Supporting Learning at Home

• BBC Bitesize
  Comprehensive range of curriculum based learning resources for all ages
• Khan Academy
  Especially good for maths and computing for all ages and other subjects at Secondary level. Note this uses the U.S. grade system but most material is relevant to the UK curriculum.
• Seneca Learning
  Free curriculum based content covering a range of subjects from year 3 upwards. Higher level content requires a subscription. Useful for revision or those wanting to fill gaps in their learning.
• Twinkl
  Teacher created resources including lesson plans and home learning tasks. A month of free access to parents  (use promo ‘UKTWINKLHELPS’ from BBC Bitesize).
• National Geographic (Kids)
  A range of high quality resources including games, videos, fun-facts, crafts and activities relating to animals, countries, science and world events and features.

• Geography Games
  Free geography games for all ages.

• Planet Science
  Free & fun Science resources for children, young people, teachers and parents.
• Crest Awards
  For a small fee (between £1 and £10) children of all ages can sign up to take part in challenging and thought provoking STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) projects.
• Blockly
  Learn all about computer programming. 
• Tinkercad
  Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. For children of all ages it can be used to to imagine, design, and make anything!
• Duolingo
  Learn languages for free with short, easy to follow modules. (NB does not work in Internet Explorer)
• The Kids Should See This
  Educational videos on a wide range of subjects for all ages.
• Mystery Science
  Free science lessons aimed to inspire primary age children to love science! Older children might enjoy these as well.
• Scratch
  Site which enables users to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share their creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
• Maths Chase
  Games to practise times tables with optional time limits and the opportunity to improve on your previous records.
• Corona Virus – A book for Children by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson and Nia Roberts (in consultation with Professor Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine).

• Up to Ten
  A range of colourful educational games and activities for early years children.
• CBeebies
  Colourful interactive educational activities for younger children.
• Cbeebies Radio
  Inspiring and stimulating listening activities for Primary age children.
• Toy Theater
  Educational online games for Primary age children
• Oxford Owl for Home
  High quality reading, English and maths resources for for children aged 3 to 11. Includes and extensive library of free ebooks and guidance for parents and carers.
• Brainpop Junior
  Free  access during school closures to a range of educational topics using games, quizzes and a variety of activities.
• Crash Course Kids Primary
  Short video-cartoons on a range of science subjects. New videos added regularly.
• Hungry Little Minds
  Supported by the DfE – activities and ideas for parents/carers to engage in with children from birth to five years old. Includes  links to a variety of other Early Years online resources including apps for phones and tablets.
• Dogonalog 
  Printable resources for struggling readers- downloadable
• Teach Your Monster to Read Early Years
  Award winning phonics’ and early reading game. Promoted and used by Oxfordshire schools. Free to register.
• Prodigy Maths
  Uses the US grades but good quality materials for UK Primary age.
• ICT Games
  Maths and English games and printable resources developed by a teacher and based on the UK Primary curriculum.

• Mangahigh 
  Mangahigh's scientific maths games bring maths games to life! Try them now and find out what all the fuss is about. Fun problem solving maths for secondary age children.
• Alice 
  Alice is a 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is freely available and allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects.
• Englishbiz 
  Useful resource for supporting GCSE English. Englishbiz is an educational web site created, written and run by an English teacher. It consists of a series of web pages that provide up-to-date help. The focus is on the skills of analysis and writing, rather than on individual texts.
• Big History Project
  A free online course on the 'History of the Universe'. Covers history, geography and science and is made up of high quality video material backed up with short quizzes as students progress through the modules. Appropriate for secondary age children.
• British Council
  Resources covering a range of current ethical and social topics including communication skills, renewable energy, Shakespeare, first world war and self esteem
• iDEA Awards
  The Digital Enterprise Award, known as iDEA, is an international programme that facilitates the development of digital, enterprise and employability skills for free. Suitable for secondary age and above.
• Ted Ed
  A range of engaging educational videos backed up with multiple choice questions and links to additional resources for each topic.
• Crash Course
  Videos on a range of subjects across the curriculum for secondary age pupils and above. The videos are hosted on Youtube but can be downloaded for use offline. (NB The videos are big files and take up a lot of space on your device).
• Brainpop
  Free  access during school closures to a range of educational topics using games, quizzes and a variety of activities.
• Open University - Openlearn
  Free taster courses aimed at those considering Open University but everyone can access it. Adult level, but some e.g. nature and environment courses could well be of interest to young people. 
• Quizlet
  Interactive study materials and games for a range of curriculum subjects. One feature is where children can use a selection of flashcards for each subject to reinforce learning or create their own. Includes a dedicated login for parents.

