When we began lockdown, there was a plethora of resources for younger primary school-aged kids, whereas initially, there seemed to be a dearth of resources for secondary-aged child. However, after having a dig about, and a callout to twitter, I’ve managed to find some great stuff to keep those teenage-minds ticking, here’s my list of educational resources for secondary school children during lockdown.
English
I remember someone saying to me that you don’t understand Shakespeare until you’ve been to The Globe, and having made my first visit there a couple of years ago, I completely concur – a trip here puts a whole new perspective to the plays. Obviously, there’s no going there at the moment, but they are screening plays on their streaming platform Globe Player. My daughter has been studying MacBeth so she’ll be watching this soon!
This is a good post on accessing free books online.
Other fun English activities my kids have enjoyed is doing the Quick Crossword in The Guardian!
Maths
Dr Frost Maths is a free platform with tonnes of practice exam questions, worksheets and helpful videos.
And of course, Soduku is always great!
Science
The Royal Museums Greenwich have a whole set of resources on astronomy available on their website, described by the education team as a ‘ … a brilliant set of resources for both teachers and parents that has been put together with the help of our teacher’s forum. Also our astronomy education team is made of real astronomers, so a fun way to teach science’.
Miss Cunningham on Instagram is doing live chemistry lessons.
Computer Science
No time like the present to learn Coding! The Code Academy offer courses and the younger secondary school aged kids might like Detective Dot. Please note, there is a charge for these.
Art
My son loves art, and I don’t mind saying I am useless at practical art, but have quite a good knowledge on art history! For help on the practical side, I have found Tate Kids art full of good ideas. I recently went to the Andy Warhol exhibition, and the children’s resources surrounding this exhibition are great – perfect for a secondary school child. It has been announced the on the 6th April, there will be a free online tour of the exhibition. There are also resources which you can bolster with art history lessons on Turner and Picasso.
Alternatively, enrol them in Stop Motion Camp ($60) for a lifetime of resources!
Don’t forget to look at the huge resource that is Google’s Arts and Culture – visit galleries, look at artwork in depth, do art activities at home, look at architecture … the list is exhaustive!
Geography
My son loves PlayGeography.com, which is a site which gets you guessing flags, locations and provinces.
History
Dan Snow has a series of videos on the History Hit YouTube channel, covering WW1, the history of pandemics (topical) and The Black Death. For a whole plethora of videos, article and podcasts, head to History Hit TV website.
The Historic Palaces have online resources that follow the curriculum for Henry VIII and The Norman White Tower. Delve into their resources for KS3 and KS4
Any fashion-loving teen will enjoy the Royal Fashion course from Future Learn, which is free to enrol in.
Drama
What’s better than a drama department trip to the theatre? The theatres may be dark, but their broadcasts are keeping performances alive! Head to The National Theatre who are streaming 1 Gentleman, 2 Guvnors. The accompanying education pack helps explore the play a bit more. Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night and Treasure Island are also scheduled to be streamed. Find all the resources accompanying the plays online too.
Design and Technology
Without all the fancy machinery (my son’s school are making face masks currently), secondary DT is hard. But take on a project like pop up cards, Pinterest has loads of ideas varying in complexity.
If your child is missing regular Wagamamas, maybe now is the time to teach them how to make a Chicken Katsu curry under Food Tech! See their online video for instructions
Modern Languages
Improve or even learn a new language on the free Duo Lingo app. Also, Audible are offering free books, so download one in Spanish, French, German and see how you get on!
PE
There’s a guy called Joe Wicks … have you heard of him?! If they are not too enamoured by him, my daughter loved Yoga with Adrienne, and my son and I do blasts of Lucy Wyndham Reed for quick workouts.
Surrey Cricket Academy are posting a drill a day on their twitter account – fingers crossed for the cricket season!
I hope that gives you a few ideas, and as ever – give me some of yours!
Other useful resources Helen at Actually Mummy with her 60+ things for teens to do during lockdown, Museum Mum’s post about available resources from museums and Diary of Londoness’s post on online culture that she updates regularly. Also see how I am keeping my sporty kids active and making sure my ballet-mad girl gets her fix.
From the 20th April, BBC bitesize will be running daily lessons in the core subjects.
The department for Education has also released a list of resources
We all love a school trip and The Evening Standard have produced a list of museums doing online tours.
Youtube have gathered content in YouTube Learning for teens.
