FAQs

1. Who are PG Online?
2. Why buy PG Online materials?
3. What's included in a teaching unit?
4. Are there any annual subscription costs?
5. Do I need to purchase an entire series of units?
6. How do the units represent good value for my dwindling budget?
7. How do I find out more?
8. Do you offer sample material?
9. Which units would you recommend I start with? / Can you help with my curriculum planning?
10. How much does a teaching unit cost?
11. Do you offer a discount?
12. How do I register?
13. How do I order?
14. How long does it take to receive the materials?
15. I've forgotten my login details, what shall I do?
16. I've logged in, how do I download my units?
17. Can I let others in my department access the units online?
18. How do the resources work? Online or on a network?
19. I have a query about licensing
20. What assessment material is included with the KS3 units?
21. What will happen to the GCSE units when the curriculum changes in September 2016?
22. Do you have any resources for the new WJEC/EDUQAS Computing qualification?
23. Textbooks
24. I'd like more specific information. How do I get in touch?
25. Do you attend any trade shows?
26. I would be interested to write for PG Online
27. Why are you not using Levels or a similar model?
28. Do you have exam board endorsement for your materials?
29. We are teaching the Edexcel GCSE specification. Do you offer anything for that?
30. What free or commercial software is required to support the KS3 units?
31. How does the textbook return offer work?
32. Where can I find the budget plan terms and conditions?
33. Once purchased, can I copy from PG Online's materials or textbooks?

Who are PG Online?

PG Online is an award-winning independent publishing company founded and run by experienced teachers and originally created to fill the perceived lack of comprehensive, affordable resources for teachers. Read more at our About Us page.

Why buy PG Online materials?

PG Online strives to find the best strategy to help both experienced teachers and teachers who are unfamiliar with computing, to deliver the KS3 curriculum, GCSE and A Level  specifications. Our authors have a real understanding of what hard-pressed teachers need to help them through the curriculum and what students need to learn in order to stay ahead in todays' technological environment. With our teaching units we aim to help save teachers hours of preparation time and provide ideas for interesting and engaging lessons. Many teachers are reporting that their pupils' grades have also increased as their engagement and understanding has improved.

What's included in a teaching unit?

Written by experienced teaching professionals, each unit covers practical skills and theoretical topics across six or seven lessons including an assessment lesson. Additional files include a teaching guide with detailed lesson plans and program files where appropriate. At GCSE and A Level, each lesson also includes photocopiable worksheets and homework sheets, with answers, and an assessment test written in an examination style to help support and reinforce learning.

Visit Resources on our website and select your area of interest. Click on an individual unit for information on what's included in each unit and the lessons covered.

Are there any annual subscription costs?

All of our units are available to purchase on a one-off basis with a lifetime license. A subscription package is available for certain subjects. Contact us for more details. 

Do I need to purchase an entire series of units?

Not at all. You can order units using a pick-and-mix approach, and get only those units that you feel would help support the teaching in your school. Many schools just order one or two units to begin with.

How do the units represent good value for my dwindling budget?

All the units take hundreds of hours to produce to provide great quality and content. Prices start from £90 available on a lifetime, one-off basis. This provides good value per lesson and over an entire year group, may equate to just a few pence per pupil. In second and subsequent years, there is no cost at all. 

How do I find out more?

Visit Resources on our website and select an area of interest. Click on an individual unit to discover what's included in each unit and the lessons covered.

Do you offer sample material?

Yes. There is a free lesson for every unit to download from our website. Select your area of interest, click on an individual unit and you will see a button to download a sample lesson. The GCSE, IGCSE and A Level series have an entire unit available free.

We are extremely confident in our quality. If you purchase a unit, and it doesn't work for you or your school, get in touch within 100 days and we will refund you in full. The 100 day refund is for purchases from 1st January 2019 onwards.

We also give away a large number of free resources to help save teachers hours of planning time and help kick-start their lessons in September with the best quality resources.

Which units would you recommend I start with? / Can you help with my curriculum planning?

If you'd like some fresh ideas to help with planning for your curriculum, download our curriculum or specification maps to see how the units will fill gaps in your planned scheme of work. Otherwise, call us! We pride ourselves on our service and have decades of experience in the classroom between us.