• Elsa Support
  A free downloadable ebook about Coronavirus and a printable poster about hand washing
• Goats and Soda
  An online comic about the Coronavirus for children created by NPR, an American news network. Translated into various languages and also has recreated as a video.
• BBC Newsround
  A series of short videos, many featuring TV Doctors Chris and Xand, explaing various aspects of the Coronavirus and it’s effects.
• Brainpop
  Short animated video about Coronavirus.
• Little Puddins
  A booklet about Coronavirus which can be downloaded and printed. It is intended for parents/carers of children with autism to share with children help them deal with the changes and anxiety around what is happening. However it is likely that many children may find this a reassuring resource.
• Ebug
  Ebug is operated by Public Health England as a resource about microbes and antibiotics for schools. It includes a section on coronavirus with printable resources for all ages.
• Young Minds
  This website is dedicated to supporting the mental health of young people. It includes advice on coping with anxiety about Coronavirus and looking after mental health while self-isolating. They also run a Crisis Messenger service for children and young people who are experiencing a mental health crisis.
  • Resources produced by Young Minds 360 Schools – you can sign up for free to receive their newsletter and access resources.
  • 10 wellbeing tips for school staff

• Childline
  Includes advice on dealing with anxiety about Coronavirus and 24 hour support line for children
• Anna Freud - National Centre for Children and Families
  The Anna Freud Centre has produced a document for schools and colleges around ‘supporting the mental health and well being of pupils and students during periods of disruption’ and a series of videos for parents/carers, school staff and children and young people. They also provide a selection of ‘self care’ resources which both adults and children would find useful to help look after their own mental health.
• Dudley Young Health Champions Blog
  Dudley Young Health Champions continually aim to support young people through providing accurate information on health related issues, whilst promoting resilience across the community of young people.
• Let’s Get Healthy Dudley
  Let’s Get Healthy Dudley is a service in Dudley that provides an integrated, community centred lifestyle service. The Starting Well section has information on children's emotional and mental health support for school age children.
• Action for Happiness- 10 Keys to Happiness
  Based on research the authors of the site list 10 'keys' for 'Happier Living'. Suitable for children and adults the site includes a set of printable posters which could be a useful resource for nurturing emotional well being.
• Mind
  Advice and guidance for all on mental health and wellbeing. A section dedicated to supporting children and young people during the Coronavirus includes easy to understand explanations of terms and advice on a range of specific topics that children might worry about. 
• AC Education Youtube Channel
  A series of videos designed to support parents, carers and educators supporting children with emotional well being.

The West Midlands Virtual Schools are delighted to bring you Connect & Create.

Connect & Create is a new online feature of our Artslink programme, which provides at-home arts & cultural activities specially selected and commissioned for care experienced children & young people. We know that the arts can present a hugely important opportunity for connection and creativity for care experienced CYP and their key adults during this isolating time, as well as helping to continue their learning.

So we hope you will dive in and give it a go – creative challenges, artist demonstrations, career pathways and a gallery to showcase some of the work produced. We’ll be updating activities regularly, so the site will grow in content, and you can sign up to receive updates.

