We aim to provide parents with information and resources to help you have fun with and educate your children.

Below will be links to free resources and ones that can be purchased. Please respect our copyright by downloading and using the resources for your individual needs.

Two main factors affect your children's development.

1. One factor is Genes, which is what we pass onto our children. Our genes determine a number of our children's characteristics like eye and hair colour.

2. The other factor that influences child development is their environment and this includes experiences they have at home and in their local community.

Parents often feel pressurised by advertising to buy a number of expensive toys and materials to stimulate their children and improve their development. However there are so many every day activities that you can do with your children to help them develop and grow. Over time we will provide suggestions for you to use with your children.

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Nursery Rhymes and Action Songs

Young children, even babies, love listening to and learning to recite nursery rhymes. They are fun to learn and they enable them to create their own imaginary world. They especially enjoy the accompanying actions to many of the rhymes and songs.

In the early years at school teachers teach rhyme to their students as they know how important the knowledge of rhyme is to both learning to read and spell.

In addition, substantial evidence exists which confirms that learning nursery rhymes at an early age greatly enhances reading skills. Research carried out by Lynnette Bradley and Peter Bryant has shown that children’s early knowledge of nursery rhymes, and their awareness of whether words sound the same is a good predictor of how well they will later learn to read and spell. They found that even small amounts of special practice with rhyme and alliteration (Rachael likes real rabbits, Peter prefers popcorn) could produce massive gains in a child’s literacy development.

In their studies 5 and 6 year old children who were initially poor at picking an odd word out by rhyme were given 10 hours of extra training in these skills spread over 2 years. At the end of the training, they were on average in reading 10 months ahead of children who had had extra individual attention but not specifically rhyme and alliteration work. In spelling they were 17 months ahead. What is more these initial gains seem to be maintained over long periods: four years after the training ended, the children who had the special teaching were approximately 2 years ahead of the control group in reading and at least 14 months ahead on spelling.

Below are Nursery Rhymes and Action Songs for you to print and use with your child.

1, 2 Buckle my Shoe

5 Little Ducks

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (with actions)

Hey Diddle, Diddle

Hickory, Hickory Dock

I see the Moon

In a cottage in the Woods

Mr Crocodile and the 5 Cheeky Monkeys

Old MacDonald had a Farm

The Animal Fair

The Bear went over the Mountain

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Wheels on the Bus

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

We're going on a Lion Hunt

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 Developing Language and Maths Skills in Young Children

Click on the following links for a number of activities you can carry out at home to develop maths and language skills in your children

How to Improve Comprehension when Reading with your Child

Ideas and Activities to Develop Language in Young Children

Ideas and Activities to Develop Maths Skills in Young Children

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Reading

How to Teach your Child to Read

We all know that the ability to read is the key to educational achievement. Poor literacy skills can severely limit opportunities, not only at school, but also throughout life. Parents want to be pro-active in preparing their child for school and support their child in learning to read.

Parents need a book that is easy to read, makes them feel empowered and confident. A book that answers their questions and allows them to enjoy supporting their children, whilst seeing progress and achievement for them. Helping your Child to Read meets that need.

Money-Saving Option

Helping your Child to Read is available as a PDF file. As a PDF file the book will be available for immediate download.  You can save on the cost of paper by storing the file on your computer so that you can print pages if and when they are needed.

For more details and to view sample chapters click here

Phonics:

Sound Pack for class and individual teaching with spelling and syllable rules written on the reverse of each card. An essential part of a SOR phonics lesson. 

Free Glossary Of Terms For Phonics And Morphology For Parents And Teachers

Dyslexia Friendly font free to download. OpenDyslexic is a new open-sourced font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia.  http://opendyslexic.org/

High Frequency Sight Words

Reading is one of the most important skills a child can learn.

High Frequency Sight Words are those most common and frequent words used in our everyday reading and writing.

ccording to Robert Hillerich, "Just three words I, and, the account for ten percent of all words in printed English."

If children can read the first 100  high frequency words they can read approximately 50% of all general texts and if they can read the first 300 words they can read 65% Therefore it is crucial that they learn these words. However these words are often difficult to learn because many of them tend to be abstract so they cannot visualise a picture clue to support them whilst sounding out the word. For example: the, and, could. TTherefore below I have provided a link with information I provide to teachers with ideas to support you at home.
High Frequency Words

Children with Additional Needs

Parents often instinctively know that their child is struggling to learn to read and write and that their cofince and self-esteem is suffering in relation to school work. It is important to emphasise that these difficulties may be developmental and will disappear as a child matures. Sometimes this isn't the case.

The whole process of formal diagnosis can be lengthy and expensive and sometimes a whole year can be wasted waiting for an assessment. In addition GPs and schools require information and examples to help them decide what the problem might be, whether a referral is necessary and, if so, to whom.

I have provided signs and symptoms of different learning difficulties and disorders to help parents understand more about specific special needs. These checklists can be used when a parent is concerned about their child to help them ascertain what the problems might be and provide support

Spotting the Symptoms of Specific Learning Difficulties in Children - and please read the introduction first.

Dyslexia Checklist for Children and Adults

Solution For Students Being Home Schooled; Evidence Based Reading, Spelling and typing Program 10% Discount 

A Great Site for Children with Dyslexia

Parents often ask me to recommend a site to help their children understand dyslexia- this one is great. DUDES WITH DYSLEXIA is managed by a dyslexic boy. It is aimed at 7-15 year olds, is cool and has great tips and advice for young people with dyslexia: http://www.dudeswithdyslexia.co.uk/

Hank Zipzer Books for children

Parents and Schools: your children might enjoy the ‘Hank Zipzer’ books. The main character, Hank, is dyslexic. While the stories can be quite funny at times, they also describe the struggles and feelings a dyslexic often experiences. If you read them to or with your children, the storylines can provide opportunities in which you ask them how they have felt in similar situations, etc. The books can be purchased online at www.hankzipzer.com or other booksellers. Libraries also stock the books or can order them in.

LIKE STARS ON EARTH

is a full length feature film (fiction) about an 8 year old boy with dyslexia. It tells of the boy’s struggles with dyslexia at school and also at home through lack of understanding. Then he encounters a teacher who has first-hand knowledge of his disability. It takes a while to get into but worth persevering; it sends out a great message. Have tissues ready for the ending!

Working in Partnership with your Child's school- Research over a number of years has demonstrated  that education partnerships between home and school can make a significant difference to the learning, development and healthy outcomes of children and young people. Parents often are unsure how to approach their child's school and raise concerns or share information therefore I have provided advice and suggestions to support parents and carers in this process whether your child is at primary or secondary school. Please click on the link. 

Tackling Homework- Advice for parents

Fine and Gross Motor Skills Development