How much does a teaching unit cost?

Key Stage 3 and GCSE units - £120 + VAT (Some are priced at £90 to reflect fewer lesson in a unit.) Schools currently using a complete series of our legacy material for GCSE courses can upgrade to the new material for any board for £400.

A Level units - up to £140 + VAT (Some are priced from £90 to reflect fewer topics within a unit.)

Prices are featured on each unit page of the website.

Do you offer a discount?

Yes, we offer a great cumulative discount package.

2-5 units – 10% discount

6-11 units – 15% discount

12 or more units – 20% discount

This means that if a school orders four units to begin with, they receive a 10% discount. A subsequent order of four more units would attract 15% and a further order of another four units would receive 20%. With 12 units registered to the school, they would then receive 20% discount on any future order for our units.

How do I register?

In the top right hand corner of the website click the 'Login or Register' button.

Enter your Teacher Details and your School Details. Check to see if your school is already listed and select it from the drop down list in the School box. Please note we can only accept school email addresses.

How do I order?

We can receive your school/college order online, by email, fax or telephone.

Please read our Your Order page for all the 'How to order' details.

How long does it take to receive the materials?

If we have received all the requested details on the order form and a valid purchase order number, you will usually receive the units within an hour of us receiving it.

I've forgotten my login details, what shall I do?

In the top right hand corner of the website click the 'Login or Register' button. Enter your school email address and click 'Forgotten Password'. 

I've logged in, how do I download my units?

Click on the My Account button. In the centre of the page you will see 'Your Purchases'. Scroll down the page to see the units you have purchased which will be in a solid colour. Click 'Download' on the individual unit.

Can I let others in my department access the units online?

Yes, just get in touch and we can authorise your colleagues to access the same units that you can see.

How do the resources work? Online or on a network?

You can download all of our resources on to your school network. The units are compiled using Microsoft PPT and DOC files that are editable, so you can customise them to your own teaching style. You can also upload them to a secure VLE/MLE such as Frog, Fronter or Moodle for access by the pupils.

All the resources will run on a PC or Mac based network. For units requiring specialist software such as GameMaker, AppShed, Kodu, Flowol etc you will need to download that software from the manufacturer's website.

I have a query about licensing

Our units are licensed to schools and further education establishments, we are unable to license to individuals. Units are not transferrable to another institution. See our terms for full details.

Licence agreement

Each PG Online Teaching Unit or PDF comes with a Lifetime Licence valid for a single site. The product is licensed to the school and permits the user to download the unit or PDF to the School Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Reproduction and distribution with any other person, school or third party is prohibited.

This is a legal agreement between you, the end user and PG Online Limited. The package including the Teacher's Guide, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations and other associated files is licensed, not sold to you by PG Online Limited for use under the terms of the licence.

Product copyright

The contents of each Teaching Unit are protected under copyright law. The Teachers Guide, all worksheets, PowerPoint presentations and other associated files distributed with it are supplied under licence and may be used and copied only in accordance with the terms of the licence. Except as permitted by the licence, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written permission of PG Online.

What assessment material is included with the KS3 units?

There is end-of-unit assessment with each teaching unit. The assessment at the end of each six week KS3 unit of work is based on either a multiple choice test for theory units, or a practical assessment portfolio. The portfolio includes evidence of the work that students have completed along with insightful questions to gauge an individual's understanding of specific aspects of the unit. In addition, pupils and teachers together complete a simple pupil-friendly grid with questions specific to the work they have done.

The Computer Crime and Cyber Security, Understanding Computers, Using Computers Safely, Effectively and Responsibly and Networks units all have a multiple choice test rather than the practical assessment portfolio and grid, as these are theoretical units. You can apportion a grade based on the percentage result of the tests in accordance with your schools assessment method.

PG Online believes that there needs to be a simple, quick and effective solution to assessment. Our material is designed with the teacher's workload in mind. The lessons, worksheets, homework and teacher's guides will save hours of research, planning and preparation. There is no getting around the fact that marking homework at this level is time-consuming, but it is time well spent, being motivating for the students and providing a scheme of assessment which is accurate and effective, while giving the teacher detailed knowledge of each student's progress.

