David Farnor | On 22, Jan 2021

The BBC has openEd its doors once again to its homeschooling initiative, Bitesize Daily. The virtual learning push, which began in 2020 during the first coronavirus lockdown, brings together more than 200 teachers and a host of celebrities to help parents provide curriculum-based learning for kids in years 1 to 10 across the UK.

Running for 14 weeks in collaboration with education specialists, it included Professor Brian Cox teaching key science topics including force and gravity, Manchester City footballer Sergio Aguero getting kids counting in Spanish, music stars Mabel and Liam Payne combining music and reading for secondary school kids, Ed Balls going back to his economics roots to deliver a KS3 maths class, and direct descendant of King Edward III Danny Dyer delivering the facts on Henry VIII as he brought history to KS1 pupils. And some stuff from Sir David Attenborough too.

In 2021, the BBC is throwing its net wider by making dedicated slots available on BBC Two as well as CBBC for its educational programming. Parents should be aware, however, that this consists of repeats from the content broadcast in 2020, which means that those who followed through the Beeb’s TV lessons in detail will essentially be replaying them all. Welsh language packages are broadcast on S4C every day from Monday 18th January, and are also available on BBC iPlayer.

But for those who haven’t the resources are wide-reaching, structured and cover a broad range of topics. You’ll get specific themed content for English, science and creativity, but also stars such as David Walliams, Pixie Lott, Jodie Kidd, Dina Asher-Smith and Scarlett Moffatt reading a selection of key texts for Celebrity Book Club (Primary) and The Big Read (Secondary).

Away from the TV, the Bitesize Daily website has worked with partners from the worlds of sport, arts and museum to provide lessons and activities to try at home. Resources have been curated for teachers, parents and pupils from such organisations as Pearson, SAM Learning, Classroom Secrets, Times Tables Rock Stars, Sparx, TES, Twinkl, GCSE Pod and Britannica Learning.

Here’s how it works:

BBC Bitesize on iPlayer

All of the programmes recorded and produced in 2020 are available on-demand as 20-minute chunks, targeting six age groups from 5 to 14. These shows are aimed at all children across the UK and split into age groups: 5-7 years, 7-9 years, 9-11 years, 11- 12, 12-13 years and 13-14 years.

The whole collection is here – or find the group of programmes you need here:

Age 5 to 7 – click here
Age 7 to 9 – click here
Age 9 to 11 – click here
Age 11 to 12 – click here
Age 13 to 14 – click here
Scotland – click here
Northern Ireland – click here
Wales – click here

BBC Bitesize on TV – CBBC

From Monday 11th January CBBC will broadcast three hours of primary school programmes from 9am every weekday. They will include BBC Bitesize Daily, as well as other shows with an educational twist, such as Our School, Celebrity Supply Teacher, Horrible Histories and more.

What is broadcast in each age-appropriate slot is a repeat of the 20-minute programmes already available on BBC iPlayer. The Week 1 (from 11th January schedule is a repeat of Week 8 on BBC iPlayer. The Week 2 (from 18th January) schedule was a repeat of Week 6 on BBC iPlayer. Week 3 (from 25th January) will be a daily repeat of Week 9 on BBC iPlayer.

The timetable currently breaks down as follows:

9am – Age 5 to 7
9.20am – Age 7 to 9
9.40am – Age 9 to 11
10.05am – Celebrity Supply Teacher
10.15am – Horrible Histories
10.45am – Our School
11.05am – Art Ninja
11.30am – Operation Ouch!

BBC Bitesize on TV – BBC Two

Secondary students will be able to watch two hours of programmes supporting the curriculum on BBC Two every weekday. These will be complemented by drama adaptations, as well as relevant BBC science, history and factual programmes.

These are broken down into two slots: at 1pm, a session that repeats the programming broadcast last year, split into three sections per age group (approximately 1pm for age 11-12, 1.20pm for age 12-13 and 1.40pm for age 13-14).

Compiled into one hour-long magazine show, it comprises two core plus a humanities subject, plus daily reading and recommended BBC Bitesize resources.

The Week 1 schedule is a repeat from May 2020, and the Week 2 schedule is repeat from July 2020. You can see the original magazine show episodes on BBC iPlayer here.

From 2pm, the education programming breaks down as follows:

Week 1 (from 11th January)
The Planets
Available until: June 2021

Week 2 (from 18th January)
Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths
Available until: 16th February 2021
The Joy of Data with Hannah Fry
Available until: 19th February 2021
Calculating Ada
Available until: 20th February 2021

Week 3 (from 25th January)
Inside the Human Body
Available from Monday 25th January
The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed
Available from Thursday 28th January

BBC Bitesize Online

From the Bitesize Daily website, parents and children will be directed online to BBC Bitesize for additional resources – these include curated videos, quizzes, podcasts and worksheets to bring to life core curriculum subjects such as Maths, English and Science, as well as being offered suggestions on how to extend learning around the home.

Parents and children will also find resources for other subjects such as history, geography and art. The online content will complement the TV programmes with video, quizzes, infographics and articles that help children to build on the learning from each broadcast. The website will also house guides offering help to parents about how to teach their child, advice for effective home schooling, and guides for pupils with SEN (Special Education Needs).

Dive in to the online collection here

 

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