All First Give lessons are fully resourced and you shouldn’t need to do any additional photocopying or planning to deliver the lessons. We recommend watching the briefing video (2 – 3 mins) for the lesson and having the lesson plan available when you walk into the classroom. This plan is aligned with the Coursebook and PowerPoint presentation.

First Give lessons are designed to be 50-60 minutes long, and suggested timings are available on the lesson plans.

The programme is designed to be as flexible as possible, so your school may be delivering the programme in different lesson slots. If this is the case, please discuss with your Lead Teacher and Programme Manager (find your Programme Manager’s details using “Find your Programme Manager” section in the Support Centre).

First Give describes social action as any action taken to make a positive change in the lives of others. As First Give students are working in partnership with local charities, this often takes the form of awareness raising, fundraising or campaigning for the charity.

In Lesson 4 you will find a range of case studies and stories (in the video resources and in the Coursebook). We also share examples on the Teacher Hub blog and on our website.

We are always looking for more examples to share, so please let us know at info@firstgive.co.uk if you think your students have done something amazing that we should share with other First Give teachers! Or if you’d be interested in writing a blog for the Teacher Hub or the website.

We know that when students meet a representative from their class charity they are more likely to become passionate about their charity and fully engage with all elements of First Give. That’s why we have created guidance for teachers to help them organise a meeting with their charity. This can be found in the Lesson 3 resources, along with a template email and a PDF of questions that your students might ask to help the charity representative prepare.

Naturally some students will engage more enthusiastically with First Give than others, but we want to make sure that all students are benefitting from the experience.

Meeting a representative can be a transformative moment for student engagement, so organise this as soon as possible after the class charity is selected.

Don’t leave one enthusiastic group to do everything – all groups in your class should plan and carry out social action and all groups should create a presentation.

Let the students lead on the choice of charity. It can be tempting to implement your own ideas or scaffold the programme too firmly, but if the students are working on an issue they care about, they are more likely to remain engaged.

Encourage students to prepare elements of social action or presentations that are related to their own skills and talents. Performers can perform; students with IT skills can make PowerPoints; aspiring directors can lead on making short films etc…

Yes. We want every student to experience every element of the First Give programme and have the opportunity to develop their skills in a range of areas. Lessons 5 – 8 guide students through the process of developing a presentation and delivering it effectively.

If you have a question that isn’t answered here, we recommend you check with the Lead Teacher at your school in the first instance. However, you can find out your school’s Programme Manager details using the “Find your Programme Manager” function in the Support Centre. Alternatively you can also submit a support request to us and your Programme Manager will get back to you with a response as soon as possible.

In both cases, we will make sure we loop the Lead Teacher at your school into the conversation.