AIBU just tell my son he doesn’t have to do cursive writing anymore?

You make a very good point. I still use an italic one albeit a felt one now. It does slow you down

For a couple of pounds, can you try him on a good old fashioned fountain pen? My dd was laid into all Yr 5 about cursive writing and it really got her down. Over the summer, hee relative gave her their old parker fountain and we sorted cartridges. It immediately transformed her writing, she now journals, doesn't hate writing and it's a complete non issue st school. There's an episode on Handwritng on bbc sounds, (crowd science), a change of pen may be all he needs.

That sounds like a really good compromise. I hope it helps you all :)

My two dyslexic sons now adults, never got the hang of writing legibly in cursive. They' always print. One of my grandchildren is having the same problem.

I'd speak to the school

Year 6 TA here. Year 6 writing is teacher assessed. The children are not marked down in year 6 SATS in reading and SPAG for not using cursive writing. It is only teacher assessed for writing and occasionally schools will be moderated by the LA. Schools in my area moderate themselves against each other and my school was moderated last year by the LA. Technically, children cannot get expected standard in writing in year 6 if they are not writing in cursive style because it is part of the national curriculum. However, secondary schools don’t worry about it and won’t care as long as writing is clear. I print myself and when I first started as a TA 10+ years ago I was told I must write in a cursive style, my writing is appalling if I do, so I don’t. My writing style has no bearing on my ability to do my job. My headteacher has accepted this now but for a while I was expected to try. I have 2 children, 1 prints the other cursive. Both are studying stem subjects at uni so it’s made no difference.

And miss an easy win with a kid who can easily get two grades above estimated progress from SATs (as will be shown pretty quickly when they sit CAT4s)? No chance - those children are gold, just as those who were very new to the country and speaking/writing English in Y5/6 are.

I've never used anything other than the English & Maths + average of the two in calculations (and neither do the major education progress monitoring & tracking packages) - the other items aren't done by all schools, so there's no point including them for 60% or less of a cohort. Combine E&M+average with CAT4s and the New Group Reading Test results and believe me, nobody cares somebody got marked down for their handwriting - unless they actually need adjustments to be able to participate at all.

So you are saying that in all the years of secondary school nobody will notice that a child is given tasks below their capability? Just because they have a piece of paper from year 6? I find it very hard to believe and if it is true, then we need to have a serious think about who is teaching our kids if a school is not capable of making ongoing assessments based on children’s’ performance.

Same here though it took till year 10 for the school to give in when they started worrying it might affect his gcse results.

@Catza but it makes a difference to the child - if he scores low in sats the secondary school only has to get him to the corresponding flight path level which may be way below his actual capability. So he may end up with worse GCSEs and limited prospects from ignoring the unfortunate importance of sats.
OP I'd talk to the teacher and probably the key stage leader about this - maybe the SENCo as well. And I'd be teaching him to touch type at home and push for him to submit work that way at secondary at least.

School league tables are of no concern, surely. It’s an internal system or a way to show off to Ofsted. I’d place my child’s well-being higher than that. I would hope that children are encouraged (not expected or pushed) based on their performance throughout secondary, not based on one snapshot in time.
I sat a European equivalent of SATs in the 90s. Couldn’t tell you anything about it now or what results I got. It’s a complete non-event which just caused a lot of angst at the time.

Not sure that's true. It used to be that the sats were part of a flight path and kids who achieved higher in y6 were expected/pushed to certain results at GCSE or the school's league table achievements would be damaged.

I agree, my ds is the same, I can't read his writing and he gets humpy when I correct his spelling on homework etc.

I don't see the point of cursive anymore.

Doesn’t matter how it’s judged in SATs. They are an irrelevance from the perspective of the child.
I know GCSE examiners don’t care, because I was one.

you don’t need to worry about sats

uf he does badly then that will do exactly what it’s meant to do and get the teachers to help him because if he fails the says it looks bad on the teachers.

I haven’t read all the replies so apologies if anyone has already said this.

Im a year 4 teacher, but was in year 6 for seven years, my last SATs year was school year before last (ending summer 2023).

Unless it’s changed, for writing moderation (aka his writing SATs) the rule for years has been “joined, legible writing,” but if I remember right, that has now been dropped to just “legible writing.”

But I may be wrong, feels so long ago even though it’s only just over a year since I last did it.

Please don’t shout at me, I’ve already said in this thread that I don’t see why OPs son should be forced to use cursive, but just leaving this because people are questioning whether it has any value at all: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240122-california-signs-cursive-writing-into-law-what-are-the-brain-benefits

No, it’s not clear exactly how great they are compared to print, but it does seem to have genuine benefits for those who can do it. Those who can’t will likely find other ways to develop those skills.

I really do question the idea a pp brought up though that only he will ever need to read his writing as an adult. I can’t believe even in the digital age that he’ll never want to write a letter, leave a note to a loved one, give someone a list or phone number etc. But he will be fine to do so in print!

There's no Y2 writing SAT and wasn't before they were made optional either.

Cursive is just a hoop for primary schools and has no importance beyond year 6 SATs.

I think primaries should be much more discriminating in when they introduce it , how and for whom because it causes real problems in learning to write for many children. Our school decided to insist on cursive in reception, then changed policy as it created so many reluctant writers and their year 2 writing SAT results were through the floor for that year group. The damage was done for that cohort though.

Ditch the cursive! My eldest child has quite severe spelling dyslexia and a slow process speed, which somehow impacts his handwriting. He's otherwise very bright and now studying maths and science a levels. I wish I had been more forceful about him stopping cursive in primary school as his handwriting got progressively worse, not better. At secondary they didn't care, but by then the damage was done and bad habits are hard to break. He has to use a laptop during exams as no one can read his handwriting. In those where he can't use a laptop he misses out on marks where his writing isn't understood.
I now home ed my younger children and have completely ditched cursive. They write in whichever way is most comfortable to them. Their writing has naturally improved massively over the last 2 years. We did go back and re-learn how to form the letters, but with the emphasis on it being legible and the content of the writing being most important.

DC1 never took to cursive.

He's academically very bright and in the end they stopped harping on about it.

DC2 has the most beautiful cursive writing.... I struggle to read it. It's so pretty but often illegible, she's working on making it less pretty and more readable.

DC3 has an EHCP and is globally delayed, no-one will be focusing on cursive writing.

No I suck at some sports because I have disabilities. Believe me I get it and I have said I don't agree with a one size fits all curriculum. What I also don't agree with it's just having a moan fest. Either put up with the system or actively try to challenge it.

My dd printed at primary school. It was neat enough, and she got very fast.

She got her pen licence a week after SATS as the teacher had basically given up!

For ages she just printed letters close together to give a impression of joins, but when you looked close you could see No joins (eg “at” would look joined, but there was really no join).

Eventually she has learned her own semi joined handwriting at secondary school and her writing is now lovely.

Go back to printing, tell the teacher that’s what you’re doing and she needs to stop pushing him because it’s not helping him at all.

Would you say the same if schools forced black girls to straighten their hair? Or if a child with sight issues was told braille wasn't an option because we all need to learn how to read the normal alphabet?

Someone is being excluded from doing well in an academic context because the tools they are forced to use are not fit for purpose, when perfectly easy to implement alternatives are available. You suck at sports, so you don't do them. But I'm pretty sure it would be different if a teacher had told you that you can only pass your maths test if you clear a 100m hurdle race to your desk first.

I wish I'd not been forced to write cursive, my handwriting is appalling. Mi sister who was a year below me, wasn't forced and has beautiful legible handwriting.