BBC Bitesize for Teachers
Bringing the school calendar to life
BBC Education commissioned a new collection of films to help primary and secondary teachers bring key moments in the school calendar into assemblies and the classroom.
The commission covered 12 original films across subjects including science, history, languages, sport, wellbeing and inclusion, supported by teacher notes and assembly frameworks.
The content needed to engage young audiences while remaining educationally robust and relevant to schools across all four UK nations.
- 12 original films
- Primary + secondary
- 48 minutes of video
- Teacher resources
- UK-wide
Produced at ITN Productions
Capabilities
- Creative development
- Scriptwriting
- Educational video
- Original filming
- Drone filming
- Graphics & animation
- Production management
- Educational resources
12 subjects. 12 different stories.
Rather than forcing the series into a single format, we developed a different creative treatment for each subject.
That meant combining original filming, contributors, locations, archive, graphics and animation in different ways — finding the approach that best brought each story to life while keeping the learning at its heart.
Led by Storyline founder Dan Mills at ITN Productions, the team developed the concepts, wrote the scripts and managed the productions through to final delivery.
Dinosaur Day
How do you squeeze millions of years of history into four minutes?
For Dinosaur Day, the brief was to introduce primary pupils to prehistory, dinosaurs, extinction, fossil discoveries and the development of palaeontology.
We took the story to the Jurassic Coast.
Original location and drone filming gave the film a real sense of place.
Palaeontologist Kieran Satchell helped explain how fossils and scientific discoveries have changed our understanding of prehistoric life.
We combined the live action with a distinctive hand-crafted visual treatment, using illustrations and graphics on parchment-style backgrounds to move through the history of palaeontology.
The result is part science film, part adventure — using people, place and visual storytelling to make a huge subject accessible to a young audience.
More than the film.
The videos were only one part of the commission.
Alongside the 12 films, the project included teacher notes and complete assembly frameworks, with curriculum links, background information, discussion and reflection prompts and supporting materials.
It meant thinking beyond the screen — creating content that a non-specialist teacher could confidently pick up and use.
About this work
This project was produced by ITN Productions for BBC Education and led by Storyline founder Dan Mills. We include it here as part of the experience behind Storyline — the work, relationships and production expertise that the company is built on.
Watch Dinosaur Day
See the finished film on BBC Bitesize for Teachers.