School have asked year 4 children to switch from Cursive

[Rp735]

This is causing me stress so worth getting the opinion of MN. DD went to first day of year 4 today and her teacher has told the class that they are not to use cursive or joined handwriting anymore and need to practice broken. I have checked with other children too who have confirmed. They have been in the school from reception and are quite competent in writing cursive by now. The class as a whole has been struggling due to lack of learning during covid and many teachers leaving in the years following that. I was really hoping this would be the year the would finally be able to catch up. However, this new change will set them back considerably, in my opinion. Also annoying that there was no communication regarding this. AIBU to be angry and to complain?

@Rp735 we had a similar change to handwriting at a similar age. I can't remember the exact details but I think it was year 4. The children weren't happy and I think most ignored it in the end.

But talk to the teacher and get the information. They should be sending home information on how they want the letters formed so they can practice at home - can't see how they won't inform you

Please don’t angrily complain. Schools, and the staff working in them, have enough to deal with. It’s probably some ridiculous new policy from a knobhead at the Trust, perhaps someone who has never even taught Primary (do I sound bitter…) and the teachers no doubt think that it’s bonkers. Let them all settle in before you complain.

It may be "required" at ks2, but we normally "require" children to drop it at ks3, as it slows the m down and makes their writing less legible. No one is still using it in KS4, as they have grown up and use more adult hand writing - which is often printing

What do you think cursive is?

DC is in Y4 and I'd really like if they stopped cursive because writing is taking so long trying to form letters in cursive handwriting. It is, for the most part, illegible.

More time is spent in trying to form the letters correctly than in the written content and its a complete waste of time and effort.

SATs are purely for school so if they’re drilling kids to work in a way that holds them back, purely for the school’s SATs results then ignore and carry on.

Ps I hate this daft pressure over SATs for primary kids ffs. It has no benefit for the kids so why give them the pressure?

Oops that was in reply to someone but I cocked up the quote and reply things!

The guidance says ‘joined’ but I think that leaves some degree of interpretation possible? My child moved at Yr3 from a school that taught ‘normal’ joined up handwriting (print first, then join most letters but not all) to one that taught cursive (learn all letters with a trailing start, join everything).

I spoke to the teacher and was told that the ‘joined’ wording for KS2 did not mean ‘must join every letter’ and if, for example, he wrote ‘join’ with the j separate and joining the o,i and n, that would meet the required standard. So he didn’t write cursive and was fine with ‘simple’ joining. SATS now complete and no issues.

That’s good for you. It’s also why primary teachers generally hate it. However, if parents and secondary teachers pulled their fingers out and raised this with the powers that be - it could change. Instead far easier to blame primary teachers who are held to statutory guidance.

Why have you put required in inverted commas?

Generally in sure secondary teachers teach what is in exams, to get their kids the results they need. We do the same in primary. You would be performance managed as a KS2 teacher if you decided joined handwriting didn't matter so your class didn't have to bother.

Can people also look up cursive in a dictionary? It literally means joined handwriting. There are different styles of joined handwriting - writing with lead ins is not a specific style known as cursive.

But joined up writing is so much quicker than printed! That’s the whole
point of it.

I was a class teacher for 30 years, 3 of them pre NC.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of initiatives forced into primary over that time, and unlike secondary, they were for all teachers. Not just subject-specific.
You are monitored on all of them, assessed against them. If the current zeitgeist is that they write cursive with lead ins in green gel pen on days with an E in them and in blue handwriting pen on odd numbered days, that’s the rule you break as a teacher at your peril.
So much doesn’t make sense, so much is thrown out and replaced at arbitrary intervals and you gain get dizzy trying to remember what the buzz words are this term.
Statutory rules are one thing, guidance is another but in primary, the head and SLT have vast control over their staff, and the ability to micromanage.
They pride themselves on establishing the rules for their turf and enforcing them. So handwriting policies are often detailed, year-specific and monitored to see if the teacher is doing it right according to the customisation required by the school.

How can it be babyish? Cursive is just joined handwriting. I don't know any adults who don't use it.

This is really weird. As I've said, I've never come across an adult who doesn't write in cursive. If, say, I had to deal with a job application that was accompanied by a handwritten letter that was printed, I would think there are serious question marks about that person's literacy. Certainly printing does not speed up writing - the very act of constantly picking your pen up from the page between letters seriously slows you down.

Have a look at, for instance, the various extant samples of Churchill's handwritten notes, all in cursive. Was he not an adult?

I don't write in cursive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my literacy at all so you might want to knock that preconception on the head.

I find cursive much slower and more illegible than my normal handwriting.

Handwriting from Churchill's era is completely different. Pretty much no one writes like that any more.

@ZadocPDederick cursive is a lot more fancy and curly whirly than general joined up writing.
See the 2 pictures for an example.
The Carol Vorderman book is what I would call "joined up writing" not "cursive". They are different. You don't need write in cursive ever unless you are making wedding invites or something.

Actually you’re wrong.

@IsitChristmasyet23 maybe I am wrong....but when I was in primary (1980s) we were taught "joined up writing" which was like the style in the Carol Vorderman book. We briefly had class pen pals from America and they all wrote what our teacher said was "cursive" which was taught in America. It was that fancy stuff.
I read a lot of American books - one was a whole book about a girls struggle with the fancy cursive.
My daughter's primary (she left 4 years ago) called it cursive - and it was most definitely the American style - not basic joined up.
Apparently in America they don't tend to teach cursive as standard anymore.

All the replies from people who don’t have a clue! Cursive handwriting is NOT a requirement at year 6. Legible handwriting is, which is possibly why they’ve swopped. But we’ll NEVER know will we because op hasn’t bloody asked the school!!!
Aahhhh!!!!!

It is. Legible ‘joined handwriting.’ Even more lol at people telling actual year 6 teachers what is statutory and not. Feel free to read the actual TAF I posted.

So did you ask the teacher?

My understanding was 'joined up' writing is different to cursive.

I think cursive is fine if you're into that, but should be pursued as a hobby and not taught in schools. It's the same as calligraphy in my opinion (pretty but pointless)

Quick, clear, joined up writing is a skill I think most people should aim from.

@IsitChristmasyet23 are you a teacher? If a child was using the Carol Vorderman book as practice would that style be accepted in your school? Is it following the "rules" of what is required for sats etc?
If yes then what you call "cursive" isn't cursive.
It's joined up writing.

I have a DS in year 13. I tried to read some of his work the other day and really struggled as he still writes 'joined up' (cursive isn't an accurate description for the barely legible scribbling!) as he finds it faster and easier. Especially in exams, he says it means he can write a lot more. Which is fair enough, but I feel really sorry for his teachers who have to read his work!
In his 6th form, most of his subject teachers like handwritten essays, for some reason. In uni, it's typed only so not sure this is great practice really. As PP said, learning to type faster would be much more helpful.