Topical Talk

Enrichment

Topical Talk is ideal as a weekly enrichment activity – fully resourced, free to use and with proven impact. Our projects and prizes connect students across the world and help them apply classroom learning to real-world issues. Crucially for teachers in England, we provide detailed guidance on how Topical Talk seamlessly meets the new curriculum requirements for enrichment.

The UK government's Core Enrichment Entitlement will require every school to deliver an enrichment offer which provides access to civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoor and adventure; sport and physical activities and developing wider life skills.

This is a big ask. Teachers will be grappling with a new curriculum and in need of high-quality, impactful and sustainable resources and support. That’s where Topical Talk comes in.

How does Topical Talk work as an enrichment programme?

Topical Talk offers a fully-resourced, free enrichment programme that covers civic engagement and wider skills. The lessons are perfect material for a news or current affairs club.

By exploring a different news story each week, students are able to open their classroom doors, and minds, to the real-world issues affecting their lives. Through lively, oracy-based activities, each lesson develops a host of speaking, listening and critical-thinking skills that are practised week-on-week. Children will build skills in oracy, media literacy, democratic engagement and financial literacy, and they’ll build knowledge of critical global topics such as the climate crisis — all required by the new curriculum.

Create a free account to keep up-to-date with the latest news stories and receive a new lesson each week. Or, curate a series of lessons from our resource library or ready-made lesson bundles.

Sign up today
  • newspaper front page icon

    Resource library

    Explore our lesson library for ready-made weekly lessons on topical issues.

  • four boxes icon

    Lesson bundles

    Search our lesson bundles, including media literacy, climate, democracy, citizenship and finance

  • group of students icon

    News Festival

    Check out the Topical Talk Festival to immerse your students in a global discussion.

Why does it work?

Teacher explaining a complex subject to a young student

Easy to teach and fun

  • Ready-made, fully-resourced lessons written by expert teachers – simple slide-by-slide instructions with everything included
  • Trustworthy and reliable content, written in collaboration with Economist journalists and fact checkers
  • A host of interactive oracy activities such as games, quizzes and role-play
Collage of two front covers of Topical Talk Headlines

Real-world application

Polaroids of students and teachers using Topical Talk in the classroom

“This programme is life changing for me. It has brought energy back into the classroom. I actually cried after the last lesson!"

Teacher, Elite Scholars Academy
Polaroid photos of students and teachers in a classroom having animated discussions about the news

“Topical Talk just makes my day better by being allowed to just go and speak my mind with my friends for an hour while being completely supported by a teacher.”

Student, St Cenydd’s School

Outside of England but still interested in enrichment?

Topical Talk works as an enrichment programme wherever you are. You could use the Headlines lessons as content for a weekly news club or you could use the Leadership for Change curriculum to support the media literacy skills of your budding journalists. There are plenty of flexible options.

See how other teachers use Topical Talk resources in our case studies.