Primary schools
Support for teachers to celebrate belonging and LGBT+ inclusion.
78% of primary pupils have heard homophobic language
LGBT+ inclusion in primary schools is vital to prevent bullying and its long-term impact.
At primary level, it is focused on celebrating diverse families, kindness, and respecting difference – always in an age-appropriate way, in line with the curriculum.
Some pupils will grow up to be LGBT+, others will already know, many will have LGBT+ family members. Every primary school can and should teach about allyship.
Our charity has training, resources and support to help you on this journey.
“Our primary school wouldn’t have become such an inclusive and welcoming place without Just Like Us. We’ve put their posters up around the school and staffroom as reminders for the whole school community that we are accepting. The charity’s resources have raised staff confidence and self-esteem when delivering sessions.”
Teacher Denise Jones at Afon Y Felin Primary in Wales
Primary reading list
LGBT+ inclusive book recommendations for Early Years, KS1 and KS2, freshly updated every year.
Resources
Browse and download our free primary teaching resources, including assembly slides, circle time videos and posters to create inclusive displays.
Teacher training
Learn how to tackle harmful language and bullying through our free, e-learning course.
Our support
Guide for primary school staff
In September 2026, Just Like Us will be publishing a guide for primary school staff. Sign up so you don’t miss it.
Primary schools FAQs
Talking with children about the fact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people exist is always age appropriate. Unfortunately, there can sometimes be a misunderstanding about what LGBT+ inclusive education looks like. In reality, at primary school level, the conversations should simply be about kindness, allyship and respecting difference. It is as simple as, for example, explaining that “some people have two mummies, some people have two daddies”.
Just as any teacher – and parent – adjusts the way they talk about other topics to be suitable for a specific age group, this is no different. At Just Like Us, we don’t cover sex education and we would never expect conversations about LGBT+ inclusion to delve into anything that isn’t appropriate for a child’s age or development.
It’s worth remembering that all primary school pupils will either have an LGBT+ person in their family or wider community (including school), may be growing up with LGBT+ parents or carers, and may grow up to be LGBT+ themself one day. They may even have a LGBT+ teacher, doctor or social worker, or one day grow up to work with LGBT+ colleagues. Regardless, every child benefits from LGBT+ inclusive education – research has shown that it is linked to all pupils having better wellbeing, including those who are not LGBT+.
Our resources are always age appropriate, in line with the curriculum, Ofsted and RSE Guidance, and free for school staff.
Yes, we have ready-to-go resources including activities, posters for nurseries and book recommendations in our Reading List for Early Years, KS1 and KS2 – all completely free. Sign up to download our resources.
This is a common problem in primary schools. LGBT+ pupils are twice as likely to be bullied and 78% of primary pupils have heard homophobic language in the past year.
There are a range of ways to tackle this in your school, including ensuring your anti-bullying policy includes bullying of LGBT+ young people as well as pupils from LGBT+ families. You might want to start with our assembly focused on helping pupils understand the impact of homophobic language, using our slides and video content featuring LGBT+ young people. Sign up to download our resources.
You could also encourage your colleagues to complete our free e-learning courses, such as ‘Preventing anti-LGBT+ bullying in primary schools’, so there is a shared understanding across your staff team.
Building trust and having open communication with pupils’ parents and carers is of course vital, especially in a primary setting.
While one in 10 British parents say they personally would “never talk about LGBT topics” with their child at home – often because they’re unsure how to go about it – there is vast support for this work in schools. 8 in 10 parents say it’s ‘important’ for their children to have an LGBT+ inclusive education, including learning that some peers have two mums or two dads.
Parents and carers of pupils are often of generations who sadly didn’t grow up with LGBT+ inclusive education so sometimes the burden falls on teachers to explain what it looks like and how it helps all young people.
In September 2026, Just Like Us will be publishing a guide for primary school staff on how to best navigate these conversations. Sign up for our schools newsletter so you don’t miss it.