Examples of the assessment at KS3 can be seen here.

What will happen to the units when specifications change?

Units will be rewritten to reflect any ongoing changes in the current specifications. These updates will be free to redownload. Where significant change occurs, such as a new specification, new units will be published specifically for the new course. Prices of the new units will be discounted for schools with legacy units according to the proportion of content that may have been reused and the degree to which materials needed to be rewritten.

Do you have any resources for the new WJEC/Eduqas board or the International A Level qualification?

No, but lots of schools in your position are using a combination of our AQA and OCR units to cover the course. Get in touch with us directly and we will help you with which units would be best for you and your students.

Textbooks

PG Online publish a range of textbooks providing both course text and invaluable revision material. The teaching units and textbooks are closely aligned, so they create excellent companion material. 

Books are individually priced and there is also an excellent discount structure for purchases of class sets. See the textbooks page for further information.

Book returns policy

Books should be returned within 28 days of the date of purchase in mint condition and securely wrapped. You are liable for the delivery costs incurred in returning the items to our warehouse. Some orders will be liable to a restocking fee. Please enclose a copy of the invoice relating to the book purchase that you received by email.

If the return is a result of our error, we will arrange collection of the textbooks. Please contact us prior to any returns.

I'd like more specific information. How do I get in touch?

Sales: [email protected] //

Accounts: [email protected] //

Telephone us: 0845 840 0019

Fax us: 0700 6074 0150

For technical support: [email protected] //

Do you attend any trade shows?

We have none scheduled at the moment, but we do attend from time-to-time.

I would be interested to write for PG Online

If you have relevant experience in writing for Computer Science, Design and Technology or Mathematics, please get in touch.

Please send us your author CV along with some sample material or sample chapters. If you would like any posted material returned, please include a stamped address return envelope.

Why are you not using Levels or a similar model?

Levels have been abolished and the government's new Commission set up to analyse the use of similar models has found them to be deeply problematic. We have summarised the Commission's 51-page report here.

Do you have exam board endorsement for your materials?

We have endorsement from all exam boards where the board has the facility to endorse or approve a textbook or series. Some boards do not provide endorsement of teaching materials. Exam board endorsement is a long process which can often delay the publication of our textbooks and units. Our authors include experienced examiners, Chief Examiners and Chairs of Examiners.

We are teaching the Edexcel GCSE specification. Do you offer anything for that?

Yes, we do.  Please visit the Edexcel page to see the series of units

In particular, Unit 6: Programming teaches students how to program and complete exercises in a similar way to those used by the exam board. All lessons expect students to save files in the same way as they will be expected to in the exam, giving them good habits right from the start.

There are free sample lessons available for each unit to download via the website, many of which would be quite useful as standalone lessons.

What free or commercial software is required to support the KS3 units?

Most of our KS3 units are designed to work with free or open source software. Where free software was not available or inferior, we have used popular commercial software. AppShed users can access a 15% disount on their EDU Accounts with a purchase of the KS3 AppShed Unit. A list of free and commercial software and hardware requirements can be found here.

Returning textbooks

Please ensure that the books are in perfect condition so they can be returned to the warehouse. We cannot accept books back that are damaged, stamped or have been used. Once we have received the books into stock, your school will be credited with the value of the books, taking account of any volume discounts offered. Book can only be returned within 28 days of purchase.

 

Where can I find the budget plan terms and conditions?

The extended terms and conditions are on the second page of the order form that is produced when the budget plan option is selected. This is in an orange box on the left hand side of the Complete Order page. Three signatories are required on the order form before a budget plan is approved.

Once purchased, can I copy from PG Online's materials and textbooks?

All PG Online textbooks are protected by copyright, and so unless otherwise stated, you are not permitted to copy or reproduce material from publications without our express permission.

If however, you are a teacher in a UK school, you already hold CLA’s Education Licence, which covers you to copy 5% from a PG Online book that your school owns. Find out more at www.cla.co.uk/licencetocopy

All PG Online downloadable teaching resources are protected by copyright, but they may be edited within the purchasing institution.

If you are seeking permission to use any part of our resources, please contact our Rights and Permissions department.