...is this true - joined up writing in reception now a requirement

[Eve]

friend who is a teacher in England tells me that new guidelines (from who elase but this great Govt) say that for reception children they need to start

• joined up writing
• use capitals and full stops.

If so.... time to start a rebellion!! Whatever happened to learning through play!

I know it sounds really demanding, but IME it's not instead of play, it's instead of doing printing first, then learning cursive. They start letters with cursive so you don't have to unlearn anything. Learning to do cursive letters isn't actually harder than learning to print letters.

Blimey really ? There is no way Ds could do it, he can't even hold a pencil properly, or draw, nevermind write joined up.

They start letter formation if they are ready but they don't have to actually join from reception but learn to form their letters correctly with a flick at the end so that when they start to join it's easier. As far as I know that is.

Ds1 goes into Yr3 in September and still can't do joined up writing.

These are the relevant end of year objectives for Reception from the new framework.

Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed

Write their own names and other things such as labels and captions and begin to form simple sentences sometimes using punctuation

Some children will be doing this, some won't, it's not really any different to the previous guidelines.

My son has been taught a pre cursive script. He hasn't yet learnt to join up, but it would be really easy to progress to joined up writing.

A lot of five year olds are ready to learn to use capitals and full stops. They want to learn as well as play.

Dd is Y5 and chooses not to use joined-up writing. [shrug]. Doesn't take away from her fantastic and imaginative writing or limit her ability to comprehend and put answers down on paper.

dd2 learnt to print at preschool and has learned pre cursively ie with loops and flicks

she is 4, no harder than learning any other way (and looks much nicer IMHO )

They don't literally join up straight away but rather it is precursive script, as frances5 says, so they learn to write their letters with tails etc (as in Jolly Phonics) in order that they can do so a little later . dd is just joining up at end of Year 1, some have for a while, some aren't yet - no pressure. Capital letters and full stops are simply learnt as part of writing ie if they keep a news book.

Does anyone know how I can confirm that they should be learning cursive letters from reception?

You could try the Standards Site but it is unlikely to be that specific and unsure there is an official "should about it.

It's certainly true where I live. DS1 is in reception and they've learned cursive writing from the start, and all the other schools in the borough do the same.
It's a bit confusing because he's supposed to write with all the flicky bits but in books he's reading plain old print.

My DS is coming to the end of Reception year and has been taught joined up writing. Every time I see him write I am but it is true that they may as well start as they mean to go on rather than teaching them a joined up two or three years after learning to print.

I remember the first time I told me about entry and exit strokes (the little flicks before and after letters). I laughed my head off thinking how grown up he sounded, at 4!

Agree that it sounds a lot scarier than it is. It just means that they don't have to be taught a new way of writing again a few years later.
I've been out of it for a couple of years but I seem to remember that at year 2, and possibly year 6, it doesn't matter if their writing is joined or not as long as it is consistent in which ever style they choose.

My dd does cursive writing at school and plays - you can do both!

DS is coming to the end of Reception now, and is taught to write letters with a flick. He was also taught this in Nursery.

When they get to Year 3, they need to be able to write joined up to get a level 3 (iirc)

Fully cursive also helps to limit reversals, if you always start on the line and go forward with your stroke you are more likely to form the letter correctly.

The new Framework for Literacy lists these objectives for handwriting:

Reception:

• to use a comfortable and efficient pencil grip;
• to produce a controlled line which supports letter formation;
• to write letters using the correct sequence of movements.

Year 1 Term 1

to develop a comfortable and efficient pencil grip;
to form lower case letters correctly in a script that will be easy to join later.

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thing is, they can have all the guidelines they want but until they can force reception age children to develop and mature in a uniform way, then they can whistle for their results! My ds finishes reception soon and he still can only just about form the letters of his (V short!) name, let alone do joined up writing.

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