Social action is people coming together to help improve their lives and solve the problems that are important in their communities. It involves people giving their time and other resources for the common good through things like volunteering, awareness raising, fundraising, campaigning, setting up social enterprises and even simple neighbourly acts.

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic there have been countless examples of people of all ages taking it upon themselves to do inspirational things to benefit their community and wider society from Captain Tom walking up and down his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday to raise funds for the NHS, to eight year old Nahla-Rose Bartlett-Vanderpuye who used her grandmother’s 3D printer and supplies bought with her pocket money to make hundreds of visors for NHS staff.

"People keep saying what I have done is remarkable, however it's actually what you have done for me which is remarkable.”

Captain Tom

Effective social action often doesn’t start with grand ambitions (Captain Tom originally set a target of raising £1,000 but went on to raise over £33million) but comes from a heartfelt desire to do something for others. This genuine motivation and passionate concern to serve their community then creates a ripple effect as others are inspired to do good too. The ripple effect also has a positive impact on the person carrying out the social action, as well as those around them, both the intended beneficiaries and those inspired by their example. Numerous studies have shown that putting other people’s needs before our own and helping others benefits our own mental health and wellbeing.

Our new ‘Be Rooted’ lessons help KS1 and KS2 children learn from the example of people such as Marcus Rashford, Sadio Mane, Captain Tom, Joe Wicks and Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP who have made a positive contribution to their community during the recent Coronavirus crisis and think about how they can stay strong during these challenging times by helping others and being rooted in kindness, compassion and community actions.

View the free Be Rooted resources, along with the a whole range of our other resources here.