How old is the child who wrote this letter to Santa

[RealReginaPhalange]

I am wondering what are your guesses lovely people! (Picture uploading)

Has the child had any help with spelling or was it totally independent?

Year 1 I'd guess, so 5/6?

Hmm…i think answering this would completely reveal the answer 🫣

I would say around 8 or 9? But am guessing younger considering the question is being asked?

So they've had help with spelling. Am guessing 5 or 6 then.

It's been copied, as the spelling is too accurate. Based on handwriting, Reception? Maybe Nursery if a parent has been keen on letter formation at home!

The handwriting looks to me like that of a younger child of around 4/5. The spelling doesn’t match the handwriting which is why I asked if he’d had help. I’ll go with reception age and had help with spelling as my guess

Child in yr 3 or 4, possibly yr 5 in England

Could be any of them really. It’s very good for a 4 year old and but also very plausibly a 7 year old.

Handwriting - 4-5
Spelling - 6-7

My best guess would be a 4/5 year old who had help with spellings.

Reception age at a guess.

Looks 4-5 year old handwriting style but at that age imagine you’ve spelled some of the words out

At this time of year, looks like a Year 1 child (or very able Reception child who done a lot of mark making before starting school) who has copied an adult's spelling.

5 year old. Copying and/or had help with spelling.

I teach primary 2 in Scotland and the vast majority of them can write neater than this. They would not necessarily be able to spell as well as this child.

So, if words were just copied, I'd say reception age (primary 1 in Scotland). If spelling independently, possibly year 2 or 3.

The handwriting definitely looks like a younger child.

I’d agree that writing looks like a younger child, but the spelling is either that of an older child or perhaps where they have had assistance.

Based on handwriting maybe 5 or 6? My DD1 is 6 and is pretty average for handwriting and stuff and I’d say hers is better than that but if she’d done the letter independently it would be much more badly spelled!

That said, her friend is a very early reader and consequently a very good speller and way ahead of peers, but her handwriting is pretty average in her class. So she could have produced this at a pretty young age without support.

Mind you, it could also be my 40-year-old husband’s.

It made me chuckle!

Thank you all. Its a 4 year old handwriting, reception age, had to spell everything. Been told he should be doing better by now which i think was a batshit comment as he is doing just fine for his age!

These posts are in my top 10 most irritating type of posts on Mumsnet

My daughter’s writing was exactly like this when she first started school.

I went with 4 but could be anywhere between 4-6 really. It looks like it’s been copied as others say, no capital letters or full stops but consistently correct spelling is a bit odd.

Did they mean handwriting - that’s fine for the age - or were they talking about being able to use their current phonic knowledge to spell? If it’s the latter, this piece of writing wouldn’t give an indication of the child’s ability because of the support with spelling.

My DS is 4 and in Reception. This is almost exactly what his writing is like and would be about average for the class from what I’ve seen of others.

None of them would be able to spell those words though. They can spell and write words that are spelt phonetically eg mat, pin, dog, hat, pen etc and are just starting to learn key words that aren’t phonetic such as “the”.