“What NALA knows about who is using

www.helpmykidlearn.ie”

Margaret Murray, NALA Family Literacy Conference November 2013

www.helpmykidlearn.ie

During the first year (7 Sept. 2012 – 6 Sept. 2013):

• 66,743 unique visitors• 91,092 total visits • 26.6% return visits• Average visits a week: 1,283• Peak days: 1,302 visits in one day on

27 Feb., 851 visits on 27 May and 894 visits on 11 June.

Monthly email and Facebook

• 822 people signed up for monthly tips by end of the first year.

• www.facebook.com/helpmykidlearn.ie 373 likes by end first year since page set up April 2013.“Understanding end of school year report card” reached most people, 568 people.

Where do visitors come from?

• 87.5% Ireland• 3% UK, 2.1% USA and 1.6% Australia.

Small numbers: India, Canada, Belgium• Dublin: more visitors than you would

expect, almost 70% (expect 50%)• Cork: less visitors than you would

expect 5% (expect 20%)

Most visits by town1. Dublin2. Cork3. Limerick4. Galway5. Sligo6. Wexford7. Leixlip8. Waterford9. Naas10. Dundrum

Most visitors knew of the website

• 2/3 people (68.1%) of visitors knew what they were going to. They either knew the address or were referred to www.helpmykidlearn.ie from another website.

• 31.7% got to the website by search. The top three search items were:

1. Maths games2. Reading and3. Learning and education games

(no mention of maths).

Good for referring people1. Facebook2. nala.ie3. schooldays.ie (resources parents & teachers)4. education.ie(Dept. of Education & Skills)5. whatsnew.citizensinformation.ie6. scoilnet.ie (links, information for teachers, students, parents)7. npc.ie (National Parents’ Council)8. earlychildhoodireland.ie9. T.co (Twitter)10.seomraranga.com(resources primary

school teachers)

Estimates on age and sex

Source: Google analytics, less reliable than other statistics here

Type of technology

• 75.4% desktop• 14.3% mobile• 10.3% tablet

1/3 of visitors parents 5-7 year olds

There are more parents of 5-7 year olds using the website, than you would expect, and less parents of 0-2 year olds.

Table below: Age groups as % of all age groups. Compared to CSO figureswww.helpmykidlearn.ie Census 2011• 5-7 years 33.4% 23%• 3-4 years 20.9% 16%• 8-9 years 16.5% 15%• 10-12 years 15.5% 21%• 0-2 years 13.7% 25%

Note: “No Tricks Gran”, word association game and board games most popular.

Requests for bookmarks...links

• 51 schools requested and received additional promotional material during first year

• 26 of those were DEIS schools (schools in disadvantaged areas)

• 22 adult literacy schemes requested and received promotional material

• 1,355 visits from links on 32 school websites• 388 visits from links on 8 County Childcare

Committee websites

Three major campaigns

• “The Family Project” TV series May 2013• Every créche, registered childminder and

parent and toddler group, 20 May 2013. Survey by County Childcare Committees found 89% of staff had reviewed the website and material at a staff meeting. 68% put link on website and 84% had given out promotional material

• Every library www.helpmykidlearn.ie library day, 11 June 2013

Who NALA has made presentations to

• Young Ballymun – Breakfast Buddies• NALA / WIT tutor training – Family literacy

module• AONTAS – Cavan training fair and Dominick

Street Youth and Education Centre, Dublin• National Parent’s Council Primary - Panel of

trainers

Who NALA has made presentations to

• Libraries – Youth Librarians• Home School Community Liaison Co-

ordinators (HSCLCs) Cluster – Tallaght• HSCLCs – Induction for new staff• Anti-natal classes 6 hospitals – Anne O’Neill• One Family - Family Day Iveagh Gardens• TUI conference

Future work

• Public Health Nurses• Speech and Language Therapists • Family / community projects• Continue to support family literacy work, and

work that focuses on the important role parents and communities can play in building children’s literacy

The need for professionals to bring www.helpmykidlearn.ie to parents

• Use website as a resource for your work• Show to colleagues so can recommend• Show it to parents, guardians,

childminders• NALA can send you bookmarks, posters

and postcards.

Mention www.helpmykidlearn.ie

• When talking to parents• In notes and newsletters during the year• On your website• In texts, facebook, twitter• In emails to family and colleagues• Note: Balbriggan school is having talks for

parents, based on the 5 areas of the website.

Margaret MurrayTel: (01) 412 7928Email: mmurray@nala.ie

www.nala.ie/support-us/join-nala-today