Berol pens ..... why?

[aristocat]

At my DCs school they progress from pencil to Berol pens. The pupils are only allowed to use blue (not black) berol for their work.

Is this something that only our school does? We use all sorts of pens at home (have a pen fetish myself )

DS will be in yr 6 in a few weeks and I hope that when he moves to Secondary they will be thankful if he has a pen at all

I teach year six and I give each child one of these at the start of the year. www.amazon.co.uk/Stabilo-Point-Fineliner-Water-based-0-4mm/dp/B000J6CWSS/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1346422424&sr=8-13
I think it's nice to get one in year six without having to get a pen licence first because as other have said, it can actually make your writing neater by using pen instead of pencil. As for pencils, I have always been part of the 2H brigade....but that's a whole new thread!

Really!! There are some schools with a pen licence. I thought that part was just a mickey take.

www.amazon.co.uk/Stabilo-5892-1-41-Gel-Roller-Right-Handed/dp/B0036TGAVA/ref=sr_1_10?s=officeproduct&ie=UTF8&qid=1346422837&sr=1-10

I gave my Y2 pupils one of these when they reached a good standard of handwriting (we don't do pen licences)

Wow a bit of sense there mrz saying primary 2 For a moment I was starting to believe that children who are in primary 6 are still using pencils.

I have a bumpy berol finger too, DP doesn't and went went to the same school

Maybe it's because he's a lefty, do they hold pens differently?

The school have grudgingly admitted that DS2's handwriting is shit with a pencil, and even shittier with a Berol handwriting pen, as he has been told that for Y4 he can finally use the leftie Stabilo S'moove pen that he has owned since Y1.

Why they couldn't have just fucking LISTENED to me 3 years ago is utterly beyond me.

Though they don't have a pen licence, the teacher decides when each child is allowed to use pen in their exercise books. Which just annoys me, as the pen was recommended by his OT, and I had a discussion with the SenCo too. Or rather, 6 discussions, each more irate than the previous one, as he ended up being the ONLY DC still having to use pencil in his book, and his writing is almost legible with the S'moove, whereas it looks like an explosion in a pencil factory right now.

This just winds me up!

I would not mind (though I write constantly and have a few fountain pens, Uni-whatever fine ones and loads of others - we had fountain pens at school)

but they are so expensive and we are told to buy them ourselves.

That pisses me off - if they are goingto insist on a certain type of pen they could at least provide them.

Got some at half price yesterday in Sainsburys, still over a pound for two. Ds loses stuff a lot - I would rather he still used a pencil frankly.

Yes Ed we have to provide the berols too & feel the same that the school should provide them

I think one problem with having individual pens, of any brand, is that the nib moulds to fit a certain person. I tried labelling all of the pens etc in my class, but it became a nightmare when they moved tables.

I don't really see the point of writing in pen anyway, nor do I naturally write in joined up. I'm still waiting for my pen licence... I don't meet the criteria

This thread is like 'pen porn' to me now - I MUST rush out and buy several of the ones suggested on here

Pen License?! Way to make kids feel shit about themselves. Still.

conversely you could argue it's a way to make kids feel good about themselves -

Not the last one to get a pen.

As I said we don't have pen licences but children have to form letters correctly before they can use a pen in school books.

DD's school insist on either a fountain pen or handwriting pen. She has & uses her own Stabilo handwriting pen and pelican fountain pen because she is a lefty & I refuse to let her use anything else. Only problem with this is that most parents buy cheap berols & this leads to horrible creatures stealing her pens.
Good thing about all of these types of pens is that you can use those lovely ink.eraser pens to hide your mistakes!

Buy them a pilot V4 which is the cheapest fountain pen around and as anyone will tell you a fountain pen will last a lot longer than a biro does and cannot suffer from a clogged up ball or damaged ball stopping the ink flow. Also you can easily find numerous quick guides on how to refill a Pilot V4 pen and it takes no time at all and pressure control is far easier with a fountain pen and avoids those ghastly ridges on the reverse from heavy handed ballpoint use.

It might surprise you Novack but many parents can't/won't buy their child any pen not even a 10p biro.

My DD school uses Berol pens too although as DD is a leftie I had permission from the head for her to use a left handed pen (blue) in year 4. She's in year 5 this year and has lost the pen so back to berol I suppose.

I was talking about the school not the parents.

do you realise how far a school budget stretches?

Ds has moved schools and wasnt allowed to use his fountain pen today even though he's been using it for a year at his previous school. He was given a Berol and finds the whole idea of having to get a licence to use a fountain pen hysterical.

Thank you for the very interesting thread. Even though it was a few months ago that the last post was written I like to add another one.

I am German and here children start to write with a pencil and after passing a 'pen licence' children have to use a fountain pen. Only in rare occasions, like being left handed children are aloud to write with a ball pen. These ball pens are filled with the cartridges of fountain pens.

When I read that German children are only aloud to use a fountain pen after passing that 'exam' I was shocked, but reading that the British School system is using an 'exam' just for writing with a ball pen is not understandable for me. Would anyone be able to give me an explanation? Thank you in advance.

Another thing I find interesting in this thread is that parents are not willing to pay for writing material. In Germany all pens, pencils and often even books have to be paid privately. That means for some parents have to spend about 200 Euros at the beginning of a school year. And if the child loses its fountain pen or breaks the nib parents have to buy new ones. Sometimes that can become quite expensive.

I would like to apologise for any mistakes as English is not my native languge.

Kichererbse there isn't any exam the children just need to demonstrate in their day to day school work that they can form letters correctly to be awarded a "pen licence"

We have to provide the Berol Handwriting fountain pen not the fibre tip. I think for the price it is a pretty good fountain pen for it's price.
DD was a early child to get her licence and her sense of achievement and boost in self esteem was huge.
I have the lump on my finger, but only during A-levels and then 6 years of Uni throughout which I used a beautiful and very expensive waterman my parents bought me for my 18th birthday.

I loathe Berol Handwriting pens in blue. They became the bane of our lives - both DD's fretted like mad when they became "lost" liberated by another class member as they had to pay to replace them, hence they became "currency" and much sought after by those who'd lost their own but weren't able to admit it. Then they ran out after a very short while and the tips disappeared. They're too fat to handle - all together dreadful things.

We were given ink pens at the age of 8 or 9 and could handle them perfectly well - anyone remember those wonderful royal blue plastic fountain pens at primary? The felt wonderful in your hand and had a particular smell. My lumpy middle finger remains to this day and in exam season, became incredibly painful - even now, it hurts like a beast if I do a lot of writing.