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.
Video: Handwriting aids for children
Occupational Paediatric Therapist Catherine Elsey from the National Handwriting Association explains how writing slopes and adaptive grips can be used successful at home in our handwriting advice video.
How a handwriting aid could improve your child's handwriting
Learning to write quickly, neatly and comfortably is a slow process, and some children need a little help along the way. For children who are struggling to master a good pencil grasp, or find it difficult to get their body into the right posture for handwriting, a handwriting aid could be a real help. If you think your child would benefit from using a handwriting aid, it's a good idea to speak to their teacher before you invest - they may have recommendations of what to buy, or even have their own supplies for your child to try out.
Improve handwriting in 10 minutes a day
- Step-by-step handwriting guide
- Over 200 worksheets
- From patterning to cursive
Writing slopes
These allow children to position their paper at the optimum angle for writing (20 degrees). They help children to adopt a more upright posture with their body shifted back in the chair, rather than slumped over the page, and help them to keep their wrist, elbow and shoulder stable, giving them better control of their pencil and a more comfortable writing experience. They also help children to be more organised in their work space, instead of spreading out all over the table!
Pencil grips
There's a huge range of pencil grips on the market, from simple soft foam tubes that slide over the pencil to make it more comfortable to hold, to elaborately shaped contraptions that help children position their fingers correctly on the pencil. All of them help to encourage children to master the dynamic tripod grasp that is recommended for handwriting, with the thumb, forefinger and middle finger controlling the pencil, and the ring and little finger tucked in. Finding the grip that best suits your child is likely to be a matter of trial and error. You can also buy many types of ergonomic pen and pencil which are themselves shaped to improve your child's pencil grasp.