Online Resources to Support Creativity and Discovery

• Tate Kids 
  Tate Kids will bring art to life for your children aged 4-13 with its exciting and interactive activities. Tate Kids supports aspects of the art curricula in the UK, but also has relevance to English, Design and Technology and ICT.
• The Imagination Tree
  Ideas for creative art and craft activities for the very youngest.
• Nature Detective
  Ideas and activities from the Woodland Trust based on the natural environment. Can be carried out in the home but with inspiration from the garden and whilst exercising in local open spaces.
• Blue Peter Badges
  Apply to earn a Blue Peter Badge or enter a competition to win one. Access to a stamp and post box required
• The Artful Parent
  Lots of fun and creative ideas for art activities for all of the family.
• DK Find Out
  Colourful and realistic illustrations support this compendium of interesting facts about a range of topics from nature to computing, space to music and more. Great for the inquisitive minded.
• Twinkl
  As well as teacher resources this site also provides  ideas for indoor activities including cooking, arts and crafts, printable resources and much more.
• AC Education Youtube Channel
  Vanessa from AC Education has produced a mini-series of arty ideas to do at home with children and young people to keep hands busy and minds calm.
• Dudley Performing Arts
  (DPA) have lots of free music lessons on the group’s YouTube channel.
• Bloom Creative Wellbeing
  A kind and creative not-for-profit social enterprise, dedicated to supporting people and communities to grow and bloom through creativity, have tons of wonderful ideas. Cake making, squidgy rainbows and lots of paint! 

When supporting children to access online learning resources carers and parents are advised to follow guidance on supporting children’s safe use of the Internet. Further links to guidance and resources are provided below.

• Have regular conversations with your children about their online activities;
• Make use of the wealth of online resources to stimulate those conversations and remind children of how they can keep themselves safe;
• If you haven’t yet done so, consider setting up a home/family agreement relating to children’s online activities;
• Ensure parental controls (filtering, monitoring etc) are applied where appropriate – your Internet Service Provider (eg BT, Virgin Media, Sky) should provide parental controls and be able to advise you on setting them up;
• Be aware that gaming devices and mobile phones can also access the internet;
• Share any concerns you have with the child’s social worker, school or Virtual School as appropriate.

Online Resources

• Dudley Safe and Sound
  Provided by Dudley’s Community Safety Partnership, a range of safety resources including links to community based organisations.
• ThinkuKnow 
  Resources for children of all ages, parents/carers and other professionals run by the National Crime Agency and CEOP. Includes free downloadable resources for children, parents, carers and educators.
• Childnet
  A comprehensive range of learning resources and activities for all age groups. Includes guidance on setting up a family/home Internet Agreement including examples.
• Digizen 
  Run by Childnet, Digizen, provides information, for parents/carers and young people about the responsibilities of being a digital citizen. Includes advice and resources on issues such as social networking and cyberbullying.
• Get safe Online 
  Advice and guidance for adults and children on all aspects of online activity.
• BBC- Own It
  Encourages constructive and positive use of the internet as well as advice on what to do if things go wrong. Includes challenges and activities for young people and simple guidance for adults.
• UK Safer Internet Centre 
  Includes online safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe online.
• NSPCC 
  Advice on e-safety from the NSPCC for parents and carers. It provides a free advice line and the following useful guides on children's use of social media.
  • Share Aware
    Advice and resources around children’s use of social networking media.
  • Net Aware 
    Produced in collaboration with O2, a guide to the latest social networking apps used by children and young people.
• Childline
  Tips for children on staying safe online and what to do if things go wrong.
• Netz Smart Kids 
  Fun videos, games and activities for primary age children.
• Internet Matters 
  Technical advice and resources for parents/carers and children when accessing the internet.

• Department for Education Guidance for Educational Settings
  All of the Department for Education’s coronavirus guidance for educational settings can now be found in one place.
• Department for Education guidance on this Summer's exams
• Department for Education Information for parents and carers about the closure of schools and other educational settings following the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19)