IB for primary?

[Cortina]

Doesn't IB at primary level make lots of sense?

They don't expect neatness and elegant displays of fine motor control skills from 4, 5 and 6 year olds for example but encourage creativity and thinking skills?

Or am I missing something?

[bellissima]

If you mean the International Bac then I don't think my six year old could quite manage the extended essay parts. I can assure you that in continental schools they start with the basics. The difference is (and that's another debate) they start a bit later. But in my experience Reception teachers here do not insist on extreme neatness and elegant displays - it's a work in progress.

[Cortina]

Hi. Just comparing 'systems'. I was saying I thought the non structured approach and informality of IB a good thing?? Sorry probably being dense but lost you on extended essay remark.

You say that in Reception teachers are not worried about presentation but from year one onwards it seems - in our experience - 'neatness' is valued - for want of a better word - a lot. One of my DCs hasn't got the fine motor control yet and I feel it means his ability is under estimated. His presentation means he is marked down on the content, they can't always decipher what he's written in tests so they can't give him a higher grade, I've been told

In the 70s there was too much emphasis on handwriting and presentation I felt. I couldn't write very legibly -without tons of ink blots - until I was about 10. I was the last one to be presented with a fountain pen (!) that dates me. (You had to write in pencil until you could prove you were good enough for a pen)!

I always felt in the eyes of my school there was a correlation between presentation and IQ. I know it's important to be able to write clearly but feel that some 5 year olds just aren't ready and haven't got 'it' yet, but they are endlessly drilled in their handwriting books. The danger is when they see (often the older ones) coping well they will feel a failure.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Not sure your DCs school is the norm, Cortina. I don't remember DDs being too fussed about neatness till juniors, and even then not overly so.

In juniors they do the pencil till you're neat enough, fountain pen thereafter thing. This is a private school but the village state school does the same thing apparently - so you're not that dated .

[Cortina]

Ah! Do you know what I've noticed is that nothing really changes, not really.

When I looked around primary schools I saw that some were doing topic work on the railways in year one, that's what I did!

[bellissima]

They don't have the ink wells in the desk any more thobut . nah, I switched to a fountain (cartridge) pen in joonya school, and so did my elder DD. But DD2 still in 'infants' and her writing is anything but neat - and it isn't that much of an issue. As Grimma has said, maybe your child's school is overly fussy.