This social inquiry unit uses SPCA as a context- exemplar to support students’ learning of charities and other non-profit organisations who make significant positive contributions to their community.

Students create a list of people and organisations that use their skills, resources and time to help others. Students will then choose a ‘community hero’ from this list to research further. Working in groups students will research their selected ‘community hero’ as well as their hero’s contributions to their community, this could be in social, animal welfare, economic, cultural, political, and/or environmental ways.

The second component of the unit encourages students to support the work their hero does and/ or thank their ‘community heroes’ for the contributions they make to their community. Students may decide to hold a fundraising event, make thank-you cards, produce an artwork that celebrates the work their community hero does, create a short film to create more awareness of the work their hero does, write an article about their hero for the school newsletter, classroom blog or even the local newspaper.