This resource helps students to explore whether sportsplayers should share political opinions on the field. It is packed with pertinent questions such as: What happens when sport and politics mix? Is it acceptable to express political opinions on the field? Do sportspeople have greater responsibilities than others? This resource encourages learners to support their views with evidence but doesn’t need lots of prior knowledge about sport. This is the first of two resources exploring sport in the news. You can download Part 2 here.

This resource helps learners think for themselves about the power of headlines and the ways newspapers present their stories. These activities provoke thinking on questions like: How should newspapers choose their stories? What responsibilities do they have to their audience? How should the media report on a crisis? After making editorial decisions, learners are encouraged to investigate the current news cycle and view it from different perspectives. Challenge your children to think deeper about the stories they see everyday and develop their news literacy and communication skills: reasoning, open-mindedness, scepticism and speaking up.

Photographs can shape our reactions to current affairs. How do we know when to trust them? These fun activities help learners explore the role of photographs in the news and challenges them to step behind the lens themselves. When should we believe our eyes? Get learners discussing this and a range of other questions: How do photographs help us understand the news? How should newspapers choose their photographs? Do photographs give us the whole picture? Learners are also tasked with finding ways to photograph the same thing in different ways. Can they create two contrasting impressions of the same subject?

Download activities that assess the information around President Trump’s positive test for covid-19. How did the information emerge and who from? What do people think about how Mr Trump handled his own diagnosis? Help learners reach their own verdict. This resource helps your learners to: Discuss recent events with contextual knowledge Identify the consequences of false information Assess different views before forming their own opinion

In October 2020 the World Economic Forum released its most recent research into 300 of the world’s biggest companies. It showed that over 50% expect to speed up their plans for automation because of covid-19. With more robots in the workplace, who will be the winners and losers? Download these resources, supported by the Bank of England, to find out! Use these activities to help answer this question and others about automation: Why are business owners turning to robots? What are the reasons why they shouldn’t? What role might Artificial Intelligence play in the future of work? What kinds of jobs might be better suited to robots? How might automation affect your career plans? How would perspectives differ?

A hula-hooping girl appears on a wall in Nottingham, England. What happened next? This week, download a resource that tells the story of Banksy’s latest mysterious mural and gets learners thinking about the questions it raises. Use this resource to help learners: Identify key information from a piece of text View a situation from different perspectives Use evidence to support their own opinion Study different examples of Banksy’s work Find out what the law says about graffiti Consider the impact of Banksy’s murals

Safe and successful covid-19 vaccines have given hope to many, but who will benefit first? And how significant will these breakthroughs be? Help learners get to grips with the numbers behind this development. These activities help your students: Explore questions of fairness and responsibility about the vaccines Analyse evidence to identify opportunities and problems Consider their position in light of new scenarios

Will new technology make fake news even harder to spot? Perfect for home learning: this resource contains an introduction video and a chance to vote online and share opinions. These activities help your learners: Explain why the 2020 alternative Christmas message caused controversy Assess the scale of the problem posed by deepfake technology View the issue from different perspectives Assess the benefits and risks of deepfakes Draw conclusions on who should have access to deepfake technology

SPECIAL WRITING RESOURCE - Speak up by getting creative! Help your students to get writing about the news and, if they like, enter the Orwell Youth Prize 2021. There are lots of ways to start a conversation about the news. Banksy makes art. Stormzy pens songs. Darshan Singh Bhuller choreographs dance performances. What can your learners do? This resource, supported by The Orwell Foundation, explores George Orwell’s writing process to inspire learners to put their own ideas on paper. The whole resource ca be used independently by students.

What’s the plan for exams in 2021? Download this resource to explore the pertinent questions surrounding end-of-year assessment. What is the fairest way to give grades during a pandemic? What would different people say? What are the alternatives to exams?

Download a resource to help learners understand the military coup in Myanmar, and whether military rule spells the end of democracy in the region. Help your students to explore key vocabulary like; coup, opposition and dictatorship and answer questions such as: How much power do the people in Myanmar have? Why? Why might the military rule work / not work? Who is responsible for helping the people in Myanmar? What other perspectives might help you think differently about this?

New president, new start. Truth, trust and togetherness. Moments after taking his oath of office, President Biden gave his blueprint for overcoming the challenges facing America. This resources explores the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. What’s Joe Biden done in his first two weeks as president? And what next for Donald Trump? T These activities help your learners: Discover what was said on inauguration day Express what this story means to them View the events from different perspectives This is the first of two

This workshop challenges students to think about plastics, packaging and sustainability. They’ll explore interesting questions like: • What impact do plastics and packaging have on the environment? • Are all plastics bad? • Whose responsibility is it to make a change? Throughout, students will build essential Skills Builder skills: creativity, problem-solving, listening and speaking. The whole workshop is student-led, so perfect for independent learning or home education.

Download a full scheme of work to explore numbers in the news and how the media can shape a story. The covid-19 pandemic has kept people glued to the news, but is there such a thing as too much information? Has the pandemic led to an infodemic? Throughout the six hour-long lessons, students will use oracy to develop their numeracy skills, with a particular focus on the Skills Builder skills: creativity, problem-solving, speaking and listening.

Why did one ship hit the headlines? Discover the story of the Ever Given, the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal, and find out why it made global headlines! This resource is about more than just a ship - introduce your students to the topic of world trade and find out how a small event can have big consequences.

This year, the theme of International Women’s Day was “choose to challenge” encouraging people to speak out and challenge gender inequality. This resource helps your learners explore why we still having to fight for women’s equality in 2021.

The race between infection and injection is on. Several vaccines have been developed but how should they be distributed? Uncover the situation so far in the global quest to vaccinate populations against the covid-19, then delve deeper into questions about how vaccines should be distributed fairly.

What does the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer found guilty of murdering George Floyd, a black man, mean for America? This trial was about more than justice for one man. Find out why so many people tuned in to watch the trial and what the verdict means for Black Lives Matter movements.

Explore how numbers are used in news reporting through a week’s worth of good news stories! 90% of the news we consume is negative. But why? Learn about why we are drawn to negative stories and how this is reflected in the media. Then, investigate how numbers can be used to help us understand a news story. This resource is supported by KPMG

How can a cyber attack shut off an oil pipeline? This resource introduces students to what a cyber attack is using examples and helps learners think about why they could increasingly become a threat.