Lockdown Learning: What educational resources are on TV, iPlayer and online?
- Published
As more children return to the classroom, the BBC has set out plans to continue providing learning support to teachers and pupils across the rest of the academic year.
It has already launched new programmes to help school children keep up with their studies during lockdown.
Since primary and secondary schools closed to most pupils across the UK in January, the BBC has been broadcasting daily lessons and educational programmes on CBBC, BBC Two and iPlayer, as well as offering extra content online.
What is the BBC offering?
Curriculum-based television programmes are running alongside the BBC Bitesize collection of educational resources, which provide online learning at home for pupils from Years 1 to 9 (P2 to S3 in Scotland), including those studying for GCSE and National exams.
On TV, there are three hours of primary school programming on CBBC every weekday, plus two hours for secondary pupils on BBC Two.
BBC Bitesize online material includes video lessons, worksheets, quizzes and games to support the curriculum, presented by year group and by topic.
For primary school pupils, CBBC broadcasts BBC Bitesize Daily as well as programmes such as Our School, Horrible Histories and Operation Ouch.
Bitesize Daily tackles a different subject each weekday, including maths, English, science and French. There are separate programmes for five-to-seven year-olds, seven-to-nine year-olds and those aged nine to 11.
The Celebrity Supply Teacher programme features guests including Strictly's Bruno Tonioli on Italian, Jockey Khadijah Mellah on horse riding, and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on sustainability,
In a new CBBC show, Ricky Wilson's Art Jam, the Kaiser Chief frontman and former art teacher talks to celebrity friends about their art passions, including former Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle, Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw and Joe Sugg. All episodes are now available on the BBC iPlayer.
BBC Two caters for secondary students, with new content to support the curriculum, including BBC Bitesize Secondary programmes plus drama adaptations, science, history and factual titles.
What support will be available across the rest of the school year?
The Bitesize Learning Zone will launch on CBBC and BBC iPlayer on 19 April. At first, the three-hour weekday slot will draw on themed archive material from BBC Education, CBBC and the BBC Natural History Unit, before new programmes begin in May.
The archive content will include short "Teacher Talks" videos which will explain core concepts around maths and English as well as live lessons and educational programmes from CBBC such as Top Class and Art Ninja.
There will also be new episodes of Bitesize Daily for primary school children from June until the end of the school year, split into three age groups as before. These will be designed for teachers to use in the classroom, or for children to use at home as catch-up lessons.
As well as the television programmes, there will be structured lessons on the BBC Bitesize website in Maths and English for primary school students, which will match the topics being taught in schools.
Episodes of Bitesize Daily Secondary will remain available on BBC iPlayer, as well as online Bitesize material for years 10 and 11.
How can I access it?
Online - learning resources for children of all ages can be found on the BBC Bitesize website.
TV - programming for primary school pupils is on CBBC between 09:00 and 12.00 every weekday. Programmes for secondary school pupils is on BBC Two, between 13:00 and 15:00.
Red Button - the Bitesize Daily lessons will also be shown on the Red Button service on TV.
iPlayer - all episodes will be available on catch-up, via iPlayer.
For primary and secondary pupils in Scotland, there is also dedicated programming online and on BBC Scotland from 10:00, every weekday for about two hours. This includes BBC Bitesize Scotland programmes.
For children studying in Welsh, there is bilingual support on the BBC Bitesize website, with activities to support home learning. Go to the "change language" button and select the Welsh language to access it. There are also Welsh language Bitesize programmes on iPlayer.
Pupils in Northern Ireland can go to the "Learning from home" section of the BBC Northern Ireland website to find more information to help their studies. There are also BBC Bitesize Northern Ireland programmes on iPlayer for primary pupils and secondary pupils.
Customers using BT Mobile, EE, and Plusnet Mobile can use BBC Bitesize content without eating into their data allowance.
More mobile companies are also expected to make such content free to use.
The BBC Bitesize Facebook, external and Twitter, external accounts are focusing on parents and teachers, including articles on supporting children's learning from home.
And the Bitesize Instagram, external and TikTok, external platforms are there for teenage students - offering both useful explainers and some material designed to make you smile.
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