Until then, we recommend three key things:
- Stay calm, listen and be empathetic – often tricky questions stem from fear and a lack of personal understanding
- Be prepared to explain what talking about LGBT+ topics looks like in your school, including how you ensure it is age appropriate, and how it is aligned with the curriculum and OFSTED expectations.
- Link your LGBT+ inclusion work back to your school values, such as kindness, allyship and respecting difference, and your school’s anti-bullying work – especially as LGBT+ pupils are twice as likely to be bullied and 78% of primary pupils have heard homophobic language in the past year.
Remember that faith and LGBT+ identities are not mutually exclusive — LGBT+ people of faith exist, and many young people hold both as central to who they are. Avoid assuming that a pupil’s faith background means their family will be unsupportive of LGBT+ inclusion.
In practice, frame the conversation around your school’s core values — kindness, respect, and belonging for everyone. This makes clear that protecting a child’s faith identity and supporting LGBT+ pupils are part of the same commitment, not opposing priorities.
If a concern is raised by a parent, it often stems from unfamiliarity with what LGBT+ inclusive teaching actually looks like at primary level — which is typically simple and age appropriate, such as the fact that some children have two mums or two dads
It’s also worth noting that many faith schools — and schools serving pupils from diverse faith backgrounds — are actually among the most inclusive environments for LGBT+ young people, because respect for every person is central to their values.
Sign up for resources and support from Just Like Us and you’ll become part of a network of hundreds of teachers working with pupils from faith communities while also advocating for LGBT+ inclusive education.
In September 2026, Just Like Us will be publishing a guide for primary school staff on how to best navigate conversations with parents, including objections from parents based on faith. Make sure you sign up so you don’t miss it.
Just Like Us has more than 100 Welsh resources for Early Years, KS1 and KS2 and we are always adding to our growing online library.
Our Welsh resources include assemblies, resources for key awareness dates such as LGBT+ History Month, PSHE lessons, and curriculum lesson plans including history and art lessons.
Everything our charity provides is free for schools. Sign up to download our resources.
Just Like Us has LGBT+ inclusive resources for SEND pupils available for free, including assembly slides, PSHE lesson plans and social stories – sign up to access them.
Read more about why LGBT+ inclusive education matters for SEND pupils in this blog by Charlie, a trans, autistic young person who has been supported by our charity.
As a charity working to ensure every young person grows up knowing that being LGBT+ is something to be celebrated, we provide free support and resources on diverse families, kindness, allyship and respecting difference to hundreds of primary schools.
In total, more than 14,000 teachers across the UK use our resources. Our resources are always age appropriate, in line with the curriculum, OFTSED and RSE Guidance, and free for school staff.
For primary schools, we provide the following – all completely free:
- Teaching resources including display materials, circle time activities, storytime videos, lesson plans and assembly slides – sign up for our free resources
- Online teacher training – take our free e-learning course, Preventing anti-LGBT+ bullying in primary schools
- An upcoming guide for primary teachers on how to talk about LGBT+ inclusive education with your pupils’ parents – look out for this in September 2026
- Support from our staff team, which includes former teachers – please get in touch if you have a question
We currently provide a Preventing anti-LGBT+ bullying in primary schools e-learning course to help support you in understanding how to tackle anti-LGBT+ language and bullying in your primary setting.
Just Like Us provides LGBT+ inclusive teaching resources, including lesson plans, circle time story videos and display materials, for nurseries, Early Years, KS1 and KS2. Our resources are always age appropriate, in line with the curriculum, OFTSED and RSE Guidance, and free for school staff.
Downloading our primary resources is simple – if you haven’t already, sign up and you’ll receive a step-by-step guide by email.
Already signed up? Head to our digital resources library.
To meet our mission of improving the lives of LGBT+ young people in the UK, our charity provides inclusive teaching resources for staff at nurseries and schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
