Year 3 HASS – Term 1 (WA Curriculum): Our Community's Story - Past and Present

What this unit covers

In Term 1, Year 3 HASS in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Our Community's Story - Past and Present”.

Students explore how different cultural groups have shaped their local community and investigate significant Australian events, symbols and celebrations that contribute to our shared identity.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. What do we already know about our community's history?
2. Discovering the first peoples of our local area
3. How different cultural groups built our community
4. Comparing our community with another Australian community
5. Australia's special symbols and what they mean
6. How we celebrate and remember important Australian events
7. Researching community history using different sources
8. Recording and sharing our community's story

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Skills codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 1

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 1 runs from Monday 2 February to Thursday 2 April — 9 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.