With so many home learning tools, apps and lesson plans available, you may be seeking a shortlist of DfE approved resources to suggest to parents for home learning. Online resources such as these give you the tools to support parents during school closures and enhance remote lessons in creative ways, whilst following the National Curriculum. Many resources have been launched specifically, or made more accessible, during school closures.

The following list of free educational resources can be used to support learning at home, as well as in classrooms. They are all easy to follow and ideal for parents to stimulate home learning, whilst following exam boards and national curricular.

For ease, we’ve sorted them by primary and secondary school age:

Resources for Key Stage 1 and 2 (KS1 and KS2)

BBC Teach — Primary

BBC Teach offers free classroom resources to schools throughout the UK. It is an entire website containing thousands of free curriculum-mapped videos. The primary section contains classroom resources for teaching Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and at 1st and 2nd Level in Scotland.

Content is specifically designed by curriculum experts, written by curriculum authors, and follows the National Curriculum.

BBC Bitesize — daily lessons for primary

BBC Bitesize has launched daily lesson plans for homeschooling primary age pupils in maths and English, as well as regular lessons in science, history and geography.

Lessons are broken down by appropriate age, key state and region so they follow the National Curriculum. Primary Bitesize covers core subjects including English, Welsh, maths, science, history and geography.

Jolly Phonics

As one of the Department of Education’s validated phonics programmes, Jolly Phonics enables primary school children to discover the main 42 letter sounds of English.

With a new edition specifically for parents during school closures, Jolly Phonics provides guidance to parents who may be new to phonics.

Numberblocks

Numberblocks, on the CBeebies website, aims to give young pupils a head start in Maths: everything parents need to know about Numeracy development from 0-6 with fun activities you can build into everyday life and play.

The ‘Help your child be epic at maths’ section includes videos for numeracy development designed for children aged 0 to 6. There are fun activities that can be applied to everyday life and play. for primary school children, and younger.

Resources for Key Stage 3 and 4 (KS3 and KS4)

White Rose Maths

White Rose Maths is a small group of teachers and mathematicians dedicated to developing pupils’ maths education.

In partnership with BBC Bitesize and the National Curriculum, White Rose Maths has developed a 12-week home learning programme for the summer term. This scheme is designed to help children be ready for their next year of school.

Every lesson comes with a short video showing parents clearly and simply how to help their children complete the activity. Also, the White Rose Maths team is online every weekday between 10.00 and 11.00am to share questions, examples and stories via their social media channels.

BBC Teach — secondary

BBC Teach offers free classroom resources to schools throughout the UK. It is an entire website containing thousands of free curriculum-mapped videos, arranged by age-group and subject. It also includes a specific section to support teachers’ mental health.

Content is specifically designed by curriculum experts, written by curriculum authors, and follows the National Curriculum.

BBC Bitesize — daily lessons for secondary

BBC Bitesize has also launched daily lesson plans for homeschooling secondary age pupils in Maths and English, as well as regular lessons in Science, History and Geography.

Secondary Bitesize follows exam board specifications for the main exam boards in the UK, including for GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4, National 5 & Highers in Scotland, ensuring students are preparing for the right exams.

Lessons are broken down by exam level, and feature a mix of videos, animations, practice activities, quizzes and games.

English and Media Centre

The English and Media Centre is a development centre, serving the needs of secondary teachers and students of English and Media Studies in the UK.

Their website currently includes downloadable resources covering a range of texts for English key stage 3 and a home learning pack. GCSE resources are categorised by examination board.

Working and supporting parents through school closures is a challenging time for teachers, but with these free resources, your pupils will be inspired to learn and well-supported until they are back in their classrooms.