The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub

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Tag: Primary Teaching Resources

  • The Sharing Library is LIVE!

    The Sharing Library is LIVE!

    I am so excited to finally share that The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub Sharing Library is now LIVE!

    The library is a growing collection of teaching resources created and shared by primary teachers across Scotland, and it is completely free to access.

    All you need to do is create a free account. You can then browse and download resources, as well as upload your own to share with other primary teachers throughout Scotland.

    A huge thank you to everyone who has already shared a teaching resource. Every upload has helped us build the foundations of the vision behind The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub, and I am so grateful to those of you who have trusted us with your resources.

    Now, we want to reach 100 founding resources shared by teachers across Scotland.

    Have you created a resource that could help another teacher? Please consider sharing it within our library!

    It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be something that could save another teacher time or give them a little inspiration.

    100 resources. 100 ideas. 100 opportunities to support another teacher.

    Let’s build the Sharing Library together.

    Create your free account and start sharing today!

  • Can Scottish primary teachers use Oak National Academy?

    Can Scottish primary teachers use Oak National Academy?

    If you are a primary teacher in Scotland, you might have heard of Oak National Academy, it’s a free teaching resource platform for primary and secondary teachers in England.

    I recently met with the team at Oak National Academy to learn more about the platform and how teachers are using it. One question I was particularly interested in was whether the resources could be useful for teachers working with the Curriculum for Excellence (CFE) in Scotland.

    Their answer was positive. Although Oak National Academy has been developed for the English National Curriculum, many of the concepts taught in primary schools are similar. With a little professional judgement, many of the resources can be used by primary teachers in Scotland to support planning, provide inspiration or help build subject knowledge.

    What is Oak National Academy?

    Oak National Academy is a completely free website that provides curriculum resources for primary and secondary schools in England.

    Originally created during the COVID-19 pandemic to support remote learning, it has since grown into a huge library of curriculum materials covering a wide range of primary subjects.

    What makes Oak National Academy stand out is that it does not just offer individual lesson ideas. It provides complete curriculum sequences, showing how learning is built over time through units of work and individual lessons.

    What could Scottish teachers find useful?

    It’s completely free

    Every lesson, curriculum plan and teaching resource is free to access, making it an excellent place to explore new ideas or support your planning.

    It makes curriculum progression easy to see

    One feature I particularly like is being able to view an entire unit of work and see how learning develops across lessons. You can also explore how topics progress across different year groups, which can be really helpful when thinking about progression and curriculum design.

    The Key Learning Points make it easy to check against CfE

    Every lesson begins with a set of Key Learning Points. These give a clear summary of what pupils are expected to learn, making it quick to compare the lesson with your chosen Experiences and Outcomes.

    Rather than reading through an entire lesson first, you can quickly decide whether the learning is relevant for your class.

    A few things to remember

    Oak was not designed for CfE, so it’s always worth checking that a lesson matches the learning you want pupils to achieve.

    Think of the resources as a starting point rather than something to follow exactly. You may want to adapt examples, vocabulary or activities to better suit your learners and your school’s curriculum.

    My thoughts

    One thing I really appreciated after speaking with the Oak National Academy team was seeing how much thought has gone into making the curriculum easy to navigate. Being able to view learning across a whole unit or year group is a feature I think many teachers will find useful.

    Oak National Academy has high-quality resources that Scottish teachers can explore, adapt and use to support the learning they are planning.

    It is certainly one website that is worth knowing about and hopefully it can help reduce your workload next year.

    Joanna

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  • Creating The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub

    Creating The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub

    Hi everyone, I’m Joanna, and I wanted to share the story behind The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub, how it began and what inspired me to create it.

    Earlier this year, I completed my research on primary teaching resources at Edinburgh Napier University. That research opened my eyes to an issue I had already experienced first hand: the shortage of accessible, high quality teaching resources for primary teachers in Scotland.

    Before my MSc Publishing degree, I worked as an Early Years Practitioner and spent time in primary classrooms during my MA Primary Education placements. I often saw teachers creating resources completely from scratch, which I also had to do myself. It was rewarding but incredibly time consuming.

    That experience of creating teaching resources from scratch sparked my love for educational publishing. I discovered how much I enjoyed designing and illustrating resources, which led me to pursue an MSc in Publishing. During my internship with an educational publisher, I learned how much time and expertise go into creating quality teaching materials. This helped me realise how unsustainable it is to expect teachers to be both full time educators and professional publishers at the same time.

    Even as I continued my publishing journey, I knew I wanted to do something practical to help primary teachers but I was not sure how best to do that.

    Turning research into action

    Through my dissertation research in May 2025, one solution kept coming up again and again: the need for a central, easy to use platform where teachers can share and find resources. This idea had also been on my mind since my first experience working in education, so I decided to make it happen.

    As I began building the website, the vision grew. I realised the platform could not only help teachers find and share resources but also support professional growth, connection, and wellbeing. I wanted to create a space that helps teachers save time, feel supported, and avoid burnout.

    That is when our vision came together:

    Sharing Resources . Learning Together . Reducing Workload.

    Inspired by community

    I have been greatly inspired by the Scottish Primary Teachers Facebook group, which has an incredible community of around 35,000 members. The collaboration and support within that group is amazing, and I hope The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub can work in a similar way, and support their amazing community work.

    Looking ahead

    The website will always remain free to access. All teachers need to do is create a free account to upload and download resources safely and securely.

    There are many exciting features in development, and I can’t wait for teachers across Scotland to explore them. My goal is for The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub to become a central space where teachers can find what they need quickly, share ideas, and feel part of a positive, supportive community.

    This is just the beginning, but I’m so proud of how far it has come already. I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or feedback on how we can make it even better. So please comment below to get a great discussion started.

    Thank you for being part of this journey.

    With warm wishes,


    Joanna
    Founder and Director, The Scottish Primary Teaching Hub