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Yr 6 boy's handwriting

28 replies

moscow · 12/01/2012 10:08

Would be grateful for any advice please. Our Y6 boy has pretty terrible scruffy handwriting, and says he 'doesn't care' about improving it, the teachers can read it etc etc. In everything else, he is very strong, including grammar. I know scruffy handwriting isn't an unusual thing for some boys, and mine is pretty bad : ), but the issue here is not just that his writing is scruffy, it's that he doesn't see the need to make sure tall letters are actually tall, long letters are actually long, that capital letters are actually the right size to look like capitals etc. His reason is that he would rather do it all on the computer, adults work on computers all the time and barely have to handwrite anything etc (and he does have a point there), but we are stressing to him over and over again that this is important, but he just doesn't care. I say to him that he has only two terms left at primary and that the teachers at secondary won't accept it and will keep him in and so on.. trouble is, I am not convinced they will. I know the answer is to get him to care enough himself......Help please, any ideas?

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timetosmile · 13/01/2012 21:20

DS also in year 6 and really scruffy writing too....he has a great teacher who I have a lot of faith in.
I raised the subject at parents' evening, and he was fairly laid back about it - yes it was scruffy, but it wasn't the worst. The grammar was good and everything he wrote was 'buzzing with ideas' and in KS2, that wasn't something he wanted to quash.
His opinion was that over the next 2 years, his writing would improve, both with the standards our local High School expect, and just by growing up.

IndigoBell · 14/01/2012 08:05

A typical teacher attitude.

  1. He's not the worst in the class, so don't worry.
  1. He'll be fine in X years, so don't worry.
  1. Compliment your child to distract you away from your concern. ( his work is buzzing with ideas )

Surely it's of no corncern to you whether he's the worst in the class or not? All you care about is how good he is.

How would the teacher know what his writing will be like in 2 years? He's not a clairvoyant. He doesn't even see kids in year 8s writing. He has no idea if the kids who left him 2 years ago, if their writing has improved or not.

And what will you do in 2 years if it's no better?

It's far less work for the teacher to tell you 'don't worry', then to do something about it.

Did previous teachers also tell you 'don't worry, it will improve in a few years'

mrz · 14/01/2012 09:56

Nothing improves by leaving it ...if there is a problem address it early.
IMHO/E writing deteriorates in secondary rather than improves.

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