Rachel has two young children, 18-month-old Amy and four-year-old Aaron. She suffers from anxiety, and while she wants the best for her children, she is low in confidence when it comes to educating them at home. She often worries that Aaron seems to be reluctant to read.

Rachel heard about a new project being run At Watercliffe Meadow to develop an app that would help parents with home learning.

She was immediately interested in what seemed to be an exciting project and signed up to take part.

Rachel and Aaron went to all the weekly workshops and really enjoyed them.

During the sessions, they discussed what activities Aaron liked to do at home and looked at how they could be adapted to help him with his reading. They also looked at what rewards and incentives would motivate him to try hard in the activities.

Rachel really enjoyed being able to spend some precious one-to-one time with Aaron each week; something she doesn’t have much chance to do at home.

She also loved taking part in the activities with him during the sessions.

And although she’d been nervous to begin with, Rachel soon got to know the other mums and dads who made up the small group taking part. This helped with her anxiety and she soon felt comfortable enough to share her thoughts and ideas.

Rachel and Aaron have been testing a pilot version of the new app at home.

They have already completed some of the activities, taking pictures for the app’s photo gallery, and offering feedback about how it can be improved.

Rachel feels a real part of life in the nursery now and she has even offered to volunteer in school once her youngest, Amy, is in nursery.

Aaron’s reading is coming along leaps and bounds and he loves to read his favourite stories aloud with mum.