Articles for parents
Short, practical articles on helping your child with reading and writing, and on what the main exams ask of students in the UK, US and Australia. Where an article covers an exam, check current details with your school or the exam provider.
- How to help your child with reading comprehension at homeSimple, calm ways to build reading comprehension at home: what to ask, how to practise inference and vocabu...
- How to correct your child's writing without putting them offA calm way to give feedback on a child's writing: what to praise, the one thing to fix, and how to handle s...
- How much should my child write? Length by year groupHow long should a child's writing be? Example targets by year for the UK, US and Australia, and why quality...
- NAPLAN writing explained for parents (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9)What the NAPLAN writing test asks of students, how it is marked on ten criteria, what the four result level...
- KS2 SATs reading and writing explained for parents (England)How the Year 6 SATs reading test, grammar and spelling tests and teacher-assessed writing work in England, ...
- 11+ English explained: what is tested and how to prepareA plain guide to the English part of the 11+ in England: what is tested, why papers differ by area, key dat...
- GCSE English Language explained: the six assessment objectivesHow GCSE English Language is assessed in England: both papers question by question, the six objectives (AO1...
- Common Core writing standards explained for parentsThe three kinds of writing in the Common Core standards (opinion or argument, informative, narrative), how ...
- PEEL and PEAL paragraphs explained, with an exampleWhat PEEL and PEAL paragraph structures are, how they differ, and a worked example showing each part so you...
- Story Mountain explained: planning a story step by stepWhat the Story Mountain is, its five parts (opening, build-up, climax, resolution, ending) and how to use i...
- Show, don't tell: how to teach it with simple examplesWhat show, don't tell means, with before and after examples for children and simple exercises to help them ...
- Helping a child who makes lots of spelling and punctuation mistakesLow-pressure ways to help a child with frequent spelling and punctuation errors: what to fix first, how to ...
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