Online learning resources

BBC Learning - while the BBC’s education pages are no longer updated, there's much useful content here, from language learning to BBC Bitesize for revision. No TV licence required except for content on BBC iPlayer.

Coursera – collaborating with 190 world-leading universities, Coursera allows anyone to build skills with online courses and degrees. Coursera offers more than 2,700 courses, 250+ specializations, and more than four accredited degree programs, all generally free. Particularly good for computing.

Crash Course - offers fun and informative educational videos on a range of subjects.

FutureLearn - offers free to access 100s of courses. Users only need to pay to upgrade if they need a certificate (own account from age 14+ but younger learners can use a parent account).

Ivy League MOOCS - most of the eight Ivy League universities are now offering some form of publicly available free online classes. MOOCs (massively open online classes) offer learners everywhere the opportunity to learn from Ivy League instructors and interact with other students while completing their coursework.

Seneca - join 2,750,000 students using Seneca to learn at KS2, KS3, GCSE and A-level. Tons of free revision content, with paid access to higher level material.

TED Ed - TED's youth and education initiative aims to spark and celebrate the ideas and knowledge-sharing of teachers and students around the world, offering a range of thought-provoking videos.

Google Arts and Culture - the Google Arts and Culture site, along with its excellent accompanying app, allows users to browse content from over 1200 leading museums and archives. Users can access high-resolution images of artworks and read informative articles on all aspects of art and culture. The site also uses technology from Google Street View to allow users to explore some of most iconic cultural landmarks, as well as visiting and exploring galleries and exhibitions. Pupils studying Classics might wish to explore the British Museum virtual tour, the new National Archaeological Museum of Naples tour, and the Acropolis Museum tour.

The internet is full of excellent resources for pupils who study computing. Mr Tattam recommends the following:

Code.org - features fantastic coding courses for middle-school pupils, including step-by-step courses on making apps, games and websites.

Lightbot - a superb logic game that also teaches advanced coding concepts! Can be played on a PC, phone or tablet.

Project Euler - features programming challenges for the advanced coder - not for the faint of heart!

repl.it - an online platform for coding in almost any language.

Ballet Class (for advanced dancers) with Tamara Rojo and the English National Ballet.

Ballet, Contemporary and Body Conditioning classes (for experienced dancers aged 14+) with the Tanya Pearson Academy.

Contemporary/Hip Hop fusion Masterclass (for all dancers aged 11+) with Alvin Ailey American Dance Company.

Contemporary Dance class with Kate Price (for experienced dancers aged 14+) with the London Contemporary Dance School.

DanceXchange - offers excellent beginner lessons suitable for anyone aged 13 years and above.

Dancing Along Together – a fantastic set of resources for experienced dancers aged 14, Dancing Alone Together aims to be a central resource for the digital dance world that is beginning to bloom.

Sadler’s Wells Theatre - The curtain may have temporarily fallen on the stage at Sadler’s Wells, they’ll continue to bring you great dance events that you can enjoy wherever you are. They will show recordings of performances on Facebook; share dance works made specifically for film and videos on the incredible artists we work with. Find out more here. The programme launches on Friday 27 March, with an exclusive online screening of Deluxe by BalletBoyz at 7.30pm GMT – the same time the work was due to be performed.

Thelma's Tap Notes – tap dancing for all ages.

Digital Theatre Plus - the College subscribes to this resource, which offers unlimited access to some of the theatre world's finest productions, unique backstage insights, practitioner interviews and written analysis. Contact the drama department for log-in details.

The National Theatre - an excellent YouTube channel with lots of short videos on it, ranging from clips of productions to puppetry masterclasses to how to make a wig!

Feedbooks (public domain section) - a digital library and cloud publishing service for original books as well as those that are now in the public domain, and therefore free. The main focus of Feedbooks is to provide high-quality e-books in multiple formats, particularly EPUB, Kindle, and PDF formats. A wide selection of classic, public domain titles includes Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Big History Project - journey through nearly 14 billion years of history in this self-guided, six-hour version of 'Big History'. Every chapter is full of great activities to keep you entertained and test your learning.

Duolingo - an incredibly popular and intuitive app, Duolingo allows users to learn a range of languages easily, and for free. Whilst it does have some acknowledged limitations, it’s helped thousands of people get to grips with new systems of speech.

The Chairman's Bao - an app and a website, The Chairman’s Bao is the most comprehensive news-based graded reader for students of Chinese, used by the world’s most prestigious schools. The College pays the annual subscription fee for our Sixth Formers taking Mandarin.

Quizlet - a fantastic resource for pupils offering various tests and quizzes, using tools such as flashcards and games to help pupils learn. Especially good for Mandarin vocabulary. 

MDBG.net - an online Chinese dictionary.

Pleco - a mobile dictionary app for your smartphone.

BBC Languages: Chinese - handy resources, including information on Chinese language and culture. 

Khan Academy - a non-profit on a mission to provide free, world-class education for anyone. The site offers a range of free resources but is especially good for maths and computing for all ages and other subjects at Secondary level. (Note: this uses the U.S. grade system but it is mostly common material).

The National Numeracy Challenge - Don’t let the numbers hold you back! The National Numeracy Challenge is a free, online learning tool designed to help you improve your everyday maths skills in manageable steps whilst building your confidence along the way. Join 280,000 other adults who have registered to find out their numeracy level (Age 13+).

Music

Stay at home with La Fenice - for anyone wanting to show some solidarity whilst enjoying sublime music courtesy of Venice's famous opera house, La Fenice.

Secrets of the Museum (BBC Documentary) - a unique arts series venturing behind the scenes at the world famous museum of art, design and performance, the V&A.

Freud Museum - a museum situated in the final home of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and his daughter Anna Freud, a pioneering child psychoanalyst. The website has a good overview of Sigmund's work, Anna's work and the history of psychoanalysis.

Wellcome Collection - a museum which connects science, medicine, life and art, this website has a good section on their website called ‘stories’ featuring a huge variety of personal stories to browse through, ranging from the man who remembers everything to a short history of lovesickness.

Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy – a peer-reviewed academic resource, this online encyclopaedia features in-depth articles covering philosophers, plus their ideas, from A (Peter Abelard) to Z (Slavoj Žižek).

BBC Radio 4’s Living With The Gods – short, 15-minute podcasts covering a range of issues related to religion and faith.

Crash Course Philosophy – this YouTube channel features detailed videos on various philosophers and philosophical movements.

Science

Chemistry World - news articles, longer features and podcasts, all keeping you updated with interesting developments in the chemistry world.

Dr Jo's #ScienceFromHome - follow along with Dr Jo Montgomery, a qualified science teacher, as she performs science experiments from the safety of her own home.

The Deep Sea by Neal Argawal - this ingenious website lets users scroll down into the dark depths of the ocean. As you descend you’ll meet strange and unnerving creatures such as the Cookiecutter Shark (3397 meters), the Sea Pig (4499 meters) before you arrive at the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the Earth's seabed. If you can keep your nerve and stay on track, you’ll be able to read the story of Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh who reached the Challenger Deep, at 10,924 feet below surface level, in their submarine Trieste.

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Periodic Table - the RSC’s interactive periodic table features history, alchemy, podcasts, videos, and data trends across the periodic table.

MEL Science - a fun website offering a range of experiments that can be safely attempted at home.

Molview - online software allowing the user to draw molecules (requires Chrome).