Grants and Funding Opportunities for Schools

Arts 

The Teacher Development Fund from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation aims to support primary school arts-based teaching. 

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 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.

BookTrust offers free virtual author visits.

Schools can use Contact an Author to find authors offering visits, virtual story times or workshops, filterable by area and pupil age. Many authors offer free virtual visits or reduced rates for certain criteria.

Puffin Schools offers free virtual author visits. Teachers can send in their pupils' questions in advance, for the author to answer during the online session.

Capital Projects

The Clothworkers’ Foundation offers funding for special schools towards capital projects, such as building renovations, or to purchase fixtures, fittings, equipment or vehicles.

The Garfield Weston Foundation supports capital projects for schools with charitable status.

Benefact Trust awards grants to Christian organisations, including schools, supporting capital projects such as chapels and prayer gardens, or refurbishments to worship spaces.

Special schools and colleges can apply to The Wolfson Foundation for capital funding for new buildings, refurbishment work or equipment.

Solar for Schools helps to finance solar panel systems for schools. 

Take a look at the government’s grant finder service to see if there is other funding you can apply for in your area.

Classics 

The Classical Association offers grants 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: Educational charities  

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:

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:

Community Projects

The UK Community Foundations website has details and links to accredited community foundations in the UK, each of which has funding streams available that target particular issues in their area.

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.

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.

Variety, the children's charity, offers grants for specialist equipment that will directly benefit or support children with disabilities.

The charity Merlin's Magic Wand offers attraction tickets for young people with long-term health challenges or disabilities, those in the care system, and victims of domestic violence, abuse, or crime. Young carers and those coping with family bereavement are also eligible.

Educational Projects

Educational charities based in the United Kingdom

The Hargreaves Foundation takes applications at any time to fund projects or purchases to support children living in poverty, or with a disability or a mental health condition.

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.

Environmental and Outdoor Projects

The Royal Society offers grants for schools to carry out climate and biodiversity research projects in partnership with STEM professionals from academia or industry. 

Sea-Changers gives one-off grants to schools and other organisations to carry out activities related to marine conservation.

The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association gives funding and practical assistance to community gardens and green sites across London.

The Alpkit Foundation provides small awards for outdoor skills and activities worth up to £500. 

Gardening

The Country Trust offers a 'Farm in a Box' cross-curricular programme free for eligible schools. It contains resources and activities for learning about and growing a particular food. To be eligible, your school must have an ever 6 FSM rate of above 25.9% or be a special school, primary pupil referral unit, or have a high percentage of pupils receiving the service pupil premium.

The Woodland Trust invites schools to apply for trees to plant in their grounds. There are 2 delivery periods, in March and November.

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.

Health

The period products scheme is available to all maintained schools and DfE-funded 16 to 19 colleges in England. It provides free period products to any pupils who need them in school. 

Healthy Eating

Tesco offers a Fruit & Veg grant worth up to £1,500 for schools for causes that improve access to healthy, nutritious food. 

Magic Breakfast works with schools to offer healthy breakfasts to pupils in the UK. 

Languages

The Institute of Education 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 free mentoring for schools.

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 and Crafts

The Radcliffe Trust offers grants principally in 2 sectors: music, and heritage and crafts.

RE

Christian Aid has free resources, games, lesson plans and assemblies designed to support primary school pupils' understanding of world issues.

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.

RSE/PHSE

Oak National Academy has free online safety lessons for Key Stage (KS) 1 to KS4. For teenagers, the lessons include learning about harmful ideologies and online misogyny.

SEND

Variety, the children's charity, offers grants for specialist equipment that will directly benefit or support children with disabilities. 

Cash for Kids is a grant-giving charity helping children affected by poverty, illness or neglect, or who have additional needs.

Sports

The Movement Fund is available to schools from Sport England.

The Football Foundation offers grants for a range of improvements and equipment for football pitches.

STEM

STEM Learning offers free resources and CPD – you’ll need to sign up for a free account to access some.

The Armourers & Brasiers’ Company awards science grants to primary and secondary schools. Funding can be used to purchase equipment, deliver science enrichment projects, and support participation in science events and competitions.

Physics

The Ogden Trust offers free teacher support.

The Institute of Physics offers a public engagement grant scheme worth up to £4,000 to help fund physics-based projects. 

Computing

The National Centre for Computing Education offers support for CPD and free curriculum resources for computing at Key Stages 1 to 4.

Computing at School offers free resources, training and community forums.

Access free resources, courses and platforms from the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Engineering

Find free engineering resources for secondary and primary schools from the James Dyson foundation

Maths

The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) has free resources for teaching maths to pupils across all phases

Trips

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. 

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 Foundation 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.

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 FSM or the pupil premium.

English Heritage has over 400 sites where schools can book a free self-led visit, as well as free downloadable teaching resources.

Information correct as at August 2026