End of Yr 2 writing. How worried should I be?

[Writingworries]

My ds has just finished Year 2. I have not been sure about his writing since Reception. His school never reopened after lockdown and while they did very good lessons online I don’t think I did very well at supporting his writing.

The Year 1 and 2 teachers have both told parents in our class that after two lockdowns most of the class is behind on writing, which is completely understandable.

The picture is his current handwriting. This was done with lots of encouragement to write as well as he can, keep letter size small and keep letters on the line. The letter n originally looked like r so I encouraged him to redo those. I can see the letter formation still seems not that secure and the w seems like a miniature capital W

What can I do to help him? Or am I overacting and this is where lots of Year 2 children are after lockdown?

No - just some diagonal and horizontal joins.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-assessment-frameworks-at-the-end-of-key-stage-1

@Maximo2 yes that's what I meant by the flicks! Flicks or joined up. Joined up better but I should have made it clearer

Flicks just mean something some schools teach in preparation for joining up later in KS1, usually where the letter starts and ends on the line with a ‘flick’ left to join later on. It doesn’t mean actual joins. Flicks wouldn’t be acceptable to meet that particular greater depth objective.

Joins are just that - actually joining of letters. They are not the same as flicks and there would need to be evidence of some proper horizontal and vertical joins to meet that objective.

Sorry to be pedantic, but they are separate things.

My end of year 2 has less neat writing than that. They have taught cursive from the beginning and I hate it! He would be so much neater if he didn’t have to join up his writing.

I am a professional adult and I don’t use cursive, I so f see why he is being forced to.

I teach Year 2 and would have been very happy with that handwriting this year! Handwriting seems to have been one of the things to suffer most from remote learning.

Thank you @Coldilox and @basilmint really appreciate the reassurance

That’s a very disingenuous post, @missmonlineclasses - all of the handwriting objectives in the national curriculum if taught are the tools of neat handwriting. No teacher would accept handwriting that crosses lines and nor should they.

I’ve also reported your sneaky advertising for paid services - spam isn’t allowed on this board.

I note that you are based in Australia - perhaps your comments relate to the Australian curriculum?

FYI, your website is riddled with grammatical errors.

I'm a primary teacher, and you have nothing to worry about.

Don't worry about it, his writing is well within the acceptable range. Hopefully there will be a full year of teaching and he will be writing every day. You seem very anxious and ready to blame yourself, please don't. If he was behind ( which I don't think he is) he will have a lot of practice this year at school.
If you want him to have more practice, get him writing at home - not handwriting, but things like the shopping list, and notes to people. If you are concerned about pen control, you could have him doing tiny detailed drawings, or play join the dot games with him... you do a square of dots, say 8x8, and then take it in turns to join the dots by drawing a straight line and creating mini squares. The smaller the spacing between the dots, the better pen control is needed..but it's a game, it's supposed to be fun, don't make it a chore.
I think your anxiety around it might put him off if you tell him it's handwriting practice, or something he has to do, so just keep it light.

Year 2 teacher here...it's fine! Stop worrying (and measuring!)

Oh...and IGNORE @missmonlineclasses post!! Neat handwriting absolutely IS part of the National Curriculum in England! The criteria state that letters must be formed and oriented accurately and of the correct shape and size 'in relationship to each other' (which means sitting accurately on the line with the ascenders and descenders in the correct place...or as I tell my class, no 'floaty ghosties!' 🤣

I only wish my DS had such handwriting! That's not to minimise any concerns you have; but perhaps to show that, relatively speaking, it could be worse (much worse).

My DS still cannot form the letter 'a' correctly, swops direction of his b.d.p.q, writes as if we are all in need of Specsavers highest prescription, usually little to no spacing and variable pressure. That's if he writes at all...

Getting him to write his a massive struggle as he can see how poor it is compared to his peers and his confidence has been completely knocked.

We had him assessed this summer - the dyslexia assessor struggled to score his spelling as so little of it was legible...so I'd be thrilled to have the example you shared.

Interestingly our DS is very likely left handed but school pushed right handed on him (I had my suspicions - which were later confirmed). What we didn't know, until his assessment, was quite how left handed he probably always was. He's a real people pleaser and there was a very regimented vibe in his school for Reception in particular. We have a choice about swopping but it will be hard for DS whatever he decides to do...

Of course, OP, if you have worries then seek further guidance from professionals - occupational therapist perhaps for hand strength/mobility if you think that's a concern. But I'd be reassured by the comments on here - his writing is good.

I literally can’t make no judgement from this worksheet.

It demonstrates nothing and is not a natural way to write. Children always write odd on worksheets with dashed lines.

Don’t you have anything that shows him writing sentences on lined paper?

Should read any, not ‘no’ 😂**

Infant school teacher here.

Looks well within the realms of normal for a year 2 child. Won't be the best in the class, but certainly not the worst either. I think, especially considering the disruption they've had to their early schooling, it's fine.