How can you support your child’s learning?

Use the guides on this page to support your child to learn more at home. Don’t forget to read the other Learn More pages, too, especially Our Curriculum and Expectations (which sets out the age-related expectations for children, based closely on the National Curriculum).

Reading

The easiest way to help your child is to read each day. Children should be encouraged to read aloud and read on their own, but being read to is also really important, so don’t overlook the bedtime story! Our Reading Activities leaflet will provide lots of activities to make reading an even more enjoyable and active experience for all. Check out this handy guide to reading with your child from Leeds City Council and Library Libraries, too.

Spelling

Our Super Spelling Strategies has lots of ideas to encourage and engage your child to learn spellings. There’s no one best way to learn spellings, so it’s worth trying out the various ideas contained in the leaflet. Some you and your child will like, some you and your child may not – give them all a go!

Handwriting

Children have told us that with better handwriting, they feel more confident and proud of their learning! With just three points to remember, our Handwriting Guide is easy to follow and a great way to support your child.

Phonics

We know phonics can be confusing to parents (much less so for children!), so we’ve produced a guide to the key terms and concepts of spelling.  At home, encourage your child to listen and say sounds:

• Play ‘What do we have in here?’ Put some toys or objects in a bag and pull one out at a time. Emphasise the first sound of the name of the toy or object by repeating it, for example, ‘c c c c – car’, ‘b b b b – box’, ‘ch ch ch ch – chip’.
• Say: ‘A tall tin of tomatoes!’ ‘Tommy, the ticklish teddy!’ ‘A lovely little lemon!’ This is called alliteration. Use names, for example, ‘Gurpreet gets the giggles’, ‘Milo makes music’, ‘Naheema’s nose’.
• Teach them ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’.
• Try to avoid the ‘uh’ sound you might have learnt to say for sounds like ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’ – say the ‘purest’ sound you can (a ‘short’ ‘b’ rather than ‘buh’, a long ‘mmm’ rather than ‘muh’) – ask us if you’re unsure.

Learn more about how we teach phonics and the early stages of reading.