The programme
LIGHTBULB 2.0
A structured skills and competency pathway for students in Years 6 to 12.
A ready-built curriculum for the skills exams were never designed to cover.
What it is
LIGHTBULB 2.0 is a subscription programme giving schools a ready-built, structured curriculum for 21st century skills - the capabilities employers now screen for, and that academic study was never designed to develop.
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Three courses a year from Year 6 to Year 10, and two in Years 11 and 12 as examination pressure rises. Seventeen courses across the full pathway, each designed to be delivered inside an existing timetable, with all teacher resources provided.
Digital Literacy
Financial Literacy
Business Literacy
21st Century Issues
 Course 1Â
Cyber Risks
(Digital Literacy)
 Course 2Â
Digital Revolution
(Digital Literacy)
 Course 3Â
AI Essentials
(Digital Literacy)
 Course 1Â
Data - The New Oil
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 2Â
AI in Real Life
(Digital Literacy)
 Course 3Â
Future of Energy
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 1Â
Business Essentials
(Business Literacy)
 Course 2Â
Money & Banking
(Financial Literacy)
 Course 3Â
Space - The New Frontier
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 1Â
Personal Finance
(Financial Literacy)
Business in Action
(Business Literacy)
 Course 2Â
 Course 3Â
Innovation & Creativity
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 1Â
Using AI
(Digital Literacy)
 Course 2Â
Towards Financial Fluency
(Financial Literacy)
 Course 3Â
Sustainability
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 1Â
Global Markets
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 2Â
The Future World of Work
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 1Â
Global Markets
(21st Century Issues)
 Course 2Â
The Future World of Work
(21st Century Issues)
Years 11 and 12 take two courses rather than three, as examination pressure rises.
The programme
Four features of the programme.
It’s progressive, not one-off.
It’s for every student.
A single workshop or a certificate in Year 12 gives students an experience. It does not give them capability. LIGHTBULB builds year on year, so that a student who joins in Year 6 leaves school with seven years of compounding skill development behind them.
Not a gifted-and-talented add-on. Not an enrichment option for those with spare periods. The skills LIGHTBULB develops apply as much to a student pursuing IIT-JEE or Oxbridge as to one heading into an apprenticeship. Employers in finance, law, medicine and engineering all expect them now, regardless of grades.
It complements academics.
LIGHTBULB is not a replacement for academic study and does not compete with it for curriculum priority. It sits alongside, filling the space that examinations were never designed to cover.
It’s designed for teachers.
Every course is fully resourced - lesson materials, delivery guides, assessment. No specialist subject knowledge required. No additional preparation burden on already-stretched staff.
Online courses - modular, engaging and impactful.
The Platform
Built to the standards today’s students expect - short modules, high production values, and content designed to be finished.
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Extract from the 2026/27 Course Library
What schools get
Everything needed to run it, from day one.
• 17 courses across the Years 6–12 pathway
• 3 courses per annum, each of 6–8 weeks duration
• A blend of online and classroom sessions
• Complete teacher resource packs for every course
• A certificate for every student and teacher on every course, issued as a UK Registered Learning Provider (UKPRN 10093762)
• Individual competency tracking across 12 dimensions
• Flexible delivery - timetabled, form time, enrichment or blended
• Teacher training and ongoing CPD - delivered at launch and refreshed each year
• Ongoing programme updates as the workplace evolves
Alignment
Frameworks you already work within.
LIGHTBULB 2.0 was built to sit inside the frameworks schools are already accountable to - not to add another one to the pile. It maps against four.
International Baccalaureate
Approaches to Learning
International Baccalaureate
Learner Profile
Thinking, research, communication, social and self-management skills are the working method of every LIGHTBULB course, not a layer added on top. Because the programme tracks 12 competencies per student, ATL development becomes evidence you can show rather than a claim you have to make.
Inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk-takers, principled, reflective. The Learner Profile describes who a student becomes; LIGHTBULB gives it somewhere concrete to happen - real questions, real decisions, sustained across seven years rather than one unit.
Cambridge IGCSE
Global Perspectives (0457)
The Gatsby Benchmarks
UK schools & Multi-Academy Trusts
Global Markets, Sustainability, Future of Energy, Data - the New Oil and The Future World of Work cover much of the same territory as 0457, and rehearse the same demands: independent research, team project work, perspective-taking and reflection. Useful preparation from Year 7, whether or not a student goes on to sit the paper.
Careers provision in England is measured against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. LIGHTBULB contributes directly to linking curriculum learning to careers and to learning from labour-market information - with per-student competency evidence a Trust can report on consistently across every school in the group.
Each mapping is a short document setting out, framework point by framework point, which courses and competencies contribute and how the evidence is captured. Tell us which one you need and we will send it.
Our partners
BGS Group of Schools - Bangalore • DSB International School - Mumbai • COBIS • UK Register of Learning Providers - UKPRN 10091466 •