Free resources for English teachers in KS2 and KS3

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English resources for KS2 and KS3

Handwriting line guides | 3 guideline style, suitable for use with Nelson scheme.
Handwriting line guides | 2 guideline style, suitable for more independent writers

Spelling test lists for Year 3 – based on NLS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term
Spelling test lists for Year 4 – based on NLS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term
Spelling test lists for Year 5 – based on NLS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term
Spelling test lists for Year 6 – based on NLS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term
Spelling test lists for Year 7 – based on KS3 NS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term
Spelling test lists for Year 8 – based on KS3 NS words – Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term

Creative writing in KS2/3

BURT reading test | A free and quick to administer reading test. Useful for screening which pupils need more in-depth diagnostic testing.
BURT reading test administration guide.
Schonell Reading test (with administration guide) | An alternative to the BURT test.
Schonell Spelling test | Free and useful whole class diagnostic to use as an initial screen or for differentiation.
VARK learning styles test – with answer sheet and scoring | Useful for gauging pupil preferences. Now very unfashionable, but interesting to look at.
Further VARK learning style resources | Just don’t use the term ‘learning style’!

Anne Frank Trust UK Ltd | Great set of resources.
Random Writing Prompt Generators | A writing prompt generator. (I’ve used this one a lot for quick starters)
501 Writing Prompts | Great resource for essay starters.
764 Free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds – High Quality | Great for enlivening the IWB.
Free English Teacher Resources – By Geoff Barton. Great selection of free resources, which don’t rely on the textbooks.
The Lesson by Roger McGough | A great poem for a one-off lesson.
Michael Rosen: Story: What? How? What! Now? | Every English teacher should read this.
Mock Trial Activity | Turn persuasive writing into court trials. Works well with PSE too.
Pig Latin — An English to Pig Latin Translator | Do you teach Holes in Y7? Even if you don’t – a good language activity.
Prompt Generators and resources | Good creative writing starter for IWBs. Look in the dynamic curriculum/language arts section.
Storyboard template | Good for linear story planning.
Teachit Timer | A large IWB countdown timer.
Tagxedo – Great Tag Cloud creator which can be used for displays or creating calligrams/shape poems.
Teach and consolidate the learning of apostrophes with this collection of appalling apostrophe misuse photographs. Can your pupils explain why the apostrophe has been used incorrectly, and suggest a correct usage? KS2 & KS3

Flickr poet | An interesting and creative way of turning a short paragraph or lines of poetry into pictures. It’s almost a visual cut-up poetry creator. Useful to provide otherwise unexplored or not considered lines of thought. Good for IWBs.
Flickr Five Card Trick | A visual version of ‘five-card nancy‘ – where five pictures are chosen at random to provide a visual impetus for a story. Cards can be kept, and others discarded until the germ of an idea is there for planning. Played as a game in a small group – rules are here – five card nancy is a great way for a reluctant writer to create narrative ideas. Useful for IWBs and really useful with tablets.
Spell with Flickr | An application that spells words using pictures from Flickr. Good for creating displays or interesting headers for projects – or a ‘wanted’ style poster.