Grants & Funding Opportunities for Schools
Arts
The Teacher Development Fund from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation aims to support primary school arts-based teaching. Offers around 6 grants of up to £150,000 each year to partnerships between arts/cultural organisations and 5 to 10 schools. Applications open in September.
All state-funded schools in England are eligible to set up an Into Film Club to gain access to thousands of free films, educational resources and access to exclusive events, including Into Film Festival.
Books
LoveReading4Kids funding for schools scheme offers funding for state schools to buy books for children to read for pleasure.
Bookmark reading charity offers books, grants and other support to schools in areas of above-average income deprivation affecting children. To check the other criteria and see what programmes it offers, go to its programmes, grants and resources page.
The Oxford Owl website offers free, tablet-friendly eBooks and resources for primary schools to support children's learning.
Breakfast Clubs
The National School Breakfast Programme is funded by the DfE and supports schools in England to provide children with a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day. To be eligible, your school must have 40% or more children in income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) bands A-F.
Magic Breakfast works with schools to offer healthy breakfasts to pupils in the UK. You'll need to submit an expression of interest form and Magic Breakfast will get in touch when it has enough funding. At least 35% of your pupils should be eligible for pupil premium.
Tesco Stronger Starts offers funding for projects that focus on food security, children and young people (such as breakfast clubs, food banks, or library books).
Capital Projects
The Clothworkers' Foundation offers funding towards capital projects for charities, including special schools. Grants can be used for building renovations, or to purchase fixtures, fittings, equipment or vehicles.
The Wolfson Foundation awards grants to state-funded secondary schools and sixth-form colleges for building work or technical equipment to improve the teaching of GCSEs and A-levels in science, computer science, design and technology, art, languages, music and performing arts.
Classics
The Classical Association offers grants to schools to support the study of classical topics. It also provides CPD events for school teachers of classical subjects.
Classics for All helps state schools across the UK to introduce or develop the teaching of classical subjects, in the form of free training and resources.
The Roman Society offers funding to promote the teaching of Latin and Roman studies. Grants are mainly for purchasing textbooks and resources, but they can also be used for study days - especially if they benefit large numbers of pupils throughout the year and can be repeated in future years.
Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies offers grants to cover the costs of developing new courses in Greek, teaching materials, Greek plays and Classics days or conferences.
Charitable Organisations with an Education Focus
A list of charities based in the UK with contextual information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Educational_charities_based_in_the_United_Kingdom
Educational Trusts Forum: an association of educational trusts that work together and individually to give young people the best start in life through supporting their home circumstances and facilitating a good education. Each member charity is independent and has its own criteria for making awards. They can provide assistance to parents and guardians to support their children: https://educational-grants.org/find-charity/?all=1
Turn2Us: Turn2us is a national charity providing practical information and support to end financial insecurity. They support families and individuals: https://grants-search.turn2us.org.uk/
Charity Excellence: finds funders for small charities:
· https://www.charityconnect.co.uk/post/trusts-that-fund-education/4513
· https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/
· https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/Home/BlogDetail?Link=New_UK_Charity_Grant_Funders
Charity Choice lists charities that provide funds to students, schools, colleges and universities: https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/charities/education-and-training
London School of Economics: list of grant giving bodies who sponsor a range of students to complete university level study: https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/financial-support/grant-making-bodies
Grants Online: lists all grants available in the UK for education and training purposes. These can be accessed by schools, settings and education providers. Includes lists of regionally funded projects: https://www.grantsonline.org.uk/news/education-and-training/
Funds Online provides a list of funders to charities:
· https://www.dsc.org.uk/publication/the-directory-of-grant-making-trusts-2024-25/
Community Projects
The UK Community Foundations website has details and links to the 47 accredited community foundations in the UK, each of which has funding streams available that target particular issues in their area.
Disadvantaged Children
BBC Children in Need - Emergency Essentials Programme is for children and young people up to the age of 17 who are facing exceptionally difficult circumstances. It funds critical items such as clothing and bedding.
The Trussell Trust's foodbanks can be found using this searchable map.
Family Action runs Food On Our Doorstep (FOOD) clubs that provide low-cost groceries. Families can find their nearest club here.
The charity Merlin's Magic Wand offers tickets to Merlin Group attractions for young people with disabilities, serious or long-term illnesses; those in care or foster homes or adopted; those impacted by domestic violence, abuse, bullying or serious crime; those with a terminally ill or recently deceased parent/carer or sibling; and young carers.
Educational Projects
Educational charities based in the United Kingdom
The Garfield Weston Foundation awards grants to educational projects. The foundation also supports arts, community, welfare, youth and environmental projects.
Blue Spark Foundation offers grants for educational, cultural, sporting and other projects that aim to improve the education and development of children.
The National Lottery Community Fund offers funding to support community projects and also larger projects. Schools must show that their project will involve, and have a positive impact on, the wider community.
