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Free online learning resources

We have compiled a list of free resources that may be helpful for teachers, school leaders, parents/carers and young people.

Resources

Relating to coronavirus

Relating to home learning

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Resources for children who speak EAL:

Primary 

General

  • The Learning Zone (Oxford University Museum of Natural History website) - covers animals, fossils, insects, minerals, rocks.
  • Primary resources website - lesson plans, activity ideas and resources for primary teachers.
  • Classroom Secrets Kids website - platform for learning grammar, punctuation, spelling, maths, reading history (years 1-6).
  • Doorway online website - collection of interactive literacy games and numeracy activities.
  • Emotional ABCs website - teach children ages 4-11, how to figure out what they are feeling, why they are having that emotion, and how to make better choices.
  • Pobble 365 website - ‘One picture. One teaching resource. Every day.’
  • Home Learning Resources (Teacher’s pet website) - provides thousands of resources for KS1 and KS2.
  • Learning at home (TTS website) - home learning activity booklets for Early Years, KS1 and KS2.
  • Twinkl website - 500,000+ teacher-created materials and resources.

Art

Literacy

Numeracy

Physical education

  • Jump Start Jonny website - weekly workouts and activities (a paid site with access to some free activities).

Science

  • Wild days website - daily outdoor learning activities for children aged 4-11. Created by Earthwatch, with Michaela Strachan and Nick Baker.
  • Science Investigations on The Robertson Programme website (Canada). Inquiry-based teaching in Maths and Science.
  • Climate Kids on NASA website - produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • IPP Science for kids (PDF, 1MB) on the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (Germany): A workbook about Energy and Fusion.
  • That Science Lady website - lots of resources, including home discussion questions, enquiry questions and careers information.
  • GrowEatGift website - 30 ways to go wild with science.
  • Retrieval roulette (via Google drive) - Q&A sheets for Primary Science years 1 to 6, by Louise Cass and Mr Badham.

Secondary

General

  • Retrieval Roulettes (A Chemical Orthodoxy website) - a list of Q&A spreadsheets for retrieval practice, including History, English Lit, IB Business Management, A-level Psychology, RE, Sociology, Philosophy, and lots on science.

Business studies

  • Starter High (Brian Hamilton Foundation website) - guidance for teenagers on how to start businesses.

English

  • Remote learning @SPryke2 (via dropbox) – revision guides and remote learning guides for GCSE English lit – Christmas Carol, Inspector Calls, MacBeth.

Maths

Modern foreign languages

Science

  • Antibubbles (Born to Engineer website) - video clips, practical activities, worksheets and further reading for KS3.
  • Climate Change: How Do We Know? (NASA website) - scientific evidence for warming of the climate system.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

  • Smallpeice website - engineering projects for children aged 11-17.

