For Schools

Real Australian stories. Clear thinking.
Ready for your classroom.

McClelland Academy offers animated courses on Australian history, civics, and critical thinking. Designed by experienced educators, our platform fosters resilience and clear understanding for students.

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STORIES STUDENTS
REMEMBER

Short animated films bring Australia's past to life through real people and places, from Gundagai to the outback.

THINKING,
NOT JUST FACTS

Courses teach students to weigh evidence, test an argument and reach their own conclusions.

READY TO
TEACH

Every course comes with teacher notes, curriculum links and assessment questions. Play it to the class or set it for independent study.

What's available now?

Title	Format	Suggested Years	Curriculum Links
Aboriginal Heroes of Gundagai	Animated film	3-9	HASS Yr 3 History (local community history); Yr 4 History (early contact); Yr 5 History (colonial life and significant people). CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Lennie and Ginger Mick	Animated film	3–9	English Yrs 3–9 (Literature: Australian literature, verse and vernacular language); History Yr 9 (World War I and Australian identity); HASS Yr 6 (Australian identity and citizenship)
Mabel of the Outback	Animated film	5–9	HASS Yr 5 History (colonial life and its effects on people and environment); Yr 5 Geography (factors shaping places); English Yrs 5–9 (Literature: narrative)
Why I Left Greenpeace: Dr Patrick Moore	Filmed course	5–10	Science as a Human Endeavour Yrs 5–10 (how scientific claims are tested and debated); Geography Yr 10 (environmental change and management); Civics Yr 8 (how groups influence public debate); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking. CCP: Sustainability
One Photo; Three Stories	Animated short film	7–12	English Yrs 7–10 (Literacy: how texts position audiences; point of view); HASS skills Yrs 7–10 (interpreting and evaluating sources and perspectives); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking, Digital Literacy. Yrs 11–12: English, Modern History
Zuby: Lessons on Life, Liberty and Freedom	Filmed course	5–12	HPE Yrs 5–10 (Personal, social and community health: identities, resilience, healthy choices); Civics Yrs 8–10 (freedoms and rights); GC: Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding. Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Philosophy and Ethics
The Great Barrier Reef: Record-High Coral and Misinformation: Dr Peter Ridd	Filmed course	5–12	Science Yr 9 (ecosystems); Science as a Human Endeavour Yrs 5–10 (evaluating claims, data and scientific debate); Geography Yr 7 and Yr 10 (environments, environmental change); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking. CCP: Sustainability. Yrs 11–12: Biology, Earth and Environmental Science
Comfortable Being Uncomfortable	Spoken-word course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (Personal, social and community health: resilience, coping with challenge); GC: Personal and Social Capability (self-management); Critical and Creative Thinking. Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Philosophy
The Locus of Control: Owning What’s Yours	Spoken-word course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (Personal, social and community health: decision-making, help-seeking, mental health and wellbeing); GC: Personal and Social Capability (self-awareness, self-management). Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Psychology
The Anchored Self: Knowing Who You Are	Spoken-word course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (Personal, social and community health: identities and change); GC: Personal and Social Capability (self-awareness); Ethical Understanding. Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Psychology, Philosophy
Character Over Category: The Virtues That Have Always Mattered	Spoken-word course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (identities, respectful relationships); GC: Ethical Understanding (exploring values and virtues), Personal and Social Capability; Civics Yrs 8–10 (shared values in a diverse society). Yrs 11–12: Philosophy and Ethics, Religion and Ethics
Antifragile You: Growing Stronger from Setbacks	Spoken-word course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (Personal, social and community health: resilience, responding to setbacks); GC: Personal and Social Capability (self-management). Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Psychology
Human Nature Applies To ALL	Filmed short course	5–10	History Yrs 7–10 (continuity and change; perspectives across societies); GC: Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding, Critical and Creative Thinking. Yrs 11–12: Philosophy and Ethics, Modern History
Closing the Gap for Aboriginal Australians	Filmed course	6–12	Civics Yrs 9–10 (government policy-making; rights and responsibilities); Geography Yr 10 (geographies of human wellbeing); Economics and Business Yrs 9–10; GC: Critical and Creative Thinking. CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. Yrs 11–12: Legal Studies, Politics, Aboriginal Studies
The Seen & the Unseen	Filmed course	9–12	Economics and Business Yrs 9–10 (economic decision-making, consequences of policy); Civics Yrs 9–10 (government and policy); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking. Yrs 11–12: Economics, Business Studies, Philosophy
Australian education, decade by decade	Video series	Educators	Teacher professional learning (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 6); classroom use: History Yrs 9–10 (Australian society in the 20th century)

