For parents and carers

Know how the week went, and how to help.

You are the expert on your child. Aspinall Learning gives you a clear, kind picture of their learning and a few small things that genuinely help at home — without turning you into a teacher.

What you see

How the week went

What your child practised and how it is going, in one place. You look; nothing you do there changes their record.

Progress in sentences

Each topic comes with a plain statement of what your child can now do — not just a percentage.

No account to manage

You log in with the family code your child was given. There is no email address to register.

On your phone

Add it to your home screen and it opens straight to the family view, like any other app.

I have a family code See the family view in the demo school

Helping at home: little and often, and never a battle

Give Just Enough Help, Not the Answer

It's tempting to jump in and solve a problem for your child the moment they get stuck, especially if you can see the answer easily, but doing the thinking for them repeatedly can teach them to wait for rescue rather than have a go themselves. A useful habit is to ask one small question that nudges them forward, such as 'what's the first step?' or 'what does this word remind you of?', and then wait, giving them time to respond before saying anything else. If they're still stuck after a genuine attempt, it's fine to show them one step and then hand control straight back, rather than finishing the rest yourself. The aim isn't to make things hard for the sake of it; it's to make sure the effort, and the sense of 'I did that' afterwards, belongs to them, because that's what builds real confidence over time.

Little and Often Beats One Long Session

Research on memory consistently shows that spacing practice out over several short sessions, and testing yourself rather than just rereading, is one of the most effective ways to make learning stick; this is often called retrieval practice. You don't need to plan this yourself, the app's scheduler already spaces out each pupil's practice automatically, resurfacing topics just as they're likely to be forgotten, so your role is simply making space for a short, regular session rather than trying to time it yourself. Ten to fifteen minutes most evenings, at a consistent time, works better than an hour once a week, and it's far less likely to cause a battle at the end of a tiring school day. If a session isn't happening, a quiet, low-pressure reminder is usually more effective than turning it into a big discussion.

Set Up the Space Before You Start

A calm, low-distraction spot, screen away from a busy room, notifications off, one task visible at a time, makes a bigger difference to how much a young person absorbs than almost anything else you can do. Movement and fidgeting are not signs that they're not concentrating; many young people with SEND focus better when they're allowed to stand, pace, doodle, or hold something in their hands while they think, so it's worth allowing this rather than asking them to sit still. Plan for short bursts with proper breaks built in, rather than one long stretch, and agree the plan before you start so it doesn't feel like negotiating mid-task. Watch for early signs that things are becoming too much, going quiet, getting irritable, covering ears or eyes, repeating the same phrase, and pause for a break at that point rather than waiting until they're visibly overwhelmed, since it's much easier to recover from a pause than from a meltdown or shutdown.

Normal Frustration vs. a Pattern Worth Mentioning

It's entirely normal for a young person to get frustrated, say 'I can't do this' or want to give up when a topic is genuinely hard; that's usually a sign the work is challenging, not necessarily a sign that something is wrong. What's more worth flagging to the school is a pattern: the same kind of difficulty showing up again and again across several weeks, a level of distress that seems out of proportion to the task, or a noticeable change from how they usually cope. You don't need to work out what's causing it or put a label on it yourself, that's not your job, and it isn't expected of you; you just need to describe what you're seeing, as specifically as you can, to the class teacher or the school's SENDCo. A short, factual note is often the most useful starting point: what you noticed, how often, and any pattern in when it happens, so the school has something concrete to work from alongside what they see in class.

The words you will hear in meetings

General information for families in England. It is not legal advice.

EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan): A legal document for children and young people with more complex or long-term special educational needs, describing their needs and the support, therapy or specialist provision they must receive. Not every child with SEND has one; most support happens through ordinary school-based provision (SEN Support) without needing this extra legal step.
SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator): The teacher at a school responsible for overseeing support for pupils with SEND, working with class teachers, families, and outside specialists. If you have a concern about your child's learning, the SENCo (sometimes written SENDCo) is usually the best first point of contact.
Annual Review: A yearly meeting for any child with an EHCP, where the school, family, and often the young person themselves check whether the plan still reflects the child's needs and whether the support in place is working. It's a good opportunity to raise anything that's changed since the last review.
Graduated approach (Assess, Plan, Do, Review): The cycle schools use to support any pupil with SEND: assess what the difficulty actually is, plan what support will help, do it, then review whether it worked before deciding what happens next. It's meant to be an ongoing loop rather than a one-off fix.
Reasonable adjustments: Practical changes a school is legally required to make so a pupil with a disability or SEND isn't put at a disadvantage, for example extra time, different seating, or adapted materials. What counts as 'reasonable' depends on the individual child and situation.
Educational Psychologist (EP): A specialist who assesses how a child thinks, learns, and processes information, usually through some individual activities and observation, then recommends strategies to support them. An EP visit is often part of building the evidence for an EHCP, but it doesn't happen for every child with SEND.
TA (Teaching Assistant): An adult in the classroom who supports pupils' learning alongside the teacher, sometimes working with the whole class and sometimes providing more focused help to individual pupils or small groups, including some pupils with SEND.
Local Offer: Information that every local authority must publish online, listing the support and services available for children and young people with SEND in that area, including education, health, and social care options. It's worth a search of your council's website to see what's available locally.
Entry Level qualification: A qualification pitched below GCSE level, designed to recognise real progress and achievement for pupils who need a smaller-stepped route into a subject. It can lead on to GCSE or other qualifications later, and is a genuine achievement in its own right, not a lesser consolation prize.
Functional Skills: Qualifications in English, maths and ICT that focus on practical, real-world use of these subjects, such as writing a letter, working out a bill, or using a spreadsheet, rather than the more academic style of GCSEs. They're widely recognised by employers and colleges as evidence of usable skills.
Working memory: The mental 'scratchpad' that lets someone hold a few pieces of information in mind and use them for a short time, for example remembering a set of instructions long enough to follow them, or holding a number in mind while doing a calculation. Many pupils with SEND find working memory a particular challenge, which is why breaking tasks into smaller steps helps.
Processing speed: How quickly someone can take in information, make sense of it, and respond. A slower processing speed doesn't mean lower ability, it usually means a young person needs a bit more time to show what they know, not less challenging work.
Dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia: Dyslexia mainly affects reading, spelling and processing written language. Dyscalculia mainly affects understanding numbers and maths concepts. Dyspraxia (sometimes called DCD) mainly affects movement, coordination and physical organisation, and can also affect planning and sequencing tasks. All three are common, often overlap with each other, and are not linked to a young person's intelligence.
Masking: When an autistic young person consciously or unconsciously hides or suppresses their natural traits, such as stimming, discomfort, or confusion, to appear to cope or fit in, often at school. Masking can be exhausting, and is sometimes why a child seems fine all day at school but is overwhelmed or has a meltdown once they get home.
Sensory overload: When the brain receives more sensory input, noise, light, touch, smell, crowding, than it can comfortably process at once, which can lead to distress, shutting down, or a meltdown. Reducing the sensory input, rather than asking the young person to 'just cope', is usually the most effective way to help.