This year is the National Year of Reading.
To help encourage a love of reading, Helen Arkell is pleased to share our top reading tips for the Summer Holidays!
For children with dyslexia, building confidence is just as important as building skills. Whether you’re practising phonics, reading together, exploring graphic novels, listening to audiobooks, or using assistive technology, you’re helping your child develop a positive relationship with reading.
Not every child learns to read in the same way – and that’s okay.
If reading feels hard, try a different approach. Audiobooks, graphic novels, or reading together all count as reading and can help build confidence.
Remember…
Children who struggle with reading often work much harder than we realise.
Reading can be:
A little patience goes a long way.
Encourage, Don’t Pressure
The goal isn’t just to create good readers…It’s to create children who enjoy stories.
A love of books often comes before confident reading.
This Summer we will share useful tips to help your child keep their interest alive. Week-by-week we will share some simple strategies that encourage reading before the new term begins.
Wishing all our families a happy, relaxing summer filled with stories, laughter, and plenty of opportunities to discover the joy of reading!
Following along here and on our social media to learn more. 📚
A huge thank you to Theo Paphitis, Ryman, and the wider Theo Paphitis Retail Group (TPRG), with their partners and suppliers, for the annual Theo Pathitis Charitable Trust Clay Shoot 2026 earlier in June.
A record-breaking £100,000 was raised for the four charity partners: Starlight Children’s Foundation– UK, British Dyslexia Association, CoppaFeel! and ourselves.
The event marked a powerful display of generosity and collaboration, with funds raised set to make a meaningful difference to individuals with dyslexia. The Clay Shoot funds will help education professionals access our Supporting Learners CPD Accredited course so they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to support dyslexic learners in the classroom. This helps these learners to access the curriculum, achieve their goals and thrive.
Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity is proud to be part of such a dedicated and impactful initiative.
“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who supported this event,” said Helen Arkell CEO, Julie Bentley. “It is an honour to be part of something that brings real hope and lasting change to the lives of so many. We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you for such an amazing day at the Shoot. TPRG truly are an incredible organisation, and we feel very fortunate to have them as a partner. The amount of money raised, not just at the Shoot, but across all fundraising efforts, is nothing short of inspiring. The difference this makes to organisations like ours cannot be underestimated, and we are deeply grateful for everything they do”.
We are now operating a waitlist for places in the popular Royal Parks Half Marathon this October.
Help support people with dyslexia and raise funds for us on Sunday 11th October 2026.
Sign up and support a great cause!
We have a limited amount of bursary funding available for dyslexia assessments in the Wiltshire area.
This is available for those aged between 8 and 25 who live in Wiltshire.
If you need financial support for an assessment and live in the county this is time limited, so please apply for an assessment before 5th June.
Please find more information on our assessments page here.
Please note all applications for bursary support are now open until Friday 5th June 2026.
Do you want to feel confident supporting your child with dyslexia at home?
Join our face‑to‑face workshop with Claire Harvey, our Head of Education — packed with practical tips, easy strategies, and tools you can start using straight away.
📅 20 March 2026
🕙 10:00 AM
📍 Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7DR
You’ll learn how dyslexia affects learning, how to boost reading, writing and spelling, and how to keep confidence high. Plus, you’ll meet other parents and have the chance to ask questions.
“What a fantastic course, the presenter was very inspiring, and I learnt a huge amount.” Previous attendee.
Don’t miss this empowering session designed to help you help your child thrive!
Book here.
NEW FOR HALF TERM!
Introducing our NEW 3‑day half‑term course for children who’ve completed our Intro to Touch Typing (or equivalent).
Fun, multi‑sensory sessions to build speed, accuracy and confidence on the keyboard.
18–20 February 2026 9:30 am – 1 pm
Location: Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity
Subsidised places available – email courses@helenarkell.org.uk
Help your child build speed, accuracy and confidence with touch typing this half-term and get ahead with their skills!
Book here!
🎬 Join us for the UK premiere of The Dyslexic Advantage – a powerful new short film reshaping how we understand dyslexia on Wednesday 4th Feb 2026.
Moving beyond the narrative of struggle, this inspiring film celebrates dyslexia as a strength, driving creativity, innovation, problem solving, and discovery.
Nearly 1 in 5 people think differently and this film shows why that matters.
🎤 Special Guest Q&A
We’re delighted to be joined by Fernette Eide, CEO of Dyslexic Advantage, Executive Producer of the film, and co author of the renowned book The Dyslexic Advantage.
Fernette will answer questions live after the screening.
🌍 Online event – attend from anywhere! Can’t watch live on the night? No problem.
Book your place and we’ll send you the recording later in the week.
👪 Who is this for?
✔️ Parents
✔️ Teachers and education professionals
Through science, animation, and powerful personal stories of innovators, artists, and entrepreneurs, the film also gently explores the social and emotional challenges young people can face in school and how understanding strengths can change outcomes.
The Dyslexic Advantage book is available to purchase in our shop: https://helenarkell.org.uk/product/the-dyslexic-advantage-new-edition/
👉 Book now to secure your place for this Spotlight session: https://helenarkell.org.uk/events/spotlight-the-dyslexic-advantage/
We’re thrilled to be part of the Stronger Starts customer vote for Tesco in 2026!
This scheme gives community projects grants of up to £1,500.
Tesco customers can now vote in store in the Gerrards Cross, Ashford, Sunbury, Abingdon, Buckingham, Faringdon, Kidlington and Egham Tesco Stores.
There are a number of stores in each of these areas where you can vote.
During January to March this year every blue token is a vote to decide how much funding we get, so please support us next time you shop at Tesco!
Through the project we will provide specialist dyslexia training to teachers and teaching assistants in locals schools around these areas.
The training will support all the pupils in the school community and many more children over the course of each teacher’s career.
The stores where you can drop a blue token for Helen Arkell are:
Gerrards Cross
2267 Chalfont Express Express SL9 0NP
2564 Gerrards Cross Superstore SL9 8ER
5355 Chalfont St Peter Express Express SL9 9HE
Ashford
2047 Ashford Middlesex Extra Extra TW19 7PZ
5478 Ashford Express Express TW15 2UT
Sunbury
3220 Sunbury Extra TW16 7BB
6820 Ashford Staines Express Express TW15 1RP
Abingdon
2008 Abingdon Extra OX14 1TU
5429 Grove Wantage Express Express OX12 7JZ
6426 Abingdon Fitzharris Express Express OX14 1JH
6519 Abingdon Oxford Road Express Express OX14 2ED
Buckingham
2162 Buckingham Superstore MK18 1AB
5143 Market Hill Express Express MK18 1JX
Faringdon
4338 Faringdon Superstore Superstore SN7 7BP
Kidlington
2319 Witney Cogges Hill Express Express OX28 3XY
2488 Eynsham Express Express OX29 4EF
2499 Fettiplace Witney Express Express OX28 5AP
2788 Kidlington Superstore Superstore OX5 2DN
3339 Witney Valence Crescent Express Express OX28 5YP
3418 Witney Express Express OX28 4EJ
Egham
2454 Egham Superstore Superstore TW20 9EX
4690 Staines High Street Express Express TW18 4QB
We’ll be sharing stories of how our work helps in these areas very soon.
To learn more about Stronger Starts, visit the Tesco website here.
Registered charity in England and Wales (1064646). A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, company number 3432423.
