August 12, 2024 - With the summer holidays in full swing, BBC Children’s and Education is announcing an exciting line-up of new commissions and online content to prepare children and parents across the UK for the return to nursery and school.

CBeebies will provide a host of new educational and entertaining programmes and content to help children and their grown-ups through a time that is mixed with excitement, anticipation and change. The new line-up of online content includes a Parents’ Toolkit and a specially commissioned Time for School film in the Bitesize area of the CBeebies Little Learners app. The content is designed to help starting school for the first time a little less daunting, with support readily available through digital platforms.

CBeebies House favourite Dodge will lead the return to school CBeebies lineup, and entertaining like you’ve never seen him before in brand new Dodge’s Pup School. This action-packed comedy puppet series mirrors day to day life at school. Not any old school, but an extraordinary school for pups called PUP SCHOOL! Each episode follows Dodge on his daily adventures where no two days are alike. At the heart of the series are the relationships between Dodge and his hilarious pup classmates. Whilst primarily a laugh out loud comedy, each episode will also offer insight into the excitement of what it’s like to be at nursery or school.

Dodge, performed by Warrick Brownlow-Pike, who came up with the original idea for the show, is joined by new best friends, Jazz who gets excited about everything and Woofer, who knows pretty much everything. The pups are joined by a pack of class mates; Puggers who’s terrified of most things, Bertie who loves the school garden, Cherry who’s normally the class star, Biscuit a groovy sheepdog, and a whole bunch of other pups like Dash the extra-long sausage dog, Scratcher who is permanently wearing a cone on her head, a pack of over the top chihuahua’s and Buster and Tiny, the shows little and large double act. Dodge and his class are taught by the lovely Miss Collie, voiced by Joanna Adeyinka-Burford from CBeebies House, and often guided on how to solve problems (by accident) via an eccentric Pigeon voiced by AJ Odudu.

Dodge’s Pup School is made by Media City based production company Brilliant Trees Media in partnership with Nest Productions. The show was filmed in Stockport. Susanna Boccaccio is Executive Producer, with Mark Barton serving as Commissioning Executive for CBeebies. Dodge’s Pup School will be available on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer this September.

A new era of Waffle the Wonder Dog adventures is also on its way, this time at after school club. Waffle’s biggest fan Mr Brooklyn-Bell approaches after school club as a slightly more fun continuation of the school day alongside his afterschool club sidekick, and not such a big Waffle fan, Mrs Hobbs. But Waffle and his brand new friends have other ideas… Let the after school fun begin!

Waffle the Wonder Dog is made by Darrall Macqueen.

Once again, it’s “Time for School" as this hit CBeebies observational documentary show returns for its fourth series. Following a class of reception children as they start school for the very first time, audiences will join them as they make new friends, learn, discover and play. Expertly made by Sixth Sense Media for CBeebies, the show lifts the lid on what life is really like in that crucial first year of school, and helps prepare the preschool audience (and their grown-ups) for that step up to ‘big school’.

Time for School is made by Sixth Sense Media. It will be available on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer from Monday 12 August.

Kate Morton, Senior Head of Commissioning 0-6, BBC Children’s and Education, says: “Helping our youngest audiences understand the world around them is a crucial part of all of our programming, and we know that the return to school, or perhaps starting big school for the first time, can be a mix of emotions for little ones and parents alike. Our latest commissions provide new and exciting ways for our audience to prepare for that change, with familiar favourites like Dodge providing lots of laughs along the way, the adorable Waffle taking us on new adventures and Time for School showing us what it’s like to be starting reception. Plus, our new online content ensures that support is easily accessible through Bitesize and the CBeebies Little Learners app.”