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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.

Handwriting practice: writing to Santa

Writing to Father Christmas
It’s the handwriting activity your child will be clamouring to start: writing to Father Christmas! Gather your child’s paper and pencils and settle down to compile the list, then organise a response from the big man himself, as well as a personalised Christmas message.

Getting started: set the scene

Harness your child’s seasonal enthusiasm! Sit down at the table together with a pen or pencil and some lined paper (it helps children write neatly and evenly across the page). Turn off the TV or radio to minimise distractions and check your child’s posture; they should be sitting comfortably with their feet flat on the floor and their back straight.

Writing an age-appropriate letter to Santa

In Reception your child’s message to Santa will probably be more pictures than words, but you could help them to write their name at the bottom of the page, or copy the words ‘Dear Father Christmas’ at the top.

In KS1, help your child plan their letter with our Father Christmas handwriting template – they won't even realise they're doing some handwriting practice at the same time! 

And, if your child is in KS2, they can use our KS2 Father Christmas template to practise their handwriting independently. 

They could also make their own Picture Advent calendar to help them count down to the big day.



By KS2 your child will probably be happy to show off their best joined-up handwriting on such an important letter; if they’re too old for this activity you could ask them to help any younger siblings compose their list, instead.

Praise their efforts

Whether they’ve written one word or a side of A4, show appreciation for the effort and shower them with praise. Why not take a photo of your child’s letter every year? Next year, you’ll be able to show them how much their handwriting has improved (the photo serves as a very useful aide-memoire to Father Christmas, too!).

Santa's postcode and support the NSPCC with your Father Christmas letter

Reward your child’s handwriting efforts with a reply from Father Christmas himself!

A free letter is sent by Royal Mail to every child who sends their letter to this address: Father Christmas, Santa’s Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ (remember to put your return address on the envelope!).

If you'd like your child to receive a reply direct from the Arctic Circle, you can write to Santa's "official" address in Finland, where 500,000 letters from all over the world are processed: Santa Claus, Santa Claus' Main Post Office, Tähtikuja 1, 96930 Arctic Circle, Finland. A reply from Santa and his hard-working elves is available (in English and 12 other languages) for €8.90.

You can organise a letter from Father Christmas for a child who is partially sighted with the RNIB’s scheme, which will send a reply in Braille, large print or audio format.

Or, you can support the NSPCC with a letter to Santa – you can choose an age category and personalise your letter with your child’s name, age, address, gender and best friend’s name for a suggested donation of £5. (Your child's letter can also be written in Welsh.) Request your Letter from Santa online.

Video contact from the North Pole

Make it a new Christmas Eve tradition – watching a personalised video message from Santa to your child.

You can prepare one for free on the Portable North Pole, complete with naughty-or-niceometer and a photograph of your child. You can create a basic message for free, or buy a premium video.