In 2014, the Commonwealth Class project produced this exciting pack to celebrate the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The pack contains cross-curricular activities, short films and discussion guides with learning outcomes that link to key skills, curriculum subjects and Commonwealth values.

We have developed a series of resources, in partnership with The Royal Society, to enhance science learning in schools. This fourth resource in the Commonwealth Science Class series is centred on the topic of global food security and is packed with activity ideas to help your students investigate and explore the subject in more depth. Before downloading the resource, and to help you get started, we recommend you watch the accompanying video with your class: https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/classroom-resources/list/global-food-security-how-can-we-feed-growing-population

These lesson plans have been produced in partnership with First News to introduce your class to the important work of the Commonwealth and its values. The lesson plans aim to encourage schools around the world to celebrate the Commonwealth and its inclusive values and principles that unite the 53 member states. You can explore the social similarities and differences between countries through their flags and stories from children. The lesson plans also introduces the Commonwealth Charter, helping to contextualise the work of the Commonwealth across the world to your students.

This Shakespeare Lives schools’ pack has been created by the British Council in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Specially designed to encourage learning across the curriculum, the resource is split into five key themes; Leadership and Power, Family and Relationships, Identity and Equality, Fate and Destiny, Justice and Rules. Throughout the pack you will find a variety of participative activities for pupils aged 7-14. These activities can be used as starting points in individual lessons, as elements of a cross-curricular project which could be carried out with a partner school overseas, or as standalone activities.

Explore conflicts across the world through this innovative teaching resource. The Nerve Centre has put together five lessons that describe and summarise conflicts that have taken place in Northern Ireland, India, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and South Africa. In each lesson, students will be provided with information about the country and a background to the issues which fuelled conflict within that country. Each lesson provides students with opportunities to learn through questioning and investigation based active learning methodologies and links to a series of archive images, audio and video. The digital tasks provided will enable students to form creative expressions of the learning that they have developed around international conflict. For the full suite of Teaching Divided Histories resources on conflict and to download individual lessons please see the Teaching Divided Histories website . (The resource has been uploaded with the permission of the Nerve Centre).

In China, young people hoping to go to university must excel in the Gaokao - a very tough entrance exam. This film follows Ma Li, 18, who is one of the 9.15 million Chinese high school students about to start studying for the exams. For Ma Li, and many like her, the exams will be the culmination of an exhausting year of cramming and revision. The pressure is high, with some schools going to increasingly extreme lengths to boost exam results.

Nada, 13, and Mina, 12, go to different schools with different head teachers in Keseljac, Bosnia Herzegovina. But the two schools are in the same building. This is known as ‘Two Schools Under One Roof’. After the Bosnian war ended in 1995, this kind of school was set up as the first step to bring people back together. But after so many years, it’s keeping them apart. Most of the Bosnian Muslim pupils here - like Nada - want the two schools to merge. But Croat pupils - like Mina – are concerned that they will lose their identity.

Inspired by a friendship, 12-year-old Oli from Bangladesh is campaigning against child marriage. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. The issue is a huge problem in the country, with 20% of girls becoming wives before their 15th birthday, even though 18 is the minimum age allowed by law. Oli became fed-up of seeing his friends dropping out of school and decided to do something about it. He and his friends tour the slum where they live, looking for girls at risk and educating their elders.

Oli is a 12-year-old boy from Bangladesh who is campaigning against child marriage. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. 20% of girls become wives before their 15th birthday, even though the law says that they should not get married before the age of 18. Oli became fed-up of seeing his friends dropping out of school and decided to do something about it. He and his friends tour the slum where they live, looking for girls at risk. They try to educate their elders by talking to them about why they shouldn’t marry off their daughters so young.

In China, young people hoping to go to university must do well in the notoriously difficult entrance exams, the ‘Gaokao’. Ma Li, age 18, is one of the 9.15 million Chinese high school students about to start studying for the exams. It’s a long, hard road, and both Ma Li and her family will have to make sacrifices if she is to do well. Follow Ma Li’s progress and find out why China’s university entrance exams, the ‘Gaokao’, are said to be the toughest in the world.

The Ragdoll Foundation is dedicated to developing the power of imaginative responses in children through the arts.‘What Makes Me Happy’ is a series of short, fun films showing that even where lives are difficult children can still find happiness. The films were produced in-country by working with the children themselves. These are their own stories about what makes them happy and we want to share them with you and as many children as possible around the world. There is so much you can learn about your own happiness and the happiness of others.

The Ragdoll Foundation is dedicated to developing the power of imaginative responses in children through the arts.‘What Makes Me Happy’ is a series of short, fun films showing that even where lives are difficult children can still find happiness. The films were produced in-country by working with the children themselves. These are their own stories about what makes them happy and we want to share them with you and as many children as possible around the world. There is so much you can learn about your own happiness and the happiness of others.

The Ragdoll Foundation is dedicated to developing the power of imaginative responses in children through the arts.‘What Makes Me Happy’ is a series of short, fun films showing that even where lives are difficult children can still find happiness. The films were produced in-country by working with the children themselves. These are their own stories about what makes them happy and we want to share them with you and as many children as possible around the world. There is so much you can learn about your own happiness and the happiness of others.

A description of Lloyd’s services to world shipping and the story of a voyage from Valparaiso to Hull. The S.S. Armadillo, ‘100 A 1’ at Lloyd’s sets out with a valuable cargo on her adventurous voyage; she is reported missing; her safe arrival is announced by the ringing of the famous Lutine Bell at Lloyd’s.

Keen to strike a balance between modern machinery and traditional hand-made skills, ‘Border Weave&’ shows the production of Scottish wool, in stunning Technicolor.

The Ragdoll Foundation is dedicated to developing the power of imaginative responses in children through the arts.‘What Makes Me Happy’ is a series of short, fun films showing that even where lives are difficult children can still find happiness. The films were produced in-country by working with the children themselves. These are their own stories about what makes them happy and we want to share them with you and as many children as possible around the world. There is so much you can learn about your own happiness and the happiness of others.

A series of short vignettes depicts how the people working in different industries across Britain, from coal mining to shipbuilding, continue to operate full-steam ahead. Designed to showcase the defiant strength and unity of the people supporting the war effort from home.

A British Newsreel compilation from various news sources.

A British Newsreel compilation from various news sources.

A British Newsreel compilation from various news sources.