Handwriting and new curriculum?

[ihearttc]

Just wondered if any teachers can help please?

DS1 is in Y5 and came home from school this week saying they have to all change the way they form their letters. His writing is actually really neat and is all completely legible and looks much better than some adults.

They have all been told its apparently because of the "government" which I think is a bit of an odd thing to say to a Y5 class but just wondered if anyone could tell me if its to do with the new curriculum.

Ive actually told him at the moment to just carry on as he is (which I realise is the wrong thing to do) but unless there is a real reason why he needs to completely change the way he writes then then why on earth can't he carry on the way he is.

Im more concerned with the content of his work rather than teaching them different ways to form letters...he worked really hard last year and he was a level 4B at the end of Y4 to give you an idea of what his work is like.

Not anything to do with the new curriculum or the government as far as I know. Unless his writing wasn't joined, in which case it would have been an issue under the old curriculum too.

That's complete rubbish!
The new curriculum says ( for year 5/6)
"choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding whether or not to join specific letters" and "choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task"

Which implies joined writing but no particular style. Nowhere does it say that writing MUST be joined, nor how.
Does your son print or use joined writing? There might be SOME justification for encouraging the use of a joined script but, to be honest, it is quite hard to change a personal style by Year 5!

His writing is honestly really neat. They get pen licences at school(its a junior school) and he was the only one in his class to get one in Year 3 to give an idea of what its like.

His writing certainly isn't a flowing cursive style that I understand they are being taught from reception now but I would say its nearly all joined up where appropriate if that makes sense. The letters are small and well formed and most importantly its easy to read.

It seems to be the formation of letters they have been asked to change...he said f's have to be done differently but I can't remember what other letters he said.

And apparently if they don't change the way they form the letters they will lost marks...I have no idea in what they will lost marks in though!

That's exactly what I thought spanieleyes. Its really hard to change the style of your writing in Year 5. Will have to have a word with the teacher I think-just wanted to find out if it was really the "government" or now first!

Specific formation like that definitely won't be anything to do with the government.

I would blame Gove for plenty of things but how to form a letter "f" isn't one of them!

I would say the school has taken the decision to adopt a particular style of writing. As others have said nothing to do with the new curriculum or government.

It could be that too many of his letters are printed, rather than joined.

One of my new Year 5s has come up not joining f, g, y, s, r, j, o, q, v, w or x - basically, if the letter doesn't finish 'on the line', he doesn't join it to the next one. This gives the overall impression of printing, even though the majority of his letters are joined.

The other point is that most children will write faster with joined handwriting, rather than printing, and therefore it is worth developing a fluid, joined style before timed written exams become important.

The longer you leave it, the harder it gets to change, as there will naturally be a transition period when neatness and speed will actually drop.

I think that actually might be the case Kingscote (I'm wondering if you are his new teacher?).

Ive just got him to write something and he has done basically that so although most of it is joined it doesn't seem as though it is.

Im wondering why on earth they have waited until Y5 to sort it out though and it would have made more sense to say I think some of your letters aren't joined up properly shall we work on them rather than telling an entire Y5 class that they need to change the way they write.

Will add handwriting practice to the other huge amounts of homework they are getting!!

Many thanks for all your help.

My DD has just gone into Yr5. For the last 2 years we have been at this school, she has been taught to write "joined up". In Yr 4 the teacher got them to loop the bottom of letters like y, f, and g so that the joining continues into the next letter.

Her new teacher has told them specifically that they are not to do this - and she was actually penalised (not given an achievement star) in a handwriting lesson because in her first week back it's a hard habit to break straight away! We have had lots of frustrations - and rubbings out - this afternoon when she was completing her writing homework as she kept forgetting to write this new way. She has lovely writing and she is finding it frustrating to try and change the way she writes!

The school should have a handwriting policy that dictates the style the teachers should be using and which letters are to be joined and how. It's not for individual teachers to keep chopping and changing it.

I spoke to her teacher today and they are implementing a new scheme - Nelson I think she said - and she will be sending out an overview to parents.

She did also say that the "looping" of letters was something that perhaps last year's teacher shouldn't have been so focused on - especially as it was making some letters unreadable!