Bank spells support for dyslexic youngsters

Sunday 20 July 2014

Schoolchildren with dyslexia are being given extra support to help them with their reading and writing.

Dyslexia dictionaries have been donated to 28 primary and 10 secondary schools that have been specially designed to help children who struggle with their spelling.

They are printed on coloured paper, making the words easier to read and the words are spelt phonetically to make it easier for children to find both the meaning and correct spelling.

It’s part of Barclays ongoing support which started helping Trinity School become “Dyslexia Friendly”, enabling it to buy vital teaching materials like the dictionaries which have helped the pupils who use them to work more independently.

Barclays Managing Director Paul Savery said: “The dictionaries have been a real hit at Trinity School so we hope to replicate this success island-wide.

“It’s so important that local schools have the specialist learning tools to be able to support pupils who have difficultly reading and writing. Hopefully the addition of the dictionaries to Jersey classrooms will help to build pupils’ confidence and improve their reading and writing skills.”

Head teacher of Grouville School Pam Pitman said: “We believe that the dictionaries will enable children who find spelling difficult to use a dictionary like anybody else. 

“They will develop their confidence because they will be able to find the word as they would spell it and then the correct spelling will be next to it.  Looking through the dictionaries we can also see that the tinted pages and the alphabet across the top of the page will be helpful too.”