April 2024 marks 100 years of BBC Education content, with the anniversary of the first schools radio broadcast.
Voiceover: This is the BBC Home Service.
Voiceover 2: There's the note and it's after two. Ready? One, two.
Charles Collingwood: So, happy one hundred years!
Naomi Wilkinson: Happy one hundred years, BBC Education.
Steve Backshall: A very happy hundred years to BBC Education.
Floella Benjamin: Happy one hundred years,BBC Education.
Naomi Wilkinson: I grew up with this! Watch! From the BBC Schools TV series. I love this so much! So I think when you have the opportunity to make content, that is really fun and captures children's imaginations, then hopefully that bit, you're trying to teach them sticks and they'll remember it for life.
Floella Benjamin: Ready to play? What's the day?
Presenter: And this is Floella!
Floella Benjamin: Hello!
Floella Benjamin: So, what educational programmes do is they give children and young people the opportunity to aspire to understand that anything is possible. So that's why I do what I do. I'm thinking of the future because childhood lasts a lifetime.
Presenter: Who are you? Where did you spring from?
Wordy: I'm Mr Watchword, the word watcher.
Charles Collingwood: Hello, Word Watchers. I'm ready! They could superimpose Wordy to come out of anything. He was magic too and the children thought he was magic. But the most important thing was that, not only were they being entertained, but they were learning.
Steve Backshall: In a Live Lesson format that you can be speaking to pretty much every school kid in the country and we can grab a hold of young people and say, look at what the world has to offer.
Naomi Wilkinson: When the pandemic hit and everyone was really lost with how to look after their children's wellbeing, and with them not being at school, how do you teach them what they're supposed to be learning every day? Well, Bitesize Daily was created! This incredible content that really helped parents, especially who were in a real moment of panic, I think, teachers and the kids. Just giving everybody a bit of focus at a time when everyone was really quite lost.
Floella Benjamin: Let's see what time the clock says! Stories, art, magic, dance, music, everything to fire up a child's imagination. And it's time for us to go now! Until tomorrow, bye bye.
Since those early wireless programmes in 1924, BBC Education has evolved with BBC Television for Schools launching in 1957, leading to programmes such as Look and Read, Music Time and Scene regularly being played in classrooms.
The growth of the world wide web in the 1990s led to the birth of BBC Bitesize in 1998 – then focused on GCSEs. Bitesize has continued to grow, now offering support to pupils across both primary and secondary schools, and beyond – ably assisted by BBC Bitesize for Teachers with their popular Live Lessons.
Take a look back at BBC Education’s first century of learning content with some of the stars who helped to inform, educate and entertain school children for the past 100 years. You can also join BBC Bitesize for Teachers' special centenary Live Lesson on Monday 22 April.
This article was published in April 2024.
How the BBC helped to educate the nation in its first 100 years
From radio programmes in the 1920s to TV in the classroom and Bitesize Daily during lockdown.
Quiz: Which of these famous faces became teachers for a day?
The well-known names that have delivered lessons to the nation on the BBC
Three centenarians remember their school days
Looking back at classroom life when BBC Education was just beginning
