Bring the best of the BBC to your classroom with Live Lessons.
KIDS: Welcome!
JOE AND MWAKSY: Hello!
RHYS AND MADDIE: Hello!
NAOMI: Hello!
NAOMI: It is the brilliant bird expert, Chris Packham.
STEVE: Welcome to our Deadly Mission Shark Science Live Lesson.
HACKER: Your challenge is to make a radio report about memories of school over the years.
KATIE: Happy National Poetry Day!
JOE: Today we’re celebrating World Book Day.
GEORGIE: So let’s become digital detectives for Safer Internet Day.
KIDS: chattering
LAURA: It’s definitely an excellent resource to use in the classroom. The children are looking at famous personalities on the TV, they feel like celebrities too.
KIDS: Three…
ALL: Two…
NAOMI: One!
MWAKSY: Our villain has been defeated!
KATIE: Hello Chad Vale Primary School!
KIDS: Hi!
STEVE: What do you think it is?
KID: I think it might be about the size of the fossil.
JAMES: Children weren’t just sort of staring at a screen for thirty minutes. They actually were engaged and they were doing activities to sort of break up the learning.
NAOMI: Sixty seconds on the clock…
ALL: Ready…
ALL: Set…
DR CHRIS AND DR XAND: Go!
LAURA: The activities were excellent and really helped to create discussion within the classroom.
SOPHIE: And what was really lovely is, it was completely accessible to all.
SHANEQUA: So let’s take a look at this letter written during World War Two.
DR RONX: Bullying behaviour can happen anywhere.
MICHAEL: The first thing I think about is the characters.
DR XAND: Trampolining! My favourite!
CHRIS: And even detected using electromagnetism.
NAOMI: Wow!
NAOMI: Well, I’ve come ooh! Behind the scenes at the aquarium here.
RAKSHA: There’s clearly been lots of amazing discoveries here.
JOSEPH: Welcome to a very special Live Lesson to mark Remembrance Day.
LAURA: It is lovely to have a Live Lesson in our classroom just to bring it all to life.
JAMES: We have children from all over the UK taking part in the lesson. It’s created sort of a global classroom feel.
SOPHIE: The children absolutely loved it. They were all really engaged and it’s a fantastic opportunity for them to get involved in.
MICHAELA: Right, I’m off to do a bit of bird spotting.
Fun curriculum-linked programmes for your classroom
BBC Live Lessons from Bitesize are half-hour interactive programmes designed to support teachers and bring curriculum content to life.
We work with educational consultants, specialist partners and some of the BBC's biggest brands and presenters to create fun and engaging learning experiences for the classroom.
There are over 50 recordings of previous Live Lessons available to watch back on our website.
Click here for all our primary Live Lessons and here for secondary Live Lessons.
What happens in a Live Lesson?
Each Live Lesson consists of mission and three main challenges that students can participate in real-time. Each session is carefully designed to engage students and enhance their learning experience.
Two weeks before the lesson, teachers can download a teacher guide detailing the programme's format and challenges, useful links and follow-up activities. These resources aim to help you prepare students for the lesson and facilitate classroom discussions.
Each lesson is also accompanied by a Mission Pack which can be downloaded or printed in advance. Pupils are still able to participate without access to the Mission Packs. All instructions will be on screen. We recommend that pupils have a notebook and pen or pencil to hand.
During the Live Lesson, viewers can share contributions from children watching from home and school through a live commentary feed. We share your schools shout-outs, comments, and questions and presenters may even read out selected comments during the broadcast.
How do I get a shout out for my school?
Adults can go to the BBC Live Lessons website and click ‘Get in touch’ to send comments, pictures and questions. Or email [email protected] with the name of the Live Lesson in the heading.
If you're sharing pictures or videos of children, please confirm that you are the teacher, parent or carer of the children featured and that you have parental or guardian consent. You can also get in touch using #BBCLiveLessons. We read all your messages and share as many of them as we can on the live commentary page.
When and where do I watch Live Lessons?
A schedule of dates for the series are published here on the Live Lesson website. Or you can click through from the Bitesize for Teachers homepage.
Some programmes are streamed live at 11:00 on the Live Lessons website, CBBC and BBC iPlayer. Other programmes are pre-recorded ‘as-live’, so whilst they will still broadcast at 11:00 on CBBC and BBC iPlayer we are able to publish them earlier that day on the website, from around 9:00. You can find information about when each Live Lesson is available to watch on its individual web page.
Live Lessons will remain online to be watched whenever you need them.
How long are Live Lessons?
Live Lessons are formatted to half an hour in duration. However some programmes recorded more than two years ago may be longer than this.
How much do I need to prepare?
The lesson can be viewed in a classroom or at home with a device (computer, tablet or mobile phone) linked to a reliable broadband connection or watched on a television on the CBBC channel.
We invite children to get involved in activities throughout the lesson and provide downloadable Mission Packs to help guide them through this. There are 3 versions available, so you can choose the option which best suits your needs .
These can be handed out in advance, along with stationery such as pens and pencils or can also be followed on screen if your pupils don’t have the printed the printed or digital Mission Packs to hand.
How do you decide on subjects for Live Lessons?
We work with teachers and educational consultants to decide which topics we think will be of most interest to schools. Many of our programmes are linked to big dates in the school calendar to help you create a special interactive moment for pupils. We also work with specialist organisations to create Live Lessons around topical subjects, or simple topics teachers tell us they struggle to find resources for.
If you’d like to contact us, have any feedback or suggestions for future Live Lesson topics, email us at [email protected].
Do I need a TV license to watch Live Lessons?
A TV License is required to access all BBC channels on linear TV and the BBC iPlayer. All those watching Live Lessons via CBBC on the BBC iPlayer will need a valid TV Licence. A TV Licence is not required to access Live Lessons via the BBC Teach website.
Why do teachers like Live Lessons?
We asked teachers what they like about Live Lessons:
Curriculum-linked activities to spark classroom conversations
Laura Gilchrist, Primary Teacher watched a Live Lesson with her class and says: ''The activities were excellent and really helped to create discussion in the classroom.''
Engaging and interactive
Primary teacher Sophie McGowan says: ''The children absolutely loved it, they were all really engaged and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to get involved in.''
Feeling part of something bigger
James Ogier, Primary Teacher says: ''We have children from all over the UK taking part in the lesson. It creates a global classroom feel.''
How to get in touch with Live Lessons
If you would like to be notified about any future programmes sign up to our free email service here. You can also find us on Twitter/X @BBC_Teach and on Facebook.
If you’d like to contact us you can also email us at [email protected].
If you are sending in any images or videos that feature children, please confirm in your email that you have parental or guardian permission.
For more information about how we collect and use personal data about you during and after your relationship with us, in accordance with data protection law, please read the Privacy Notice.
