This summer, give your pupils the chance to lead real change.
Make a Difference Challenge 2026 is a ready‑to-teach, time‑bound social action project delivered in one term. It helps your school take an early, confident step towards meeting the new statutory Citizenship expectations coming into force by 2028.
For £400 per school, you get everything you need to run a meaningful, pupil‑led community project with minimal preparation and maximum impact.
Register For Our Primary School Citizenship Support
Get Citizenship ready ahead of 2028.
Bolster your SMSC provision, personal development and develop confident and empathetic young citizens, the Make a Difference Challenge has been externally evaluated, demonstrating how transformational it can be for children who take part. It has been shown to develop:
- Skills including empathy, teamwork, oracy and mediating differences
- ‘Grit’, resilience and motivation to act when they see something going wrong
- Confidence for secondary school
- Awareness of voluntary groups and organisations in their local community
Real impact: After you take your pupils through the guided lessons on how to research and select their social, environmental or economic issue of choice, they work to deliver it in your community. This ranges from clothing swaps to cleaning up a community space, to campaigns for cleaner air! See our case studies here.
Why act now?
Citizenship will be statutory in primary schools by 2028. Start building expertise now with a proven, low-friction model that fits easily into your summer term planning.
Register For Our Primary School Citizenship Support
What’s Included & How It Works
Everything you need for a full social action project:
- Detailed lesson plans and PowerPoints
- Ready-to-use classroom resources
- Templates for research, planning and community outreach
- A digital scrapbook to evidence learning and impact
- Certificates for pupils and the school
- Optional 30‑minute consultancy call with the Young Citizens team
- Light‑touch support throughout the term
Structure (6–8 weeks):
- Phase 1 – Spark Change: explore local issues and vote on a project
- Phase 2 – Plan It, Do It: research, plan and deliver meaningful social action
- Phase 3 – Shout About It: capture impact and celebrate achievements
Delivery: Designed for one lesson per week in the summer term (ideal post‑SATs for Year 6, flexible for Years 4–6). Fully teacher‑led; no specialist training required.
How Your School Will Benefit
For pupils:
- Communication and oracy skills
- Empathy, teamwork and resilience
- Real‑world problem‑solving and agency
- Stronger connection with community organisations
For schools:
- Early, credible first step toward preparing for 2028 Citizenship requirements
- Evidence for Ofsted in Personal Development and SMSC
- Low‑friction, high‑impact project that fits easily into the summer term
- A repeatable structure you can scale in future years
- Access to regional or in‑school celebration options showcasing pupil impact
What Happens After You Sign Up
Immediate next steps:
- Instant access to the online social action toolkit
- All lesson plans and resources
- Instructions to set up your digital scrapbook
- Link to book your optional 30‑minute consultancy call
- Support emails leading up to delivery and celebration opportunities
Your class can begin as soon as you’re ready.
Related content
Ethos statements
Our ethos statements help your primary school pupils develop skills and values for life. The posters and certificates below...
Bring About Change
A youth-led social action programme for secondary and post-16 learners.