The BBC has announced that it will begin broadcasting educational content across its various channels - including BBC Two and CBBC - for both primary and secondary-aged children during the current lockdown period.

Starting from Monday 11 January, it said there would be three hours of primary-aged shows including BBC Live Lessons and Bitesize Daily Lessons on its CBBC channel each weekday. This will include content such as Horrible Histories, Art Ninja and Operation Ouch as well as occasional Celebrity Supply Teacher lessons.

Meanwhile, BBC Two will broadcast two hours of shows aimed at secondary-aged students, designed to support the GCSE curriculum, each weekday.

BBC TV shows to boost remote learning

This will be made up of content from its Bitesize Daily hub, as well as adaptations of dramas studied and history, science and other factual shows.

All content will be available on the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer services, too.

Tim Davie, BBC director-general, said that offering this depth of educational content was key to help provide as much focus on education as possible during this period of upheaval.

“Education is absolutely vital - the BBC is here to play its part and I’m delighted that we have been able to bring this to audiences so swiftly,” he said. 

The BBC also added that there is a raft of online content available on demand from its Bitesize service that has been expanded to offer structured lessons in English and maths, as well as on topics linked to where curriculums would be in the spring under normal circumstances.