BBC Schools

BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was transferred to BBC Two freeing BBC One to develop its own daytime schedule. The strand remained on BBC Two for many years after, later supplemented by the 'Class TV' strand on the CBBC Channel.

Today, the division presents educational material through occasional television broadcasts as part of the BBC Learning Zone overnight service., through the online service 'Broadband Class Clips' and through the BBC School Radio programme.

Origins

The BBC began broadcasting schools programmes on BBC Television in the Autumn of 1957 in the afternoons. Morning transmissions began on the 19th September 1960.

Presentation

The Pie Chart

From September 1960 until September 1974, the presentation was a black and white card with a pie chart split into five segments with a BBC logo in the bottom right corner. The pie chart segments disappeared with the seconds and was operated via a mechanical model. They were introduced, from 1969, by a special version of the BBC One mirror globe, but without the 'Colour' legend, as schools programmes were still in black and white while the rest of BBC One's programmes were in colour.

The Diamond

In September 1974, the presentation was changed to a blue diamond on a black background with the BBC One legend. It was commissioned to mark the start of schools programmes in colour, and consisted of the three diamonds of increasing size inside one another, first forming out of the background before pulsating and splitting into smalled diamonds, before eventually decreasing altogether. The colour scheme was changed following the BBC One rebrand of image to orange on a navy blue background with, unusually, an orange legend. This was accompanied by an orange version of the BBC One Network clock. A still version of the diamond was occasionally used on the channel, with a double lined version of the BBC1 logo. This was accompanied by a similar version for BBC Two with double lined BBC2 logo, for occasions when schools programmes were transferred to that channel.

The Dots

In September 1977, presentation was again changed to a countdown clock of disappearing dots around a spinning 'Schools and Colleges' legend. A white BBC1 legend was underneath, with the altered network clock discontinued. The spinning Schools and Colleges legend was in fact unintended and was a result of an issue with the mechanical model used. This was amended by the following summer. In autumn 1981, the new corporate double lined BBC1 logo was added to the model in replacement of the old one, however this amended model only lasted three months, as the whole mechanical model was replaced by a computer generated version. The primary difference was that the dots, instead of fading to the background colour of blue, they instead faded to black.

Upon occasions when the schools strand was transferred to BBC Two, a version with the BBC2 double lined logo was used the 2 legend replacing the BBC1 legend. Following the switch to electronic, the BBC2 version was also recreated, however during the Falklands War, a version with a hastilly added BBC Two ident was used, with the replaced caption being the orange logo on a black background box.^[1]

At around this time, special holding captions with the phrase 'Follows Shortly' were beginning to be used for junctions longer than the 90 seconds that the ident required. During a junction, the follows shortly caption would be shown over music before the screen faded into the ident.

Daytime on 2

In September 1983, Schools programmes were moved from BBC One to BBC Two. This gave BBC One the space to broadcast a daytime schedule although it was another three years until BBC1 launched a full daytime service. A special strand was set up on BBC Two: Daytime on 2 due to the fact that programmes were broadcast all day rather than just during the morning and the early afternoon as had been the case prior to autumn 1983. The lunchtime period was occupied by adult education programmes which had previously been broadcast on BBC2 on Mondays and Tuesdays. The adult education programmes were only broadcast during the autumn and winter terms so Pages from Ceefax and occasionally Open University programmes was shown at lunchtimes during the summer term. A special version of the striped 2 ident was created, featuring an orange background instead of the usual black. Clocks were not used alongside the look but the 'Follows Shortly' captions were retained. For the first two years of Daytime on Two, special Ceefax pages were broadcast during the longer intervals. The pages featured schedules and information about Daytime on 2 output.

In March 1986, BBC Two rebranded to the white embossed TWO on a white background. From here on, no special ident was used to introduce Daytime on Two programmes, instead using the normal ident. All gaps between programmes, including the longer gaps which had been filled by the Daytime on 2 Ceefax Pages, were now filled using the newly designed 'Follows Shortly' captions over music, before cutting to the ident and announcement. A later addition was that of a 15 second countdown timer, displaying the seconds in a box, usually located in the top right corner of the screen. However there are examples of the location being changed depending on the programme caption that preceded the ident.^[2]

1991 Onwards

Following the rebrand of TWO to BBC2, including the introduction of the '2' idents, no special strand was set out to mark schools programmes. The 'Follows Shortly' captions were phased out in place of promotions of other appropriate programmes, through static programme captions. In 1995, following the launch of the BBC Learning Zone some programming, generally the secondary education programming, was transferred to the new overnight service, as more schools were showing recordings of the programmes rather than the programmes live and by 2010 even the primary schools programming had left the daytime schedules.

Since the launch of the CBBC Channel, their remit has resulted in their need to show schools programming. They resulted in this by the Class TV strand, shown during schools hours for a few hours, usually repeats of previous programmes, rather than new programmes. In 2008, the CBBC remit was altered to remove the schools element from the channel.

Today, all schools programmes are shown overnight on the BBC Learning Zone.

Flagship Educational Programmes

• Look and Read, a programme teaching English through stories and word structure
• Scene, A programme for Teenagers, aimed at topical issues
• Music Time, a primary look at music
• Zig Zag
• Science Topics
• Landmarks, a history programme
• Look, Look and Look Again, an arts programme

See also

BBC portal

• ITV Schools, the commercial counterpart to the BBC
• BBC Learning Zone
• The Open University
• BBC School Radio

References

1. ^ TVARK Schools page containing a video of Falklands War BBC Two legend
2. ^ TVARK Videos of different places for the 15 second countdown clock

External links

• TVARK section on BBC Education, including the BBC Learning Zone and The Open University.
• sub-TV BBC Schools