Last Updated September 2023
Yes, we did say free! Rather than free individual lesson plans or stand alone resources, the following list contains whole schemes of work and planning for entire primary year groups that are free to access. You may like to supplement your own planning or other schemes with these resources.
Many of the schemes below are developed by charities, academic organisations or teachers opening their work for others to access. Others come from commercial scheme of work providers who may offer a whole subject for free to promote their paid-for schemes.
The schemes below should not be seen as an endorsement from us. Whilst we’ve used some of these schemes in our own teaching, we cannot vouch for the quality of them all. You'll also note that some primary subjects are missing from the list below. This is because not every subject has free schemes or planning available.
We hope you find this useful, and simply click on each subject sub-heading to be taken to that page in our site where you can click-through to the scheme you’d like.
Assemblies.org.uk is a huge resource site for assembly scripts and presentations covering primary and secondary. Everything is free to access/download, but donations are welcome to help the team with the running of the site.
The BBC’s School Radio School Assembly site also has a comprehensive list of free assemblies covering important topics, festivals and discussion points.
Purple Mash offers a free ‘lite’ version of their computing scheme of work and The National Centre for Computing Education offers their Computing Curriculum for free. Both for years 1 to 6.
🇫🇷 French
If your school is a LGfL member, their Camden Languages scheme is free to access. Other free French schemes (mainly for years 3 to 6/KS2) include Classroom Secrets, Luc & Lucie from BCC Languages, LightBulb Languages and The Primary French Project by the Institut Français.
🇩🇪 German
BCC Languages German is free, as is German With Felix And Franzi by the Goethe-Institut.
🧮 Maths
Often a popular one when it comes to searching for planning. Three free schemes are out there: White Rose Maths (their mental maths app is also free), Kangaroo Maths and The MEP Scheme of Work by Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching. The latter goes up to year 11.
There are quite a few free schemes for maths and numeracy intervention, but do your research carefully as there are a variety of approaches in this subject area.
First, if your school happens to be a member of the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics, their Mastering Number resource (for reception to year 2) is free. The Centre for Innovation in Maths Teaching’s Mathematics Enhancement Programme is free, and for years 1 to 6 (they also have versions for South Africa, Spain and Jamaica).
Max’s Marvellous Maths is a free catch-up programme for year 1, and STEM Learning hosts the Wave 3 materials (originally published by the Department of Education), aimed at KS2.
Whilst some of the computing schemes mentioned above may have online safety units, these schemes and resources are purely for the teaching of this topic. The topic area is also known as e-safety or digital safety.
The free schemes of work here (generally all for years 1 to 6) are Be Internet Legends from Google, Digital Matters from Internet Matters, Project Evolve from SWGfL and Computing Owls also offers their online safety scheme for free.
🇪🇸 Spanish
Like French and German, BCC Languages has a free Spanish scheme, as does LightBulb Languages. Rachel Hawkes Spanish is also free.
❤️ Wellbeing
Whilst there are no completely free whole schemes for PSHE or RSE, the area of wellbeing has a few great planning sequences you can access for free. Some of those will touch upon the RSE criteria, and other aspects such as character development, British Values and emotional literacy.
For free schemes in this area, look to Kapow Primary for their free Wellbeing scheme, Hamilton Trust’s Wellbeing Blocks and Collins’ Wellbeing Pack collection. All these are for years 1 to 6.
We hope this guide has been helpful, but if you spot any errors or omissions please get in touch at the email address below.