Introducing ‘How to Help at Home’ – a workshop for parents
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.
Touch Typing Half Term Course for Children
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!
The Dyslexic Advantage – a UK premier screening at Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity
🎬 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/
Tesco Stronger Starts
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.
More Support for Adults with Undiagnosed Dyslexia Needed – BBC News
Read the full article here.
At Helen Arkell, we offer a range of dyslexia assessments for adults and children. A dyslexia assessment will help someone understand their strengths, and why they may be experiencing difficulties in their learning or day-to-day life.
For enquiries about all types of assessments including adult assessments, please see our dyslexia assessments page here.
The Big Give #ChristmasChallenge
Your Donation Will Be DOUBLED This December !
We’re very excited to let you know that we have been selected to participate in this year’s Big Give #ChristmasChallenge.
That means that every donation made to our campaign via BigGive.org during the week of 2 – 9 December, will be doubled.
All donations to Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity will be matched £1 for £1 through the #ChristmasChallenge, helped by our group of incredible pledgers and our champion match funder, AKO Foundation.
Your donation of £10 turns into £20, your £50 into £100 – and so on!
So whatever you can give, no matter the size, every donation will make double the difference helping us to deliver specialist support for people with dyslexia.
What can you do now?
✅ Starting today at midday and running until 9 December, make a donation to the Big Give’s #ChristmasChallenge here. The donate button will appear on the Big Give Helen Arkell page when the campaign starts at 12pm (midday) today.
✅ Share the campaign with friends, family, or on social media – anyone who may want their donation doubled!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at fundraising@helenarkell.org.uk
Thank you so much for your support – together, we can make twice the impact in 2026!
Watch the Big Give Video here! ![]()
Q & A’s
1) Online donations to participating Charities received during the live campaign will be matched initially by pledge funds. Once a Charity has used all of its pledge funds, donations will be matched by Champion funds until Champion funds are exhausted or until the campaign ends, whichever is sooner.
2) Once our Charity pledge funds and Champion funds have been exhausted, our donation page on the Big Give website will clearly state that any subsequent donations will not be matched. Donors will still be encouraged to make an unmatched donation.
3) All donations made during the campaign must be made online via Big Give’s website without exception. Donations must be made via a Charity’s donation page on Big Give’s website, for the project which has been accepted into the campaign.
4) The minimum single donation that can be made during the campaign is £1. The maximum donation made during the campaign using a credit or debit card is £25,000. The largest donation made using our donation funds feature is £500,000.
5) A donation is eligible to be matched if it is made through the Charities campaign when the campaign is live and if there is sufficient funding available in the match fund for the selected Charity.
6) Once matching funds are reserved, donors will have 25 minutes to complete their donation. If the donation is not completed within 25 minutes, the Donor will be notified, and the match funding will be released back into the match fund for said Charity.
A message from Mia ⭐
Making Spirits Bright: Santa’s Grotto Launch Brings Joy and Support for Helen Arkell Students
Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity and children from surrounding local schools welcomed Santa and his team of elves to Squires Garden Centre, Badshot Lea, to help cut the ribbon and launch the opening of Santa’s Grotto for 2025!
Children who have benefited from the services of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity joined from Potters Gate School in Farnham and William Cobbett School Farnham and were the first to meet Father Christmas and his helpers! Each child visited Santa and everyone came away with a special gift.
Squires Garden Centre, Badshot Lea, have chosen Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity as their Charity of the Year this year, and we are thrilled to have their support. As part of this, £1 from every ticket sold for Santa’s Grotto will be donated to Helen Arkell in the New Year. These funds will help us provide life-changing support to more people with dyslexia.
Santa’s Grotto is open until 4pm on Christmas Eve, so there’s lots of time to book your place and visit before Christmas!
To make a booking, please visit their website here.
THRIVE: Neurodivergence at Work Survey
Help the UK Young Academy improve workplaces for neurodivergent people
The UK Young Academy — a network of early-career professionals working for positive change — is running a survey on how UK workplaces can better support dyslexic and other neurodivergent people.
You don’t need a formal diagnosis to participate.
All neurotypes welcome.
Whether you’re dyslexic, autistic, have ADHD, Tourette’s, or another form of neurodivergence — your voice matters.
Help shape more inclusive, supportive workplaces across the UK by sharing your experience.
Take the survey:






