Data handling that primary children can actually use
School Data Tools is a free tool for primary schools in England. Children collect, organise and show data — as pictograms, block and bar charts, tally charts, branching databases and record cards — and then read it back to answer a question they set themselves.
Open School Data Tools Read the help
No account needed. Nothing to install. Works without the internet once it has loaded.
Five ways to show the same data
There is one set of numbers behind the pictogram, the bar chart and the tally chart, so a class can switch between them and see that the same data looks — and reads — differently each way. That comparison is the point of the statistics strand, and it is very hard to do on paper.
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Pictogram
Pictures stand for things. The key can be 1, 2, 5 or 10, and half symbols appear automatically — so children have to reason about scale rather than count pictures.
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Block and bar chart
Separate blocks for Year 1, solid bars after that. The scale counts in 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s or 20s, so the same bar can be read several ways in a few seconds.
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Tally chart
Big buttons for counting things as they happen — traffic, birds, hands up. Marks group into fives with the diagonal, exactly as taught.
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Branching database
Yes-or-no questions that sort things into groups. Build a key, then use it to identify something one question at a time, with the reasoning shown.
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Records and fields
A real little database. One record per thing, the same fields on every record, and proper searching and sorting — with the vocabulary the curriculum uses.
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Print and share
Print preview shows exactly where the pages break, on A5 to A2, portrait or landscape, with an optional name line and the numbers table.
Where it fits in the national curriculum
| Year group | Subject | What children do |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Maths — statistics | Sort objects into groups and make a block graph where one block is one thing. |
| Year 2 | Maths — statistics | Make and read tally charts, block diagrams and simple pictograms; answer comparison, sum and difference questions about the data. |
| Year 3 | Maths — statistics | Read and make bar charts and pictograms where one symbol stands for 2, 5 or 10; solve one-step and two-step questions. |
| Year 3 | Computing — data and information | Build a branching database, choose questions that split a group in two, and use someone else's key to identify something. |
| Year 4 | Computing — data and information | Use the words record and field correctly; create a database, then search and sort it to answer questions. |
| Years 5 and 6 | Maths — statistics | Interpret and construct tables and charts, and calculate the mean as an average. |
| Any year | Science — working scientifically | Gather, record, classify and present data in a variety of ways to help answer an enquiry question. |
Nine ready-made examples are built in, including editable British birds and British plants identification keys and searchable databases of 125 species each. The standalone Bird Spotter and Plant Explorer photographic activities are included too, so a lesson can start in seconds.
Accessibility
School Data Tools is built to conform to WCAG 2.2 at Level AA, and meets several Level AAA criteria as well. In practice that means:
- Everything works from the keyboard alone, with a clear, high-contrast focus outline.
- Every chart is also present as a real data table, so a screen reader reads proper rows and columns rather than a summary sentence.
- Colour is never the only signal: bars carry a pattern and a number as well as a colour.
- High contrast and larger text can be turned on and are remembered.
- Nothing needs a drag, a swipe or a double-tap; the smallest target is 44 by 44 pixels.
- The layout reflows to a single column at 320 pixels wide, or at 400% zoom.
- Animation respects the reduced-motion setting; Windows High Contrast is supported.
- There is no CAPTCHA and no password to remember anywhere.
If something does not work for a child in your class, tell us — that is a bug, not a limitation.
What happens to children's work
- By default nothing leaves the device. Work is kept in the browser or downloaded as a file.
- There are no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party scripts at all unless a user chooses to sign in.
- Signing in is optional. It uses the school's existing Google or Microsoft account, and School Data Tools asks only for permission to use its own folder — it cannot see anything else in the account.
- Access tokens are held in memory and are gone when the tab closes, so a shared classroom computer does not carry one child's account into the next lesson.