Do ALL schools teach cursive writing from Reception?

[annh]

Wondering if all schools now do this. DS2 (reception)is struggling with writing as it is and having to do lead-ins to all the letters is only making things worse. He doesn't always see the relationship between what he reads and the letters he is writing as they look different. He also asked me this morning why whenever we do anyting in a workbook at home the dotted letters don't have lead-ins. I am letting him get away with not putting lead-ins on all the letters but think I will get pulled up by his teacher at the next Parent Evening. As I have managed to reach the ripe old age of 41 without the benefit of cursive writing, I wondered how much of a no-no it is to let him continue as he is or whether this is now a nationwide policy. Anyone got any research anywhere?

[iota]

no - -ours do it in yr 2

[rummum]

Our school do it from reception.. this suited son fine (now in year 3, lovely writing)
Daughter struggled, and didn't write a sentence till she was in year 2.. mind you she is left handed and has dyspraxic tendencies.
Now she is in year 5 and has lovely hand writing (for about 5 lines then it goes to pot)

I think it depends on the child
(thats my research)

[KBearthePolarBear]

Ours changed this year to learn cursive from Reception. DD is in year 2 and grasped this easily but I can imagine reception kids struggling with it. Apparently it makes spelling words easier because of the flow. Or something!

[ladymuck]

No idea as to the whys or wherefores but ds1 is learning cursive in reception.

[puddle]

No idea how widespread this is but my ds has been doing cursive since reception. He seems to have grasped it and the rationale at the school is that it's easier to get them started eraly rather than getting them used to writing one way and then changing it again later.

I'd have a chat with the teacher and see how you can help him - our school did special worksheets for parents (like me!) who weren't taught to write it and also needed help!

[rockinrobinkie]

No, schools vary - there was another thread on this, which also went into the arguments for & against cursive.

Whether it's a good thing to start in reception depends on all sorts of things but I would think mostly the individual teacher - ds's class started year 2 all having to re-learn cursive (which they were supposed to have learnt in year 1) as it had not been taught properly - which is perhaps the worst sort of scenario. So I would certainly discuss with your ds2's teacher.

[maZebraltov]

i started a thread about joined-up writing being taught in reception... tbh, having been a skeptic before, I'm now a convert. Mostly because it is much easier to write fast using cursive writing, it is worth learning to do.

I'm more impressed that your DS has homework at all in reception, that sounds more stressful than the writing in itself. My ds (now yr1) still hates writing, incidentally, i just have to work at his pace, i hope your school is less pushy than they sound.

[maZebraltov]

Here is the thread i did before on this .

[DoesntTheNewYearDragOn]

DS1 started this in Y2 this year and, quite frankly, it's cr*p. A lot of the joins are unnatural and pointless and he spends so long trying to work out the joins that he dosn't concentrate on the spelling.

A classic case of one size doesn't fit all IMO.

[Enid]

ours do it from year 2 but I have started doing it at home with dd1 (year 1) at her request

[mygirllolipop]

Message withdrawn

[roisin]

At our school they do 'joining hooks' from day 1 in reception, in yr1 they do full blown loops/squiggly 'fs' etc. but don't actually join them, then from the beginning of yr2 they start to write truly joined up and do so for everything.

DS2 (6.5 in yr2) writes beautifully now, but still needs a lot of practice to get his speed up.

[TeddyRobinson]

Ds1 does it - he's in reception. His writing looks fab already. I prefer it to printing personally.

[robinpud]

Just to be controversial the association of talented and gifted children are very opposed to the current emphasis on a cursive script as they feel it is often very inhibiting to the flow of ideas...
It is very hard for children without a preferred hand..
Why are we teaching them handwriting.. wouldn't keyboard skills be more valuable?

[annh]

Thanks for all the responses. As I suspected, not every school does this from the beginning so I think I am going to continue letting ds2 use a mixture. TBH, I think his letter formation has actually disimproved since starting school as he comes up with ever more inventive ways of dealing with the lead-ins to letters e.g. he is now doing his O the wrong way round which, as it is one of the letters in his name, he had been managing perfectly well for over a year beforehand. I agree with the theory of it making cursive writing easier to perfect later but it just isn't working for him and I feel if I don't let him get on with just printing his letters at the moment we'll never get to proper writing anyway as he is prone to hissy drama-queen style fits and just gives up. Will try to have a word with his teacher too.

[bigdonna]

at my childrens school they did do cursive writing until sept last year then they decided to stop all kids using pens as well until yr 5.My ds and dd handwriting has come on so much since they dont join the letters.