Our Online Learning Offer
Developing our approach to the online learning we offer to the North East community and beyond.
Exploring innovative ways of teaching
Newcastle University is committed to excellence in education. The Covid-19 crisis has, without doubt, presented us with some challenges. But that's also led to new opportunities and ways of working.
Online learning resources for all
Here we will share opportunities for you to engage with online learning offers provided by Newcastle University and our partners. We will be adding to the list below on a regular basis as new resources become available.

For schools (parents, teachers and pupils)
The Department for Education's collated online education resources for home education. There are subject-specific resources.
Visit the DfE website for more information
Newcastle University's Teachers' Toolkit
This toolkit contains more than 400 free resources and activities to support teachers. You can adapt a great number of them for home-learning. Some will definitely offer some innovative activities for pupils at home.
Visit our Teachers' Toolkit for more information
Primary school-aged children
A range of online resources suitable for primary school-aged children are listed below. These are broken up into subject areas for ease of browsing.
- Easy science experiments
- Science videos
- Explore NASA
- Learning about microbes
- Wild Days: Outdoor learning
- Coding at home
- Blockly Games: Computer programming and coding
- Scratch: Computer programming and coding
- Tynker: Coding at home
- Rethink: Primary science activities Y1-Y6
- YouTube: Crash course kids
- YouTube: Geek gurl diaries
- Primary Resources
- Classroom Secrets: Maths, punctuation, spelling, reading, history (years 1-6)
- Doorway Online: Interactive literacy and numeracy games
- Teacher’s Pet: KS1 and KS2 Resources
- Activity booklets for Early Years, KS1 and KS2
- Twinkl: Primary and Secondary School Resources
- Navigo app: Supports beginner readers to develop reading skills
- Oxford Owl: Free e-books for ages 3-11
- The Reading Realm
- Teach your monster to read
- NRICH: Primary maths activities and games
- Phonics Play
- Jolly Phonics
- Elevenses with David Walliams
- Love Reading 4 Kids
- Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books
- The Children’s Poetry Archive
- Mathsticks: Maths games
- Numbots: Maths games that focus on addition and subtraction
- Times Tables Rock Stars
- Maths Chase
- Whiterose Maths: Maths lessons for years 1-8
- Maths Frame
- Cool Maths Games
- YouTube: Maths Kitchen
- Explore the past with us (NCL)
- Big History Project
- The Great Fire of London
- The Tate Museum: Art activities
- 3D Geography
- YouTube: National Geographic Kids
- Nature Detectives: The Woodland Trust
- The World Geography Games
- Art Hub for Kids
- The Artful Parent
- Red Ted Art
- The Imagination Tree
- Rainy Day Mum
- YouTube: Draw-Along-A-Lenton
Technology in Language Teaching (TILT) Thursdays
These free online seminars take place every Thursday from 20:00 to 21:00 and are led by @JoeDale and supported by the Association for Language Learning.
Find out more and register here
Resources by the National Centre of Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP)
NCELP has made some updates to the Resource Portal to reflect the change in practice arising from school closure.
Two new pages are available from the home page of NCELP’s main NCELP website and the NCELP Resource Portal.
Secondary school-aged students
A range of online resources suitable for secondary school-aged students are listed below. These are broken up into subject areas for ease of browsing.
Technology in Language Teaching (TILT) Thursdays
These free online seminars take place every Thursday from 20:00 to 21:00 and are led by @JoeDale and supported by the Association for Language Learning.
Find out more and register here
Resources by the National Centre of Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP)
NCELP has made some updates to the Resource Portal to reflect the change in practice arising from school closure.
Two new pages are available from the home page of NCELP’s main NCELP website and the NCELP Resource Portal.
Pearson Secondary Language Support
For everyone
Below you'll find various online resources. We're sure you'll find something of interest to you.
Newcastle University Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
You can join the following live MOOCs:
- Aging Well: Why Older People Fall
- Dementia Care: Living Well as Dementia Progresses
- Dementia Care: Staying Connected and Living Well
- Hadrian's Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier
Visit Future Learn for more information
Health-related free and low-cost online courses
We're offering health-related online courses. These include Paediatric Musculoskeletal Clinical Skills and an Introduction to Ageing for Innovators.
Visit our CPD pages for more information
The Department for Education's Skills Toolkit
‘The Skills Toolkit’ was launched by the Department for Education (DfE). It offers free, high-quality digital and numeracy courses.
Visit The Skills Toolkit for more information
Useful websites
Institute of Coding
The Institue of Coding is offering online taster sessions.
Find out more about online taster sessions
NU-KESS Seminar Series
Jointly delivered by Newcastle University’s Policy Academy and the Institute of Social Renewal, NU-KESS aims to encourage debate and promote evidence-based policymaking.
Upcoming seminars taking place via Zoom:
- WellGreen: Improving Urban Greenspace for Mental Wellbeing
Presented by: Dr Vikki Houlden
Date: Wednesday 16 May 2020
Time: 13:30 - 14:30
Sign up and book your place here
- Mobile learning and virtual spaces: blurred lines of private and public space
Presented by: Gemma Mitchelson
Date: Wednesday 20 May 2020
Time: 13:30 - 14:30
Sign up and book your place here
- A learning City?
Presented by: Professor David Leat
Date: Wednesday 3 June 2020
Time: 13:30 - 14:30
Sign up and book your place here
- Playing Out: Promoting Community and Belonging through Play
Presented by: Dr Vikki Houlden
Date: Wednesday 16 May 2020
Time: 13:30 - 14:30
Sign up and book your place here
INSIGHTS Virtual Lectures
Our INSIGHTS Public Lectures have moved online.