TheSchoolRun.com closure date
As we informed you a few months ago, TheSchoolRun has had to make the difficult decision to close due to financial pressures and the company has now ceased trading. We had hoped to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.
As a result, we now have to permanently close TheSchoolRun.com. However, to give subscribers time to download any content they’d like to keep, we will keep the website open until 31st July 2025. After this date, the site will be taken down and there will be no further access to any resources. We strongly encourage you to download and save any resources you think you may want to use in the future.
In particular, we suggest downloading:
- Learning packs
- All the worksheets from the 11+ programme, if you are following this with your child
- Complete Learning Journey programmes (the packs below include all 40 worksheets for each programme)
You should already have received 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep. If you haven’t received these, please contact us at [email protected] before 31st July 2025, and we will send them to you.
We are very sorry that there is no way to continue offering access to resources and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.
Childhood dyspraxia explained
The Dyspraxia Foundation says the condition “is generally recognised as an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement.” A child's coordination skills are affected and learning in school can prove more of a challenge.
Improve handwriting in 10 minutes a day
- Step-by-step handwriting guide
- Over 200 worksheets
- From patterning to cursive
Dyspraxia is thought to affect around 6% of the population and tends to be more common in boys than girls. Children with dyspraxia often have difficulties with the following:
- Coordination
- Speech and language
- Following instructions
- Organising themselves
- Coping with school life
Recognising dyspraxia in children
A pre-school child with dyspraxia might:
- be late to roll over, sit, walk and talk
- be unable to run or hop
- find jigsaws or sorting games hard
- misunderstand words such as ‘in', ‘on', ‘behind' and ‘in front of'
- lose interest easily
A child of school age with dyspraxia might:
- be unable to speak clearly
- have trouble with reading and maths
- have difficulty copying from the board
- find PE lessons very difficult
- have great difficulty organising themself
- have a short concentration span.
Help at school
If your child's teacher thinks your child is dyspraxic, they will probably ask for advice from the school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) and maybe also consult an educational psychologist. A class teacher might draw up a SEN support plan for your child with targets for them. They might also:
- make sure that your child is sitting near to them so that they can give help more often
- break your child's work down into smaller, more manageable tasks
- sit your child away from any possible distractions, such as class pets or the computer
- allow your child extra time when getting changed for PE lessons
Specialist help
Your child might be helped by an occupational therapist or a speech and language therapist, probably at a local clinic.
If the help provided by your child's school and the therapists isn't enough, your child might be formally assessed. Reports will be written by your child's teachers, an educational psychologist and anyone else who has been working with them. You will also be asked about what your child is like at home. This can lead to the Local Education Authority drawing up an Educational, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Plan.
This EHC Plan will describe your child's difficulties and what will be done to help them. Your child might, for instance, be given a non-teaching assistant to work with them for part of the time at school.
How you can help your dyspraxic child at home
- Encourage your child to organise themself when getting dressed or undressed.
- Keep tasks short - if your child can only concentrate for five minutes, stop after that time and come back to the job later.
- Make sure there are no distractions when your child is trying to do any homework.
- Give your child lots of praise and encouragement.
Other resources:
You can get advice from the Dyspraxia Foundation, a charity which supports children and their families. Visit www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk for more information.
