What age would you put this child at?

[Cbeebiesisdifferentonasaturday]

For writing etc? Any teachers to give feedback would also be very helpful 🙏

LOL My dysgraphic, left handed DP’s writing isn’t much better. He has an Oxbridge first and is a doctor 😂

On a more sensible note, I’m not sure it is helpful asking the question to parents in the UK if your DD is in a different education system. It’s more important that your DD is keeping up with her peers in her school system. If she is, she doesn’t need extra support. You can’t expect her to be proficient in skills she hasn’t been taught or is only starting to learn. It sounds like she is ahead of her peers?

If you are concerned about teaching her English, teaching her different “incorrect” handwriting formation, and want to encourage her to learn as she is enthusiastic about writing, can you not buy a handwriting book that uses the local way of teaching? Also, you can teach her English spelling and reading and improve her language skills without writing yet eg use a computer, apps or letter cards to spell out words, record stories verbally etc

I guess so. I was just amazed that it was always mentioned at primary school, every parents evening, but then at secondary, nothing at all.

I would say definitely no older than 4

😂😂😂😂😂😂

@WavesAndWildflowers DP says the same. I think the big fuss about handwriting at primary school is because DC need the skill to progress to secondary school but also because it is assessed in SATS… Once he got to secondary school, all they cared about whether his handwriting was legible and whether his poor writing skills were slowing him down, and whether he would achieve more if he used a laptop instead.

I wouldn’t worry as DD is only five (I thought you were going to say she is a lot older).

Hi I’m a year 1 and 2 teacher (5/6 year olds). That writing is what you’d expect at this time of year in reception 😊so 5 years old. It’s great!

4 to 5

I’d guess about 5yo

4, turning 5

Looks like my 4 year old pre-schooler's writing. That said, there is wide variation with her and her friends- some can barely recognise their name, whereas others can write a bit.

Actually I think that may be a note from an unspecified royal after his TV interview didn't go the way he expected...

About 4 or 5 x

Are you in France and she is still in maternelle? If so, DC learnt to read and write in CP ie the year after the final year of maternelle, and learned really, really quickly - beautiful handwriting and reading to a pretty high standard by the end of the year. DC found it really frustrating in maternelle, they used to come out saying that they had spent the day at the factory putting yellow blocks in yellow piles and red blocks in red piles - such a contrast to what they learn the next year.

I would keep your dc reading bits of the Chip and Biff books every night while in CP and beyond - we know a lot of English kids whose reading and writing in English is behind because they only focused on French. It is those who continue to read and write in English at home and whose grammar and spelling is corrected and who parents are engaged with it all who do well at both languages.

Proper English grammar isn't always taught in the schools, it depends on who is teaching - the native French who are teaching English are usually better, as the English English teaches tend to teach TEFL which is a bonkers mix of progressive and linguistic grammar. In France formal grammar is taught and if you were taught proper English grammar then most of it is easy to understand and translate. DC has learnt a fair bit of English grammar while doing the French grammar. We have learned French and the equivalent English tenses at the same time too - good for making sure that DC says "would have" not "would of"!

I think it is worth learning to write in the copperplate script like the other children (if this is France), as it is really good for fine motor skills. Easy to adapt and change later on if your DC wants

The older Oxford Tree books are fantastic for learning English grammar and spelling - not so sure about the more recent ones - I have got the impression that more recent things go down the progressive route but I might be wrong there.

Apparently the UK is the only developed country in which 55 - 65 year olds have higher levels of literacy than school leavers - thanks to our 50 years of increasingly "progressive" grammar teaching.

People on here are pathetic. Are you that desperate to tear someone down? Very few 4 year olds can write accurately in sentences FYI.

5-6

My 6 year old still writes in a jumble of lower and upper case and with several letters backwards. But he's only been in school since last August and I didn't push reading and writing at home before he started.

I don't think starting later is a bad thing at all. It evens out eventually.

I also don't compare my children to UK children who started at 4/5 and try to "keep up" in English. They learn in their other language, which is the most important thing. Literacy skills are transferable. They work out how to use what they've learnt in their other language for English with very little help.

Agreed. My son couldn’t write like that at 4, and he got all 9’s at GCSE and 3 A* at A level. The level of competition via little comments and digs on this page is ridiculous. A 4yr old just starting school, or even still at nursery doesn’t write in sentences I agree, maybe an odd child who has been taught at home. At 4 they don’t need to be writing in sentences

IMHO, children learning how to write and read formally from age 6 or 7 is a heck of a lot better than the torture of 4 year olds that goes on in the U.K. I wouldn't compare. The two systems are so different.

Because at secondary we only see a small snippet of your child. We also mark jotters far less, generally assessments etc can be typed up as well.
As long as writing is legible it’s fine. I do have a many kids who I make type up any extended writing tasks because their writing is atrocious but their skills and knowledge are far better. Normally it’s not even worth a discussion with parents because the parents already know their handwriting is bad.

However I do mark for the exam board and last year, I believe two of my candidates (out of 70) failed because their handwriting was indecipherable. That’s on the teachers, not the kids - if I taught them I’d have made sure they could type or had a scribe. I honestly couldn’t make out more than a few words in the whole script, nor could my team leader.

In quite a few EU countries, learning to read and write starts at 6 or 7 because children are considered by research to be developmentally ready at that age. They learn other skills at school before that.

3-5

I went through a similar thing with my children. My advice would be to do as much as you can with the English (if she is willing) because as soon as they start learning in another language it gets hard. Even if you aren't intending to return to the UK in the near future, it is important to know the English language at a good level. Mine never confused the two languages - kids are amazing like that.

4-5.

Without reading more of the thread I'm guessing very able 3-4 yr old. Based on spelling being extremely good, but handwriting looks self-taught not school-taught, and I would expect a child with that much interest in writing to have better drawing and handwriting by 5-6. There are other combinations of ability/interest it could map to though.
Going to see if the answer's been posted now...