General secondary and primary

  • BBC Bitesize on BBC website - provides interactive activities mapped against the national curricula for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Covers Early Years, Primary, Secondary and 16+.
  • Make Any Room a Classroom (BrainPOP website) - resources on a range of subjects, both traditional school-based subjects and topical subjects.
  • Coursera website - an American online learning platform that offers massive open online courses (MOOC), specialisations, and degrees in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.
  • Learning Activities (Children’s University of Manchester website) - a suite of activities and resources covering History, Languages, Science, Art and Design, and student life.
  • Discovery education (US-based) website - videos, activities, printable resources on a wide range of topics. (some free content available).
  • Encyclopedia Britannica website - a range of quizzes, videos and news on topical issues.
  • Resources for teachers, parents and children (The Economist Educational Foundation website) - a range of classroom resources on politicians and power, general elections, the News, the Climate emergency, knife crime etc.
  • Go Noodle (app) - movement and mindfulness exercises for kids. 
  • Kahoot website - a platform where you can create quizzes, or use quizzes made by others. Children can play individually or in teams. Requires two screens.
  • Kahoot distance learning website - a handy guide to distance learning (PDF).
  • Khan academy website - a vast library of online learning courses. 
  • Kids encyclopedia facts (Kiddle website): an encyclopedia for kids.
  • Kialo website - a public discussion platform designed to facilitate reasoned debates about complex topics online.
  • Learning by questions website - a wide-ranging resource covering English, Maths, Science at primary and secondary. Designed to be an in-class teaching and learning tool but can be used to deliver question sets to pupils at home.
  • MemRise website - an interactive platform for learning languages.
  • Myths and legends website - provides information, activities and resources for teachers.
  • Panjango website - a careers-based experiential learning platform to help children learn about the world of work. 
  • Scholastic Learn at Home on the Classroom Magazine website (US-based) - learn at Home, 20 day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing. 
  • Seneca website - a huge range of online courses and resources covering a wide range of courses, from primary to 16+. Also includes CPD for teachers.
  • Home Learning Hub (Skills builder website) - activities designed to help young people develop the essential skills they need to succeed - whatever their path in life.
  • Ideas for kids (Smart School House website) - Lots of creative ideas for craft projects to do at home.
  • Summer Camp Hub website - virtual summer camps.
  • Travel and Leisure website - virtual tours of 12 famous museums. 
  • Typing club website - learn to touch type.
  • Young writers website - regular writing competitions for primary and secondary age children.
  • Quizlet website - a website and app that provides learning tools, games and interactive flashcards covering topics on a wide range of subjects and difficulty levels.

Computing

  • DF Robot website - a range of electronics projects you can do at home. 

English

  • Learning from home (The Poetry Society website) - celebrates poetry with a range of events, educational programmes, and resources. Includes a dedicated ‘Learning from Home’ page, which links to a wide variety of resources for students, from Year 1 to Further Education.

Science

  • Home learning projects (CREST Awards website) - a range of home learning science projects for children aged 5-18.
  • Space to Learn (ISSET website) - every Tuesday, at 2pm British Summer Time, there is a live-stream Q&A session with astronauts on the International Space Station. Astronaut Steve Swanson says "Just like many people on Earth right now, astronauts live in self-isolation on the International Space Station. Tune in to learn how I made Space fun and ask me your favourite ‘space’ question!"
  • Earth School (TED Ed website) - offers daily adventures or quests  that help children understand and celebrate our natural world, while learning about how dependent we are on our planet. Every weekday between Earth Day (April 22nd) and World Environment Day (June 5th).
  • Teaching resource: What is archaeology? The history beneath our feet (The Museum of London Archaeology website) - a cross-curricular project, suitable for children aged 7-13.

YouTube 

There are many channels with educational courses for children and adults alike. Here are just a few:

For teachers and school leaders  

  • African Kingdoms website - a suite of resources for teachers planning to teach West African history. Aimed at British teachers from KS2 through to KS5.
  • Education City website - teaching resources on a range of topics for children aged three to 11. 

You will also find source materials based on one of our colleagues' national research on professional learning communities and self-assessment tools for school leaders and for teachers based on our research on evidence-informed teaching.

Source materials

Familiarisation and deepening understanding

Audit

Action

Monitoring and evaluation

Evidence-informed teaching: self-assessment tools

These tools are a product of a two-year study commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), Evidence-informed teaching: an evaluation of progress in England, to assess progress towards an evidence-informed teaching system. We would like to acknowledge the support from the DfE in commissioning the study, and were delighted to partner with the Chartered College of Teaching to publish the tools.

Disclaimer

Note that you use all content at your own risk. Resources made available through the lists are subject to third party terms and conditions and copyright law. Access to resources is in most cases free of charge, but it is your responsibility to check whether you have to pay to view and / or copy specific content contained within the resources.

 

Contact us

UCL Centre for Educational Leadership
Department of Learning and Leadership
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

email: UCLCEL@ucl.ac.uk

 

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Reflections and conversations to enhance policy, learning and wellbeing

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