Benefact Trust awards grants to Christian organisations, including schools, supporting projects that make a positive difference to people and communities.
Environmental & Outdoor Projects
The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association gives funding and practical assistance to community gardens and green sites across London.
The Nineveh Charitable Trust offers grants to schools and other organisations for UK-based projects that benefit the general public. Education, access and preservation of the countryside are common themes.
The Learning through Landscapes: Local School Nature Grants Programme allows schools to apply for outdoor learning resources and a training session.
WWF offers free climate change resources and free courses for teachers on:
- Driving change towards sustainable schools
- Making connections (about biodiversity and global systems, and how to use these concepts in the classroom)
- Encouraging active and participatory learning
- Empowering young people to take action
Transform Our World offers a short online training course as an introduction to social action for primary teachers. It's designed to help you introduce social action to primary school children.
The Open University offers a catalogue of free online courses. Your staff can work through them individually or as a group. Topics in the 'education and development' section include:
Outdoor and Sustainability Education Specialists (OASES) runs a 'climate friendly schools' programme, which includes free lessons, assemblies and teacher training on climate change.
Gardening
The Woodland Trust invites schools to apply for trees to plant in their grounds.
B&Q runs a community reuse scheme across its stores, donating surplus gardening and DIY materials to be used by local schools and community groups. You can register through the online platform Neighbourly, selecting your nearest store and the items you're interested in receiving.
Geography
The Royal Geographical Society offers funding for geography teachers at secondary level to develop imaginative and creative educational resources with the help of a university collaborator.
MFL
State-funded secondary schools that teach Mandarin can apply to the Institute of Education's Mandarin Excellence Programme for funding to support developing the school into a centre of excellence for the teaching of Mandarin.
The Institute of Education also offers a primary Mandarin toolkit, which is free to download, to introduce Mandarin at your school.
The Goethe Institut offers free resources, training and educational opportunities for schools teaching German. It also offers a range of grants and scholarships for German teachers and pupils studying the language.
The Spanish Embassy Education Office offers some free resources and links for teaching Spanish at primary and A-level.
Institut Francaise Royaume-Uni offers free training and resources for French teachers.
Music, Heritage & Crafts
The Radcliffe Trust offers grants principally in 2 sectors: music, and heritage and crafts.
RE
The Jerusalem Trust supports the teaching of Christianity within RE by awarding grants to state-funded primary and secondary schools for the purchase of resources.
SEND
The Clothworkers' Foundation offers funding towards capital projects. Grants can be used for building renovations, or to purchase fixtures, fittings, equipment or vehicles.
Variety, the children's charity, offers grants for specialist equipment that will directly benefit or support children with disabilities.
Sports
A number of grants are available to schools from Sport England.
The Football Foundation offers grants for a range of improvements and equipment for football pitches.
STEM
The DfE offers premium payments for chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics teachers in state-funded secondary schools.
The Royal Society offers grants to schools to carry out climate and biodiversity research projects in partnership with STEM professionals from academia or industry.
The Microbiology Society gives grants to schools to support relevant science teaching or promotion initiatives, or to support developments likely to lead to an improvement in the teaching of any aspect of microbiology.
Apply for an Engage grant to support young people under-represented in STEM.
STEM learning offers free resources and CPD - you'll need to sign up for a free account to access a wide range of STEM information, resources and CPD.
Computing:
- The National Centre for Computing Education offers support and funding for teachers' CPD, as well as funding to offer computer science GCSE
- Computing at School offers free resources, training and community forums
- Access free resources, courses and platforms from the Raspberry Pi Foundation
Engineering:
Chemistry:
- The Outreach fund from the Royal Society of Chemistry provides funding to support chemistry-based school and community engagement activities
Trips
The charity Merlin's Magic Wand offers tickets to Merlin Group attractions for young people with disabilities, serious or long-term illnesses; those in care or foster homes or adopted; those impacted by domestic violence, abuse, bullying or serious crime; those with a terminally ill or recently deceased parent/carer or sibling; and young carers.
English Heritage has over 400 sites where schools can book a free self-led visit.
UK-German Connection gives funding to UK schools that have a partnership with a German school. Funding streams usually centre on work-focused programmes, project-based programmes and visits.
The YHA offers bursaries for schools struggling to meet the costs of residential trips. To be eligible, your school must be situated in an area of high social deprivation and have 30% or more of pupils registered for free school meals or the pupil premium. Primary, secondary and special schools can apply, as well as alternative provisions and colleges.
Happy Days Children's Charity has funding available for day trips and group activity holidays aimed at children and young people with additional needs.
The Daiwa Foundation offers grants to promote and support interaction between the UK and Japan.
The Henry Smith Charity runs a holiday grants programme that aims to provide access to recreational trips or holidays for groups of children aged 13 or under who experience disadvantage or who have disabilities.
Information correct as at April 2025
