Year 1 - Writing - Bright child/Poor result

[MumBoyGirl]

I'd really appreciate done advice!
My child (just 6yrs old and in year 1) is bright abc highly articulate (as determined by teachers and others not just me!) but disengaged with writing and so behind relative to his potential. :-( I'm very concerned! I do not want or expect him yuk be writing Shakespeare, but I know he he is capable of better quality and quantity even now.

I am happy (even if he isn't) to put in the effort at home, but he does practically no writing in school, and I'm really dismayed. I want to help but I don't want to be his sole teacher.

Surely he should be writing stories/sentences in school?? He literally has 10 pages of work in his school book since September, abc most of those are full in the blanks worksheets...

I'm so disappointed for him.

I am his thinking of sending him to an independent school...but have no idea how he could compete at entrance with his current lack of writing skill (lovely handwriting though :)

How can I help??
What should I expect from school...?? I have made an appointment with teacher...

Itsveryyou in the UK some schools teach fully cursive from the first day without ever teaching print (not a fan) and say it works well. Most schools teach a semi cursive style first but generally move to joined around age 7.

I am so pleased to hear some of the comments here as my son (age 7) is a very reluctant writer.

He is a boy and he is only 6. If you lived in some European countries he wouldn't be at school yet! My son doesn't really like writing but we do a little for homework and now age 7 he has discovered football cards and spends sometime writing lists about his cards etc.

This is interesting DS1 in year 2, but working in a year 3/4 group excels in all areas but his writing levels do not reflect his abilities at all. It is very clear to see why- everything comes out on the page at 90 million miles an hour, even though he can spell most words when asked he simply doesn't care and even though he knows how to use punctuation doesn't put it in and misses words out so it doesn't make sense! Vocabulary and content/ideas are amazing. Everyone has tried all sorts of tactics to slow him down and encourage him to check work to no avail. He simply has a pressing need to get his ideas out on paper as fast as possible. His teacher is unfazed and simply says she thinks he'll just do it eventually.
He was recently asked if he prefers maths or literacy, he answered maths "because literacy isn't fast enough!"

Pipsqueak has anyone ever asked him to edit his work?

If he's a good reader type up exactly what he has written and give him a high lighter pen and ask him to identify missing punctuation. Give him a different colour for missing words.

Then type up the corrected piece.

DS is 8 and in Year3. He is bright, very advanced reading and spelling, and very articulate for his age. However has always been slow to get started, and slow at writing, although his writing is mainly neat.

Because his older sister was identified as needing extra time at the age of 16, just before her AS exams last year, and we noticed similarities, we asked the school to let us know if they felt DS should also be tested, and a few weeks ago they said yes, after carrying out a high level test that indicated a more detailed assessment would be worthwhile.

He had that assessment this week, which we paid for privately, and he has mild dyspraxia and slow processing speed. The school said that they hadn't been particularly concerned as he is doing well overall.

However now he will get extra support, including extra time in any tests, and extra handwriting practice in the holidays to do. He is learning to touch type and so may use a laptop for some things in the future.

So at 6 it's probably worth watching and waiting, as it could just be something that will improve over time, but later on a test might be worth considering.

He doesn't need the assessment to get extra time in tests in primary or to be entitled to support.