No. Academies and Free schools do not have to follow the national curriculum.
Indeed, they dont have a legal duty to do so.
the report called “Do academies make use of their autonomy?” provides the data for academies. The overall conclusion of the research was that the a large majority of academies are planning to follow the national curriculum to some extent or a great extent in all subjects and particularly in English and mathematics where only 1 per cent do not plan to do so
https://montrose42.wordpress.com/20...jority-are-following-the-national-curriculum/“Are free schools using innovative approaches?” provides the data for free schools. The overall conclusion is similar to that for academies with a large majority of free schools planning to follow the national curriculum in all the subjects that they offer and all planning to do so in English and mathematics
So, in theory yes.
In practice no.