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 work in an infant school. The children use pencil in all their books throughout Foundation to y2. Except for in handwriting books/lessons where all Y2 children use a Berol handwriting pen. I suspect these are bought due to being available at a reasonable bulk buy price from the school suppliers.

At DD's school there are no pen licenses either. All children use a pen from y3 upwards. They are expected to provide their own ink cartridge pen (fountain pen/nib style, not gel/rollerball/biro.) although there is a bit of leeway/relaxation of the rules on this. For example, the Stablio type ens are used with no question, though a proper ink pen for best work is expected.

I really hate the idea of children not all being allowed to use a pen at the same time - whether it is through pen licences or just teacher discretion. Just makes the children who struggle stand out even more.

Some children physically struggle to write with a pen.

mrz,

Your right my friends child (yr 4) keeps refusing their pen license as they find it hard to wright with as they are left handed.

Another Berol hater here,they're utter crap.

My other concern(crapness aside)has been the lack of rubbing out ability.Some kids are very precious re presentation,yes ds2 looking at you.Doesn't it put them off attempting tricky new words?

This has slightly resolved itself as some kids have been taking the matching eraser in.Ds begged for one so onto Amazon I went- £6 bloody,you can only buy 1 in a pack that comes with a fountain pen.I know it won't see the term out- what a rip.

We love the Pilot Frixions which rub out.They're fab,you can buy refills and write beautifully.Not allowed in school though.

wheredidiputit - can they not use a left handed pen?

Is this an English school thing? I teach in Scotland and have never come across this! In fact any pupil writing in their jotters in pen would get into trouble! Do they use pens for everything then? Maths? Or just language work?

You have to use a pencil before they're allowed.My left hander did it in Year 4, he has the Staedler left handed pen,writes equally as crap,the ball sticks.

Left handers push the pen across the paper,it is much more difficult than pushing a pencil which moves more smoothly

We use pens for all writing and number work. Not for geometry

DD's school used to suggest Berol pens as standard writing pens when the children got their pen licence (parents provided them though) but they have cottoned on to the fact they are cumbersome to use and leave blots etc so have suggested the children use fountain pens and/or Stabilo pens - DD has both and finds them more comfortable than the Berol although time is wasted in class I'm sure by those who fiddle with cartridges. Got both new pens in Wilko's quite cheaply and refill cartridges online for a fraction of the Smiths price.

Oh yes, and always a blue ink pen with DD's school too.

I wonder why this is so different! Have only ever taught in one Scottish LA but certainly never a pen in sight!

i'm a jock too and have never heard of this. in fact i've just read this thread with my gob hingin' open (while wondering where my old waterman fountain pen and peacock blue quink ink bottle is).

I have issues with blue pens weirdo I can tolerate a black biro but not a blue one and would never use a blue ink pen. I use black Uniball micros. I will now stress about DS being required to use a blue pen at school...

Did you not use a pen at school Laura?

we used... brace yourselves... whateverthefuckpenwewanted.

We got given a burgundy fountain pen with your name on in primary.

I'm guessing you had to buy your own then AitchTwoOhOneTwo

I'm old we had dippy pens and ink wells in primary school

yeah, reckon so. i do think there were some berols floating about, but everyone got their own. (presumably because the berols were cack).

and calligraphy pens and Indian ink for handwriting

I had calligraphy pens for handwriting,proper italics.

I hate, Hate the Berol handwriting pens.

My ds has to use them and only them at school, now he's finally got his pen license.

He writes nicely with a biro - the Berol pens render his writing spidery & hideous.

so what is the pen license? is this a real thing? it seems like everyone knows about it bar laurapashley and myself.

Horrible, horrible memories of the 'pen licence' to use Berol pens here, too.

I'm left handed and struggled with writing. I finally improved to the point that the teacher said I could have a trial using a Berol pen. I'd never used a pen before - had no idea (having only used pencils before) that dragging my hand across the page would cause the writing to smudge.

I panicked and began scrawling to try to avoid the pen smudge and my writing became so bad that the teacher declared my pen trial over and relegated me back to pencil use until after every other child in the class had been promoted to using pens.

I was also August-born and struggled to keep up in other areas.

I spent the entirety of my primary school life thinking I was thick and stupid :(

(I aced my A levels though and ended up with a Masters degree)

The Frixion ones are great BUT you can't laminate work that's been done using them, the ink disappears.

Hate Berols, they're just horrible to use and hopeless for children who find gripping the pen difficult, even the triangular ones.

My sons' school uses Lamy pens when they first start using ink, nice quality and they come in left handed versions.