Marcy Rice, Author at Helen Arkell

Farnham Literary Festival talk – How to Foster a Love of Writing

We are delighted to be part of Farnham’s Literary Festival once again. Our own Claire Harvey, Head of Education, will be giving a talk entitled How to Foster a Love of Writing – Practical Strategies to Support Struggling or Reluctant Writers.

Please join us on Sunday 3 March, here at 24 West Street, from 10.30. Tickets are £5 with proceeds going to Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity.

This talk will briefly touch on some of the reasons why many learners with dyslexia and related specific learning difficulties struggle with writing and potentially become reluctant writers. But most importantly, this talk will provide attendees with simple, practical strategies, resources and activities that could be used to help improve the writing development of a weaker writer and encourage even the most reluctant writer to start writing and sharing all their wonderful ideas.

Book your place via EventBrite here.

Find out more about the Farnham Literary Festival here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:37:17+01:00January 28th, 2024|Course news|0 Comments

Can you help with dyslexia research?

Bayan is a third-year psychology student at Brunel University. She’s conducting a study on how people with dyslexia and different reading abilities process emotional faces. It involves completing a series of standard psychology questionnaires on your phonological processing and your general emotional state, this will be followed by two short tasks where you will classify a series of emotional faces.

Can you help with this research? It is anonymous and open to over 18s who do and do not have dyslexia.

Complete the questionnaire here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:37:46+01:00January 26th, 2024|Research news|0 Comments

Donate your Occasion to Helen Arkell

The demand for our dyslexia services is at an all-time high. If you wish to support individuals with dyslexia, you can donate your special occasion to Helen Arkell.

You can easily raise funds by creating a Facebook Fundraiser or setting up a JustGiving Page. Instead of receiving gifts, kindly ask your friends and family to donate online.

The funds raised will enable us to provide support to more individuals with dyslexia, helping them unlock their potential and achieve success.

You can also send e-cards for birthdays, Mother’s Day, anniversaries and retirements etc from DontSendMeACard.com and make a donation to us with the money you save on buying cards and on postage.

Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot.

By Marcy Rice|2024-04-24T09:30:10+01:00January 3rd, 2024|Fundraising news|0 Comments

New Year, New Challenge?

Are you looking ahead and wondering what kind of adventures 2024 will bring? Can we suggest a few for you so that you not only have an amazing time, but raise some vital funds to help us give life-changing support to children and adults with dyslexia?

Royal Parks Half Marathon

Sunday 13 October
The half marathon around London’s Royal Parks is one of the most iconic and beautiful, especially as it is in autumn and the trees are lovely. How else can we sell this to you? We would absolutely love you to run with our team and raise money to help us support children and adults with dyslexia.

Find out more and register here.

Discover Adventure Challenges

Choose an adventure to suit you!

We have partnered with specialists Discover Adventure to offer you a huge choice of trekking and cycling challenges in the UK and across the world that take place throughout the year. If you have a passion for travel, this is an amazing way to see some fantastic places. These include:

Northern Lights Winter Trek in Iceland

Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Sea to Summit – includes cycling, hiking and kayaking

Cornish Coastal Challenge

Tour du Mont Blanc

Vienna to Prague Cycle

And there are other challenges further afield!

Find out more here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:38:07+01:00January 1st, 2024|Fundraising news|0 Comments

New service – parental coaching for children with anxiety

Children with dyslexia often experience anxiety. For a parent, this can be very stressful. Our new service is a one-to-one, tailored consultation between parents and our professional coaches. These coaches are registered with the Association for Coaching and with the British Psychology Society and they will provide expert support for you to become confident that you can support your child in overcoming anxiety and building self-esteem.

Find out more here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:38:43+01:00December 26th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Now on-demand – HELP! course for parents of children with dyslexia

One of the greatest influences on children’s success in learning is the involvement of parents in their education. When a child has a specific learning difficulty like dyslexia, this involvement is even more crucial. Many children who find learning difficult can get frustrated and demotivated which may lead to low self-esteem.

The ‘Hints, Encouragement and Liaison for Parents’ course helps demystify dyslexia and gives practical ideas and strategies to help you support your child at home with their learning.

This online course is now available on demand

The video and handout downloads are then emailed to you and you can watch them at your leisure.

Click here to book.

Free or subsidised courses for lower-income families – please email courses@helenarkell.org.uk

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:38:52+01:00December 24th, 2023|Course news|0 Comments

Westminster Abbey Christmas Carol Service

Once again we were delighted to be invited to the Princess of Wales’ Christmas Carol Service at Westminster Abbey earlier in December. The service is a ‘moment to thank all those who work to support babies, young children and families’ and aims to being people together at Christmas time.

The lucky recipients of tickets this year were Julie Hall, our Services Manager; Claire Hughes, one of our consultants; Claire Harvey, our Head of Education; Lynne Adamson, one of Specialist Teachers; and Gill, our very recently retired Assessments Manager.

In Julie’s words, they had ‘amazing seats’ at the front of the Abbey with a great view of all the royals in attendance. Here is what Lynne had to say about this special afternoon:

‘Wow! I feel so lucky and privileged to have attended Carols at Westminster Abbey. It was a truly magical and heart-warming experience.

