Course news | Helen Arkell

Get 50% Off Our HELP! Dyslexia Course for Parents This March!

Are you looking for practical ways to support your child with dyslexia? This March, we’re offering an exclusive 50% discount on our insightful, on-demand HELP! Dyslexia Course for Parents – a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable knowledge and strategies at half the price!

What is the course about?

Hints, Encouragement, and Liaison for Parents (HELP!) is a unique dyslexia course designed specifically for parents of children with learning difficulties. Whether your child has recently received a dyslexia diagnosis or you simply want to better support them at home, this course provides the essential tools to help them learn to learn.

The course is completely online and available on demand, meaning you can watch and learn at your own pace, from the comfort of your home.

What will I learn?

Understanding how dyslexia impacts learning at school and at home is crucial in providing the right support. This course covers a broad range of topics, helping you develop a deeper understanding of dyslexia, its challenges, and how to turn them into strengths.

The course provides expert guidance on the following key areas:

Session 1: Introduction to Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs)
Session 2: Working Effectively with Your Child’s School, Talking to Your Child About Dyslexia & Building Self-Esteem
Session 3: Understanding How Your Child Learns Best, Study Skills & Homework Support
Session 4: Supporting Your Child’s Reading
Session 5: Supporting Your Child’s Spelling
Session 6: Supporting Your Child’s Writing
Session 7: Supporting Your Child’s Maths

Don’t miss out on this limited-time offer. Sign up now and get 50% off our HELP! Dyslexia Course for Parents this March.

Let’s work together to empower children with dyslexia and help them reach their full potential!

By Marcy Rice|2025-03-18T16:30:57+00:00March 17th, 2025|Course news, Latest news|0 Comments

Level 5 and Level 7 Diplomas in Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/SpLDs and Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia/SpLDS

Join our Level 5 and Level 7 courses!

At Helen Arkell we have been successfully delivering the Level 5 and Level 7 Diploma courses for many years. Our next courses begin September 2025 and are running from the Centre in Farnham.

These are a nationally recognised qualifications and we have consistently been recognised by CPD External Verifiers as being one of the ‘gold standard’ centres for delivering these qualifications.

Our Level 5 and Level 7 courses are accredited by the CPD Standards Office and our Level 5 course is approved by Patoss (Professional Association for Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

We are unique in providing a very high proportion of tutor-to-candidate contact time to ensure that each candidate achieves to the very maximum of their ability.

The tutor group system at Helen Arkell encourages candidates to share their wealth of knowledge and experiences during their weekly contact with each other.

Please note that you do not need a university degree or to be a qualified teacher to attend our Level 5 course. Those looking to do Level 7 need to hold a Level 5 qualification.

Find out more:

Level 5 Diploma in Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties – with teaching practice in KS2-KS1

Level 5 Diploma In Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties – with teaching practice in KS2-KS3

Level 7 Diploma in Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia/ Specific Learning Difficulties

By Marcy Rice|2025-03-17T11:48:58+00:00March 17th, 2025|Course news|0 Comments

Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary provides free training for schools

Thanks to the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, launched in November 2023, an incredible 176 teachers and teaching assistants from UK state schools have already received free specialist training, enabling them to better support learners with dyslexia back in their classrooms.

The continuing generosity of Theo and Ryman Retail Limited means that we are able to offer even more teachers and teaching assistants from the state school sector free places on the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity’s six-week online Supporting Learners with Dyslexia course!

This practical course comprises six sessions on Fridays from 9.30 am, starting on 25 April 2025 and provides lots of useful, tried and tested strategies for supporting learners effectively. Recordings of each session are sent out after the live session for anyone who is unable to attend.

To apply for a bursary-funded place on this course, simply complete a short application form here.

Here’s what one of our past attendees had to say about the course:

‘I would like to say what an amazing course this has been!! I am a literacy practitioner at a secondary school, and the course was everything I was looking for and more! It has given me so much confidence delivering my literacy sessions, and I have gained so many tips and ideas. The presenters’ wealth of knowledge and information has been amazing, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every week.’

Please note, if you have already received a free place for this course, you will not be eligible for another free place. If your team found this course helpful you can book a paid-for place.

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.

