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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

Develop your child's literacy skills in the early years

Dad reading with son
Supporting kids’ literacy skills at home is a key factor in helping them to become accomplished readers with broad vocabularies. Get started today!

We all know that reading to your child is important, but what else can you do to support their literacy skills? We have teamed up with the National Literacy Trust to bring you tips for supporting your child's early years literacy learning.

Literacy tips for parents: 0-3 years

  • Even if it seems too early to start reading at this age, it is important to start sharing stories. Your child will appreciate the pictures and will enjoy hearing the sound of your voice.
  • Repetition is key at this age, as it helps to build children’s language.
  • Try books that are fun to play with, too, for example squishy books, those that make noises and ones with flaps and other interesting things to touch.
Activity idea: Make a scrapbook about your child, full of pictures and words. Read the words with your child and get them to say what else should be in their story.

Literacy tips for parents: 3-5 years

  • Encouraging your child’s familiarity with books will put them at a great advantage when they start school. Let them turn the pages and pretend to read. Follow the words with your finger, and get them to engage with the story by asking them to guess what happens next and describe the pictures.
  • Make the story come alive by use funny voices, toys and actions.
  • Don’t expect to read with your child for longer than about 10 minutes, as they are likely to get bored easily.
Activity idea: Play the nonsense game. Cut out pictures from catalogues or magazines of objects that all begin with the same letter, plus a few that don't. Write down the names of the objects and get your child to match the picture to the name. Can they make a nonsense sentence with their words?

Literacy tips for parents: 5-8 years

  • Encourage your child to read to you. Follow the words with your finger and sound out the words (c-a-t: cat).
  • Praise your child for trying hard at their reading. Reassure them that it's okay to make mistakes.
  • Point out all the words around you: labels on food, on street signs, on advertising billboards. Model the words and get your child to repeat.
Activity idea: Find your family's top five reads. Ask everyone in your family to name their favourite reads – it could be a book, magazine, comic or newspaper. Involve grandparents, cousins, friends, and neighbours.
 

Chat, play and read to support learning

A 2019 survey suggests that around 100,000 children under 5 have never practised learning at home. The Department for Education's ‘Chat, Play and Read’ campaign suggests ways that parents spending quality time chatting, playing and reading with their kids before they start school can help them develop the skills they need to get off to a great start in primary education.

Small Talk, a website from the National Literacy Trust, helps parents turn the everyday activities they're already doing with their child into new opportunities to fill their child’s world with words.