Available in 2027

Title	Format	Suggested Years	Curriculum Links
The Real History of Slavery	Animated film	6–12	History Yr 8 (medieval and early modern societies); Yr 9 (the movement of peoples, including slavery and convict transportation); Yr 10 (rights and freedoms); GC: Ethical Understanding. Yrs 11–12: Modern History, Ancient History
Duel & Battle: The Uncommon History of Aboriginal Warfare	Animated film	8–12	History Yr 7 (deep time history of Australia); Yr 9 (contact and conflict in the making of the Australian nation); HASS skills (evaluating sources and perspectives). CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. Yrs 11–12: Modern History, Aboriginal Studies
You Are Not Your Group: Building an Identity from the Inside Out	Animated course	8–12	HPE Yrs 8–10 (Personal, social and community health: identities and change); GC: Personal and Social Capability, Intercultural Understanding, Ethical Understanding. Yrs 11–12: Health/HPE, Philosophy and Ethics, Psychology
Drought and Aboriginal Survival	Animated course	7–12	Geography Yr 7 (water in the world); History Yr 7 (deep time history of Australia); Science Yr 7 (Earth resources, water); CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Sustainability. Yrs 11–12: Geography, Aboriginal Studies

Other courses in development

Title	Format	Suggested Years	Curriculum Links
The Great Rising of the Seas: inspired by Geoffrey Blainey	Animated film	3–9	HASS Yr 4 (Aboroginal Peoples, Country and Place); History Yr 7 (deep time history of Australia); Geography Yr 8 (landforms and landscapes); Science Yr 8–9 (Earth's changing surface). CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Disappearing Megafauna	Animated film	3–9	Science Yrs 3–6 (living things, adaptation and environments); Science as a Human Endeavour (how scientific ideas change with new evidence); History Yr 7 (deep time history of Australia). CCP: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Creating a Bill of Rights for Australia: From the Magna Carta to Modern Rights	Animated film	5–9	HASS Yr 6 Civics (Australia's democracy and Westminster heritage); Civics Yr 7 (the Constitution); Yr 8 (freedoms and how laws are made); Yr 9 (the courts and rights); History Yr 8 (medieval Europe)
The Courage to Be Wrong: Why We Cling and How to Let Go	Animated film	5–10	GC: Critical and Creative Thinking (reflecting on thinking, changing views with evidence); Personal and Social Capability; HPE Yrs 5–10 (personal identity and decision-making)
Think Again: How to Spot a Narrative	Animated film	5–10	English Yrs 5–10 (Literacy: persuasive language and how texts position readers); HASS skills (evaluating sources and perspectives); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking, Digital Literacy
Who Told You That? Tracing Ideas Back to Their Source	Animated film	5–10	HASS skills Yrs 5–10 (questioning, researching and evaluating sources); English Yrs 5–10 (Literacy: evaluating information and its reliability); GC: Critical and Creative Thinking, Digital Literacy

See a complete unit

Browse one full unit as your teachers would use it: the videos, unit guide, lesson plan, question bank and further reading.

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One subscription, the whole school

Access for every teacher and student, on any classroom screen or device
Unit guides, lesson plans and further reading for each course
Printable question banks and quizzes teachers can set in Google Forms
Every new course as it is released, at no extra cost
Direct support from the founder

Founding School Partnership

We're inviting our first 10 schools to join as Founding Partners. Founding schools lock in a reduced rate until the end of 2029 and help shape what we make next.

School Size	Founding Rate (per year, ex GST)
Up to 300 students	$900
300–700 students	$1,500
Over 700 students	$2,200
Hub of schools	$2,000 for the first school + $600 per additional school

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Questions principals ask Who writes the courses? Sam McClelland, a Victorian classroom teacher, writes every course. Courses draw on primary sources and are animated by our production team in partnership with two animation universities. How does it fit the curriculum? Each course maps to the Australian Curriculum v9, mainly HASS, History, Civics and Citizenship, and the Critical and Creative Thinking and Personal and Social Capability general capabilities. Can we preview everything before a class sees it? Yes. Trial schools get full staff access from day one, so teachers can review every course first. Do you collect student data? No. Students do not create accounts or submit personal information. What if the platform doesn't suit us? The trial term is free and carries no obligation. Paid subscriptions can be cancelled at any time before renewal.

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