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

[Snowyslope]

My son is 9 and in year 5 so his reception and year 1 of primary school were quite disrupted by the lockdowns, he was also at a less than great primary school which we have since pulled him out of. He is doing great at his new school in all areas, except his handwriting. He joins from the bottom and it makes his writing hard to read and in spelling tests for example the teacher can mark it wrong because sure it looks like a different letter, when actually he has spelt it correctly it’s just his handwriting is letting him down. An example of this would be joining a p from the bottom to the next letter making the look like a lowercase e. It also takes him a long time to write anything in cursive which effects how much he actually writes and wants to write and will hinder him in things like his SATS exams next year for example. We have tried until we’re blue in the face to get him to stop joining from the bottom but it was left unchecked when he was at his previous school and now it is just ingrained. My question is- what are the actual consequences of him not doing cursive writing at school? I know the school is desperate for all kids to do it but I really can’t see the benefit of it, it’s just massively slowing him down and making him hate writing even more and it’s also hard to read- I’m going to speak to his teacher about it this week, but before I do I’m just wondering what will happen if he just stops doing cursive writing? Would he be penalised in his SATs exams for example? If it’s just a case of that the school want him to do it and there’s no actual penalty for him not, I’m quite willing to battle over it. Thanks

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.

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.

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

Spoke to his teacher and she agreed that it was more important that he writes clearly first and foremost. He is going to be given extra sessions and encouraged to go back to printing until he can unlearn all the incorrect joining, and once that’s established they will look to incorporate the correct joins.

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

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.

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