By Helen Arkell|2025-03-25T13:48:58+00:00March 14th, 2025|Course news, Fundraising news|0 Comments

Farnham Literary Festival – Reading High-Frequency Words Accurately and Fluently Talk

Reading High-Frequency Words Accurately and Fluently

March 9 at 10:30am – 12:00

Join us at the Farnham Literary Festival on March 9 to learn how to enhance high-frequency word reading!

Marlene Caplan will lead the session and is an Educational Psychologist and Specialist Teacher with extensive experience in teaching and assessment. Marlene is a Tutor on the Level 7 Diploma Course and has worked as a SENCo and Specialist Teacher at Yale University and the Institute of Education. She co-authored Anyone Can Spell It and Just in Time(s) and also created the reading game Phrase It®.

Research shows that the first 1,000 high-frequency words account for 90% of reading material. Recognising these words is key to improving accuracy and fluency for any child learning to read. This talk covers what these words are, where we see them, and why we need to learn them. It also explores ways to improve high-frequency word recognition both in terms of accuracy and fluency. The session will highlight resources and strategies suitable for parents and teaching staff, including Phrase It®, a new game designed to boost high-frequency word reading skills.

Tickets are on sale here.

By Marcy Rice|2025-03-14T17:20:08+00:00February 20th, 2025|Course news|0 Comments

New! Personalised learning 1-2-1 tuition in the summer holidays

We have summer dates for our personalised learning one-to-one tuition sessions!

Book as many or as few as you like and give your child a boost in study skills, literacy, writing, spelling and memory and learning techniques. Maths sessions are also available.

Find out more.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:31:05+01:00May 28th, 2024|Course news, Homepage featured|0 Comments

Lower price for our Study Skills download

With exams fast approaching, we are determined that you should be studying smarter, not harder! So we have reduced the price of our Study Skills and Strategies for GCSEs and A Levels download by 30% to just £45.

The two-hour video is packed full of tips, strategies and ideas to help learning and revising more effective.

Find out more here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:31:27+01:00May 14th, 2024|Course news, Homepage featured|0 Comments

New Spotlight: AI and Dyslexia/SpLDs – How can AI support learners?

As advances in Artificial Intelligences continue, how can it help learners with dyslexia and other learning difficulties? Join Alastair Brown, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at AI First Talent to find out.

The Spotlight: AI and Dyslexia/SpLDs – How can AI support learners? will be held live online on Monday 10 June at 6 pm with a recording available afterwards. The live webinar will include a Q & A session. Tickets are £10.

You can find out more and book here.

See you there!

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:31:50+01:00May 13th, 2024|Course news|0 Comments

Book a Touch Typing course – Summer holiday dates

Our Touch Typing courses are aimed at children aged 6 to teens and get booked up quickly!

The course is held at our Centre in Farnham, Surrey and comprises three 90-minute sessions over three days during Summer holiday from Monday 29 July to Wednesday 31 July

Book in age ranges to suit your child:

Age 6 to 11
Age 10 to teens
Mixed ages

Being able to type quickly and accurately can make all the difference in class – especially if hand writing is a struggle.

Book here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:31:59+01:00May 13th, 2024|Course news|0 Comments

New Spotlight: Assistive Technology: Practical Demonstrations

In January we ran a great Spotlight entitled Empowering Learning: The How of Assistive Technology. This Spotlight gave an overview of Assistive Technology and how it can be used to enhance learning outcomes for neurodiverse students.

People who attended this Spotlight let us know that they are also keen to see the Assistive Technology in action so, we have invited Myles Pilling and Julia Clouter back to do just this!

The Spotlight Assistive Technology: Practical Demonstrations will be held live online on Tuesday 23 April at 6 pm with a recording available afterwards. The live webinar will include a Q & A session. Tickets are £10.

You can find out more and book here

See you there!

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:34:46+01:00March 13th, 2024|Course news, Research news|0 Comments

New Spotlight on Employment Rights

New Spotlight webinar on Tuesday 12 March at 6pm.

Join Katie Harris from specialist law firm Boyes Turner to discuss the value of employing people with dyslexia and the challenges and benefits of having dyslexia in the workplace, how employment law protects people with dyslexia, and the practical steps employers can and should be taking to better support people with dyslexia and comply with their legal obligations towards them.

The webinar will include an opportunity to ask questions.

If you can’t join live, recordings will be sent out.

Book here.

By Marcy Rice|2024-07-23T16:34:55+01:00March 5th, 2024|Course news|0 Comments

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