Must pupils conform to the school handwriting style for SATs?

[MGMidget]

I wondered whether it's a requirement for SATs that pupils conform to their school's handwriting style (i.e. if the marking if affected by this?) and if so is that just for KS1 SATs or also for KS2 Sats? A bit of background explanation as to why I am asking: my DD has very recently started at a new school (i.e. a few weeks before the KS1 Sats). The school have been giving her extra lessons on handwriting because she writes in a fully cursive style and the school don't teach fully cursive. Therefore, they are trying to get her to 'unlearn' some of the cursive joins she has learnt in her handwriting and have given her feedback that this is something she needs to work on/keep practicing to get rid of the 'loops'. I am pretty sure I read somewhere that one of the things assessed in KS1 Sats is whether the handwriting is in the style adopted by the school so if so I can see why the school have been trying to get her to conform. to this. However, I wondered if this carries on beyond year 2 or whether it doesn't matter for KS2 Sats? In which case she could hopefully relax and continue with her cursive handwriting as long as it is legible/neat enough?

That is crazy. She's been taught cursive and now they're trying to unteach her because it's not their style?? Insanity. I can't imagine why anyone would think that was best for the child, why is it better for her not to use cursive and if it's not better for her why are they doing it? For their benefit?
I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question - although I would assume that legibility should be key rather than whether it is the right school style - but then I though everyone learned cursive.

Crazy. I thought the norm now was for cursive. I'd let her carry on and not even think about SATS.

They do a semi-cursive style which the TA told me is 'not cursive'. Some letters are joined and others are not! My view is that having gone to the trouble of learning all the joins it is a shame to 'unlearn' them because my DD will probably be able to write faster for exams when she is older if she writes in a fully cursive style. I can see that in the short term it is easier to get the pupils writing legibly in a less loopy, cursive style of writing so that is probably why they do it. I suppose I am just trying to find out what the implications are going to be of ignoring the requirement to follow their handwriting style. If it is just required for KS1 Sats they are now over so as long as the requirement doesn't continue into subsequent years I think it would be better for DD to stick to cursive as long as they don't have concerns about her legibility.

How utterly ridiculous for her to unlearn in year 2 and then relearn in year 3! I thought that in Primary, they are expected to do joined up but not dictated a particularly style?

The only reason I get children to unlearn cursive writing is when they go back to the line to start every single letter so the writing is hard to read a bit like it has lots of extra ws in it.

There are absolutely no implications related to handwriting for the maths, reading or grammar assessments. There are no extra marks or marks deducted for any style. This is for KS1 and KS2 assessments.
Handwriting is mentioned when writing is assessed but I would have to google the exact wording to give you the correct information.
It's crazy to me how much emphasis is put on handwriting in Primary. DS1 hated cursive at primary, didn't get a stupid pen licence but once he was at secondary he was allowed to write however he chose.

Absolutely nuts. Tell them to leave her handwriting alone. Sats are worthless to the child and only benefit the school ks1 and ks2.

But loops though? Who taught her loops? That hasn’t been acceptable for a very long while. ( I’m secondary, we do nt let children write with loops)

That seems utterly bonkers. I teach KS2 English. As long as the handwriting is joined, fluent and legible that is all that matters.

I'm really curious, what do you mean you don't allow "loops"?

Well we have had a mixture of an organised course in cursive and handwriting (small group intensive tuition followed up by video lessons to consolidate and lessons from a private English tutor which including working on her handwriting practice). The tutor is a qualified teacher and works as a head of English for year 3 in a well-regarded school where they teach cursive handwriting. We were home educating at this time before going back into school and cursive handwriting was what I thought all schools were teaching once children have mastered the basic letter formation.

The ‘loops’ are just the way links are formed for some letters (e.g ‘f’). The new schools handwriting style is ‘Nelson’ in case that means anything to anyone. The teacher showed me it and there are various letters that aren’t joined with a link whereas some letters are joined. She did say that the last school she taught at did cursive and that her nephew had moved from a school that didn’t do cursive to one that did so was having to relearn his handwriting style so clearly schools do vary in the handwriting style they teach. Unfortunately I have been told that the school continues to teach handwriting until year six so they are going to continue to drill their handwriting style into my DD! Personally I think cursive is better once it is learned because it is faster so it’s a pity that we have gone through the process of learning it and now some links have got to be ‘unlearned’! As we plan to move it also means she may have to relearn cursive in a different school in a year or so!

However, it doesnt look like there is any flexibility to keep the cursive style as they are going to constantly reinforce their style with regular practice and may give her extra practice for links she needs to unlearn.