We are committed to using educational technology to improve learning and opportunities for all our students.

However, we also believe that learning doesn’t start and end in the classroom, especially when it comes to digital skills and technology.

You can learn digital skills at home, and we believe that everyone in the community can benefit from gaining confidence in their digital skills.

If you’re a parent or carer who is wondering how you can support your child’s digital and tech literacy during summer break, here are some tips!

Typing skills

Here at LEO Academy Trust, our children get many opportunities to practice their typing and learn digital skills with personal Chromebooks.

If you don’t want their typing skills to get rusty over the holidays, there are plenty of free resources you can access at home. Here are some of our favourites!

TypingClub

TypingClub offers bite-sized, interactive online lessons to practice touch typing.

All you need is a computer or laptop and a keyboard, and you choose between a paid premium plan, giving you an ad-free experience and additional settings, and a completely free plan.

Dance Mat Typing (BBC Bitesize)

BBC Bitesize offers a small and free selection of touch typing challenges designed to help children learn typing skills and challenge themselves with speed-based tasks.

Graphic design skills

Another accessible way to learn digital skills at home is to practice graphic design, which is a valuable specialised skill in the digital world.

The popular platform Canva offers short, free courses for students aimed at supporting young people in creating stunning visuals for their school projects.

All you need to get started is a Google account to sign in with!

Earn badges with Workspace Skills

Delivered via Google Classroom, Workspace Skills is a series of interactive tutorials by Canopy Education and Howdou.

The digital skills covered by this platform, which we use across all LEO primaries, cover all the main online Google products, including Google Sheets, Google Docs and Google Slides.

It takes approximately 5 minutes to complete each interactive tutorial – perfect for a bite-sized summer learning session!

Children from Years 2 through 6 can practise and learn digital skills at home by working their way through their ‘digital passports’.

You can access your child’s digital passport here.

Learners can start earning badges by:

1. Signing in to Google Classroom with a Google account.
2. Searching for digital skills topics.
3. Choosing the specific digital skill to practice.

Google courses for adults

Parents and carers can also refresh or learn digital skills at home through one of Google's many free courses.

Whether you’re looking to flex your digital muscles for career development or business growth, Grow with Google offers a set of online training options and completion certificates to satisfy all your needs.

The digital skills you can learn range from basic cybersecurity to AI and graphic design. You might even find an in-person workshop happening in your area!

September is just around the corner and it’s not long until we’ll see you back in school – we hope you’ll be able to support your child’s digital journey and grow your own digital skills with these helpful resources.