Dave Shaw
A lightbulb moment while helping his daughters to do their spelling homework has turned into an exciting new business venture for Harborough dad, Dave Shaw.
Now the Spell Wizards website and accompanying app is up and running and being used by families across the UK.
Dave, 45, who works in software development, founded Spell Wizards in 2019 and has since evolved the website and app into an easy-to-use, cost effective service used by families and schools alike.
Dave says: “I changed my hours at work in 2019 to fit around my daughters’ education and it was while helping them to do their homework that I first had the idea for SpellWizards. I wanted to put my software skills to good use and not only help my own children but other families too.”
Aimed at 4-11 year olds, Spell Wizards is a clever spelling game which uses Key Stage 1 and 2 words from the UK National Curriculum and makes them accessible for youngsters in a fun and simple format. It even generates weekly reports for parents and teachers so they can monitor progress, while also helping to improve the child’s typing, listening and comprehensive skills.
Dave adds: “Spell Wizards really came into its own during the pandemic when more and more families were looking for ways to support their child at home. I’ve had some fantastic feedback from parents and have further evolved Spell Wizards to meet the needs of both families and teachers to further support learning.”
Now Dave is keen to work more closely with local primary schools to show how Spell Wizards can support in-classroom learning, as well as families from across the Harborough district in the run up to next year’s National Curriculum tests. It follows results published last year that showed a post-pandemic drop in the expected standards in grammar, punctuation and spelling from 78% in 2019 to 72% in 2022.
“Spell Wizards is a fun and engaging way to bring the National Curriculum to life,” concludes Dave. “It’s made a huge difference for my own children, and I want to spread the word to show how it can help others realise their full potential.”
Spell Wizards can be accessed online at https://SpellWizards.co.uk or via the App Stores.