From the surprise mince pie to keep us going as we queued, to the awe as we entered the vast, beautifully decorated aisle, the eager anticipation was palpable as the expectant audience waited. Finally, the huge beam of the TV camera rising and turning to face the main aisle, was the signal that royalty had arrived and clutching our lit white candles, a solo choir boy’s voice began the first notes of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’. We were in for a treat!

There were celebrities galore, readings and poetry, poignant songs and great company from my fellow companions.

Afterwards, there was feverish photo taking from everyone as we walked slowly out, to secure this incredible experience as treasured memory keepsakes!’

And here are Gill’s thoughts:

‘There was such a happy vibe on Friday. While queuing outside we apparently looked like we were struggling to take a group selfie with the Abbey in the background so a kindly police officer offered to take the photo for us. Then once through security we were offered delicious mince pies. Very welcome.

So many people (perhaps the Princess’s friends and supporters) greeted everyone passing by, imploring us to have a good time. The Abbey really was absolutely stunning. It was so full of rich colours and beautiful trees and decorations.

We were seated pretty early but the time flew by as we people watched. A few celebs walked along the aisle in front of us. A young lad behind us caused a laugh when he excitedly shouted out “It’s Adam Lambert!”. Adam Lambert [a singer, if you don’t know] heard him and duly beamed and waved!

Such memories to treasure for a long time. Thank you so much for the opportunity. ‘

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:39:19+01:00December 22nd, 2023|Team blog|0 Comments

CEO’s blog – Supporting Learners with Dyslexia, and the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary

Those of you who already subscribe to the Helen Arkell e-newsletter will have seen our latest exciting news. For those of you who don’t, here it is …

On behalf of all of us at Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the launch of a new partnership with TV Dragon, Retail Entrepreneur and longstanding dyslexia champion Theo Paphitis and Ryman Retail Limited. Together we will launch the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, giving us the opportunity to offer free training to teachers and teaching assistants from state schools around the UK.

Starting with 50 free training spaces, the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary will enable the state school sector to take part in the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity’s 6-week online ‘Supporting Learners with Dyslexia’ course, free of charge for teachers or teaching assistants.

To apply for a bursary-funded place on this course as part of the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, teachers and teaching assistants from state schools are invited to complete a basic application form here.

Other pay-as-you-go places are available on this course for people who do not work in state schools: simply book your place here.

The aim of the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary is to particularly support state schools where there are young people from low-income families, by giving them access to the expertise and guidance of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity regarding the best ways to support young people with dyslexia. Theo Paphitis said: “I am delighted to create the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, supported by one of our key partners, the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity. Many have a story with dyslexia, either through their own story or someone close to them, and through this Bursary and further work in the dyslexia area we want to make sure that as many stories as possible are positive ones.”

Helen Arkell’s aim is to remove barriers to learning, employment and life for more and more people with dyslexia, regardless of ability to pay, and we are indebted to Theo Paphitis and Ryman for helping us to achieve this.

Applications for the 50 free places on this course will be considered on a first-come-first-served basis.

It is important to stress that this course is also available to people who do not work in state schools, but a charge is made.

The course comprises 18 hours of learning. Participants will be shown lots of useful, tried and tested strategies to enable them to support learners effectively. Recordings will be sent out after each session so that participants can watch afterwards if unable to attend the live session, or if they would like to watch again!

Please do let your networks know about the above opportunities, whether they work in state schools and can apply for a free place, or whether they work in non-state schools, in which case they can book separately.

A huge, huge thank you to Theo Paphitis and Ryman Retail Limited for partnering with Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity on this initiative!

Onwards and upwards
Andy

PS If you’d like to subscribe to our e-news so you hear about these sorts of things first, just click here.

*Please note: all 50 Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary places have now been awarded. If you would like to be added to a waiting list, in the event that this opportunity is repeated in the future, simply complete a short application form: Application Form

Non bursary places are still available, but the normal fee will apply. Full details.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:39:29+01:00December 14th, 2023|CEO blog|0 Comments

Calling university students with or without dyslexia

We are delighted to be able to share trainee clinical psychologist Holly’s further request for help with her research into dyslexia and emotions that she is conducting for her PhD from Royal Holloway University London. Many of you were kind enough to help Holly design her research process. Whether or not you helped with this, we would like you to take part in the research.

If you are an undergraduate university student with or without dyslexia, Holly would love you to answer a few questions. You will receive a £5 Amazon voucher as a thank you for taking part.

You can find out more below and you can take part here:

https://research.sc/participant/login/dynamic/0915B1FF-BD40-426A-9DC8-51AF1A163CA7

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:39:46+01:00December 5th, 2023|Research news|0 Comments

Send a card this Christmas and help us out!

This Christmas you can do a good deed by sending Helen Arkell Christmas cards.

Our 5-pack of Christmas Tree cards have been designed by artist Sian van Driel who has kindly supported the charity since her family received help from us.

These cards are available on the website and in our shop at 24 West Street, Farnham. One hundred percent of the profits from these cards goes to help us support children and adults with dyslexia.

You can also send e-cards from DontSendMeACard.com and make a donation to us with the money you save on buying cards and on postage. Choose from Sian’s design and lots more.

However you choose to celebrate this Christmas, thank you for your ongoing support.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:39:54+01:00December 5th, 2023|Fundraising news|0 Comments

About Marcy Rice

Title

Sign up to our newsletter