People knock the BBC, but it’s worth every penny now it’s homeschooling our kids

Like many parents across the UK, Charlotte Cripps found her life turning into a multi-tasking, homeschooling horror show as schools shut again this week. Now, though, the BBC has stepped in

BBC Bitesize Daily presenter Kate Thistleton (BBC)

When Boris Johnson announced on Sunday that all schools across the UK would be shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was the news every parent dreaded. I threw my head in my hands; it was double trouble. I’m a single mum with two kids aged two and four, and their nanny has Covid.  

Like many parents across the UK, I found my life suddenly turning from the normal chaos of parenting into a multi-tasking, homeschooling horror show. From next week, though, it doesn’t feel so extraordinarily hard or lonely anymore: the BBC has stepped in.

The public service broadcaster is bringing the “biggest-ever education offer in its history” to our TV screens from Monday. CBBC will have three hours of primary school programming from 9am, just as I would have dropped my four-year-old off at the school gates. And BBC Two will air at least two hours of content for secondary students every day during the week. It aims to ensure all children can access curriculum-based learning without the internet.