Television returns from its holiday with strong documentaries, including this impressive offering from the BBC Natural History Unit, with commentary by David Attenborough.

The subject this week is life in the deepest parts of the sea accessible to manned submarines, at around 3,000 metres down, introducing us to many creatures never before filmed.

The series has a high wow factor and definite educational value, with the emphasis this week on how animals adapt to extreme conditions and how light affects the kind of life found at various depths. But it has potential for teaching outside the obvious curriculum areas - as inspiration for work in art, design, or even creative writing (it was a deep-sea creature that suggested the invader in the Alien films).

And not all denizens of the deep are monsters: the views of sea urchins, sea lilies and corals are hauntingly beautiful.

Best for schools Writing for Kicks Channel 4 Wednesdays, from September 19, 10.30-10.50am

Doing work experience on the Newham Recorder, Jim gets his big break - a chance to cover a match at Upton Park. Luckily, he can call on Observer reporter Ian Ridley for advice. Later programmes in this three-part series for key stage 3 introduce us to Barnsley Football Club’s poet-in-residence, Ian McMillan, and we hear from writers inspired by football. There is also a resource book and video.

Maths Mansion Channel 4, Wednesdays, from September 19, 9.50-10am

This is a game show in which contestants escape from a Gothic house only if they can answer mathematical questions, which involve multiplying or dividing by 10, dealing with decimal points and so on. The presenter promises that “it’s going to be tough and mean”, but the nine to 10-year-olds targeted will know that it’s all just for fun.

Best of the rest What the Victorians Did for Us BBC2 Mondays, 8.30-9pm

Our debt to the Victorians is clearer than that in What the Romans Did for Us, Adam Hart-Davis’s previous investigation, so the results are less surprising. He manages to discover some unusual facts and establish surprising connections, this week between lawn tennis, the periodic table and Mrs Beeton’s Household Management. The link is a passion for establishing rules, whether for playing games or classifying natural phenomena.

The Hart-Davis persona of the eccentric Englishman has its charm, but it can be a weakness. Even the title of the series suggests its narrow focus: Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, the Russian who devised the periodic table, slips in as an honorary Victorian, perhaps because he enables the presenter to play around with sodium and potassium; but his presence reminds us of what the rest of the world did for the Victorians.

A Child’s World Channel 4 Mondays, 8.30-9pm

This six-parter explores a child’s developing perceptions of the world. This week, in a programme that may be of particular interest to teachers, we find out when children learn to lie: not until they’re four or five, apparently.

Full educational programme schedules can be found online at www.bbc.co.ukeducationlzonesched.shtml

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