pen licence

[glam71]

Do all schools do pen licences? When are they normally issued? My dd is in year 4 and still waiting. Mostvof the class have them

Apologies for terrible iPad typing

That's what I think too district - my DS comes home every week and reels off to me who has got theirs and who hasn't and gets quite down now he is one of the last few. He has SNs which affect his coordination and has just broken his arm (the non-writing one luckily but it affects holding the paper etc) he is quite likely to be the last one in his year group.

Buy him a pen of his own, screw school, they can shove their crappy pens!

I've just asked my DCs and they have looked at me like I have two heads. No pen licences here, DD1 went to a First school (we moved when she was in Yr 4) and the entire class could choose which ever medium they fancied from Yr 4 onward but were encouraged to use fibre tip handwriting pens. When we moved she was then expected to use pens. She is now Yr 7 and uses a cheap fountain pen because that's what she prefers.
DS went to an Infants school and said that the entire class moved onto pens in Yr 3 and continued through Juniors.
Pen licences appear to be another way of making the less able children feel even worse about themselves.

I fear neither DH nor I would ever gain our pen licences.

Evensized, joined and legible [humm]

I've never heard of such a thing, and I'm really glad too as ds would never get one, and that would be really quite shitty for him. He feels badly enough about his handwriting as it is. At 14 his writing is still very very difficult to read and a big struggle for him so he now uses a netbook as we finally have given up on his writing ever being 'consistently neat, joined, well sized and legible'. We tried a whole variety of different pens and pencils for him when he was younger with different grips and inks and I would have been very angry if his teachers had interfered with that process (in fact they were lovely).

My father's handwriting was so bad that it was talked about at his funeral! When I was little we used to make him write in capitals if he sent us postcards because otherwise we couldn't read them at all, but luckily at work he mostly dictated. His mother was a calligrapher and he certainly had a lot of support but some people just find writing very hard. I'd be very concerned that such a scheme was very demotivating.

Yes, but only for children in Year 4 at my local school but at the other they have them each year but they have to earn them each year.

My 2 Ds's school has them the older 1 is now coming to the end of year 5 and still hasn't got his. It does bother him. I've tried finding out from the school what he has to do to achieve it but they are very vague and evasive. They occasionally give me lists of words for him to practice. His handwriting looks quite neat to me but his spelling is awful so it may be that holding him back.
Ds in year 3 hasn't got one either but if his older ds hasn't got one now he hasn't got a hope of getting one as he has issues with his hands that means he struggles physically with writing although he spelling and grammar are great.

I'd still be waiting for mine. my teacher when I was 7 held my book up in front of the whole class and demanded: "have you no pride in your work?"

another teacher told my parents that I'd never pass any exams, if my writing didn't improve.

Well, miss hughes, you nasty, nasty witch, I ended up with an English degree, so it can't have been that bad. And I have never, ever humiliated a kid for having poor handwriting - although, admittedly, I'm lucky if any of my kids even have a pen.

This. My primary school did this back in the early 80s. It was generally a very good school, but I remember the competitiveness of who was allowed to write in pen and who wasn't - it seemed to me to do more to engender resentment amongst pupils than it did to promote good writing.

Some children got them in Yr3, some in Yr4.
Once some of the children got them, it really spurred ds1 on, because he really wanted one too.
I assume that this is the intention, to spur the children on.
I can appreciate that it does not work for all.
But I don't know what else to suggest.
Some are brighter then others - get to easy reading/ library reading earlier than others. Some a faster runners than others. What can we realistically do about this?

I have to say that although DS does get a bit down about this I think it is spurring him on so maybe not all bad.

Our school does it - it's a yr4 thing. They are awarded a fountain pen & a certificate.
DS was the first in his year to achieve his. He was unbelievably proud.

Given as he is the child who can't pay attention, can't sit still & makes strange noises, I am delighted that the school actually recognised the one thing that he takes huge pride in. His hand writing is superb.

Everyone leaves yr 4 with their licence - those who need extra help are given tasks to complete at home (if their parents want it)

It seems to work well.

yes
hate it
My ds got his in y5 - months behind all the class and only after me having several talks with his teacher

And - by the time he got it he didnt give too hoots as the thrill had gone, the rest of the class had moved on
It was awful and taught him nothing

Since when did they mark up this pile of bollocks that makes tiny kids feel like failures?

Ours do and my year 4 girl was one of the last 6 in her class to get one. She was very disheartened by the whole thing.

My DS is only in y1 so still don't know if they even do this at his school, but I remember very clearly when I was at primary school not being allowed to use a pen because I was left-handed, even though my writing/punctuation was absolutely fine

They do this at our school, ds got his in Y3, dd1 will get hers next year around the same time. But dd2 has learning issues, we are waiting for a diagnosis and this will probably be another thing to mark her out as "different". They also have top spellers and times tablers up on the board for everyone to see. My ds is up there some weeks, but dd2,would never make it. It seems unfair on children that just cannot do it!

Periwinkle Yes, the dyslexics are excluded from using pen until they are the last ones standing on pencil. I have dyslexic children.

DD was awarded her pen licence last week in assembly. She has worked really hard and her handwriting has really improved.

Sorry, I haven't read every post but feel so strongly about this I had to comment.
I hate, hate, hate pencil licences! I teach in Y3 and all the children get a pen after they return from the Christmas holidays (a gift from Father Christmas). Then I spend the next few weeks finding the right 'special' pen for left handers, children with fine-motor skills issues or unorthodox pen grips etc. etc.
Pencil licences are too divisive and just cut (even further) into some children's low self-esteem.
This year I've found that a couple of children in my class write better in pen then pencil. They also produce more work once they have a pen because they aren't spending half the lesson rubbing out.

... Phewy, and breathe.

our school does it. for many it seems to be a motivator. however, within the school I have a class of children who have various needs and most of whom wouldn't be getting a pen license any time soon. So we don't do that. All children have access to as many sorts of pen as I can find, until we find the one(s) that they work best with. One child who really struggles managed to write a very decent full page non chronological report last week...in pink gel pen. Not sure how that will go down with the literacy co-ordinator, but I am thrilled and so is the child We also use laptops a lot so that once the drafting and planning has been done, they can have a neat piece of writing they can be proud of.
Bottom line is that pen licenses motivate some but certainly don't work for everyone, but most teachers are wise to that anyway.

Seems very old fashioned and stingy really (making pens a big deal so kids don't lose them ?)
I agree with those saying children should have a choice of writing implements according to what suits them best.
And I think it would be somewhat divisive and discouraging to those left behind. My dd has mild dyslexia too. But she's doing fine now at secondary school.
Slightly shocking where a child allowed to get to end of Y6 and leave school without gaining his licence. They could at least have given him one as a leaving present ! - ideally before that, say beginning of Y6.

Flexibility and compassion please