A parent’s involvement in the development of their child’s literacy skills is a major factor in increasing levels of literacy.

Good practice in schools to enhance parental involvement in literacy are :

• A home/school literacy contact book containing word lists, reading records and reader observation comments.
• Regular meetings to discuss progress – particularly if children are part of a literacy target group.
• Book tokens and an accompanying letter to encourage parents to take their children to buy a book.
• A regular newsletter highlighting some of the school’s successes in improving literacy standards.
• Spelling lists which involve parent’s own assessment of their child’s spelling ability and require children to practice spelling with parents.
• Encouragement of a limit to TV/game console access and a fixed routine of reading time in the home environment.