The Social Impact Diploma
Real service. Real community. A real qualification.
The programme that turns local service into an Ofqual-regulated Level 3 diploma, run in a slot that suits your school.
What is it?
A five-module course students complete in weekly sessions, built around one real service project in their own community. They finish with the NOCN Level 3 Diploma in Social Impact and Community Engagement: 16 UCAS points, plus indicative US and European credit.
The service experience is the practice ground. The lasting value lies in the mindsets, capabilities and agency learners carry forward.
Why do it?
For students
A regulated qualification on their university application, plus capabilities that outlast one project: self-leadership, working across difference, making things happen and understanding the bigger picture.
For your school
A high-quality CCA with an accredited outcome, and service learning you can evidence to parents and at accreditation visits.
For the community
Projects shaped around what local partners actually need, not what looks good in photos.
How does it work?
Five steps, from first session to certificate.
- 1
Prepare
Modules 1–3 in your weekly sessions: Mindset, Motivation and Making It Happen.
- 2
Engage
Module 4, Momentum, in the field: a real local service project, with at least three full days of service.
- 3
Reflect
Module 5, Meaning: back home, students look at what changed and what they would do differently.
- 4
Evidence
Students submit their final pieces. CGCS marks them all.
- 5
Progress
Certificates issued through NOCN, an invitation to our awards ceremony, and a plan for what they do next.
The 5 Ms
How students grow, stop by stop
- Prepare
- Engage
- Reflect
- Evidence
- Progress
The question students answer
How do I enter responsibly?
What it builds
Cultural humility, ethical participation
Where it happens
Weekly sessions, weeks 1–3
Students examine their motivations, skills and readiness, and what they actually bring to the work.
Weeks 1–3 · about 6 hours
Week by week
Week 1
Why service, why me
In the session
Orientation and a walk through the learning platform. Students audit the skills, motivations and expectations they arrive with.
Students produce
Opening journal entry: what I bring, and what I want to change
Week 2
Values, identity and position
In the session
Guided discussion on position and assumption. A case study of a well-meant project that did harm, and why.
Students produce
Journal entry on assumptions about the host community
Week 3
Strengths, gaps and goals
In the session
A skills inventory and a peer feedback round. Students set personal goals for the project ahead.
Students produce
Personal readiness statement
Use the arrow keys to move between stops.
Evidence is collected throughout, not only at the end.
Capabilities students build
- Self-leadership
- Working across difference
- Making things happen
- Understanding the bigger picture
- Reflection and continued action
Why it's different
Regulated, not homemade. Ofqual-regulated and awarded through NOCN.
No marking for your staff. Every assessment is marked by CGCS.
Fits around what students already do. It builds on service they're already planning instead of adding a new programme.
Evidence all the way through. Growth is collected across the course, not only at the end.
Ready for next term. The course, platform and training already exist.
Students must be 14 or older to be awarded the diploma, so it suits Years 10–13 (Grades 9–12). Coursework is done on our online learning platform. Awarded as the Level 3 Diploma in Social Impact and Community Engagement.