The service started with a small audience, limited largely to the London area via its weekday franchise-holder Associated-Rediffusion.
The service expanded as stations were added to the ITV network, and continued for the next 30 years, broadcasting a schedule of memorable documentaries, drama and entertainment programmes aimed at children between the ages of 5 and 18.
In the autumn of 1984, Thames Television was involved in a series of labour disputes that caused the schools programmes that it produced to not be aired for a portion of the term.
These programs would be rerun nationally in December 1984, with schools in the Thames area being shown the backlog of programmes from the Yorkshire, Granada, and Central franchises, which were unable to be transmitted as the dispute caused broadcast equipment to be disabled.
Until 1968 network schools presentation was provided initially by Associated-Rediffusion in London before it transferred to ATV and later, Central Independent Television in Birmingham with live announcements made by ATV and Central's staff announcers including Mike Prince, Stewart White, Peter Davies and Su Evans.
Exactly one minute before the start of the programme, the slide was replaced by a clock showing sixty second-marks, which gradually disappeared until there were none left.
Also a programme presented by Anna Ford looking back at 30 years of ITV schools output was transmitted in May 1987 but was repeated on 13 September 1987.
Just two pieces of interval music were used after September 1987: The Journey for a 3D holding device, and Just a Minute which backed a redesigned clock.
At the end of schools programming from 14 September, the ITV logos glided onto stage, with the first ten seconds of The Journey.
On the first afternoon after schools programming, Channel 4 showed a film because programmes for the Open College and Business Daily began transmission week commencing 21 September 1987.
After the introduction of breakfast television in April 1989, it was necessary to extend the first interval to five minutes due to the 9:25 am finish time of The Channel 4 Daily.
For the first three minutes, Channel 4 would play one of their own interval tracks – between April 1989 and the end of 1991 over a still of the 3D clock and throughout 1992, the ITV "rotomotion" between 13 January 1992 and 1 December 1992.
From Monday 11 January 1993, the holding device was no longer used for the first programme, and the introduction cut into 40 seconds of the clock.
Educational programmes for schools continued to be broadcast on Channel 4 until 2009, although they were usually moved into commercially unviable timeslots, such as overnight, where they could be video-recorded by teachers for later consumption.