Ds in reception and his writing seems to be going worse..

[Nemoandthefishes]

before eh started school he could easily write out letters and words and knew all his numbers. Now if he writes them down he gets most of his numbers back to front and writing is really messy.

Has been taught a different style of writing in school as this can sometimes be an issue?

I found the same with my son. We'd spent so much time reading that the writing had taken a backward step. We started back on one of those handwriting practice books and it has helped. I do notice his writing in the morning is a hundered times better than in the evening and also much better using lined paper. Hope this helps.

thanks all
I think that they must use a different style but dont know what as we havent had a parents evening since october and his teacher isnt very forthcoming with information at all so have no idea how he is doing generally in school. I only what reading stage he is on thanks to him telling me he read XYZ books to the teacher so I can then look them up

I noticed the same with my DD a while back - I put it down to the fact that they seemed to be concentrating more on reading. She reads to the teacher every day and then has reading homework every night.

But these last few weeks her writing really seems to have improved so I am assuming that she is doing more in class at the moment.

When is your next parents evening Nemo? why don't you have a word with the teacher on pickup (sorry have no idea if that is ok in your school). I am lucky that DD has a reading homework book that the teacher writes in every evening, and get a chance to comment in, about anything. It is also ok to stop the teacher at drop off and pick up so we have 2 way communication.

I realise that not every school does this though - so I would make an appointment to chat to her, if it wasn;t ok to talk to her on the off chance.

Hi a teacher's point of view here (40+6 and suffering in this heat

The other thing could be that it is the Summer term...

Some boys just go "off" formal school work around this time, usually as the teacher has upped a gear to prepare them for Year One. Suddenly there is less playing in the sand & water, & building models with construction and more writing & sitting still at tables to do work and the boys don't know what's hit them!! That or they have to finish their "work" before they can play, so rush of any old scribble & go!

Also - did you teach him the correct letter formation, DS may have had to unlearn what you have taught him and learn all over again!

I would try & have a quick word with his teacher.

Is he starting to write independently, it may be he is concentrating so much on spelling and what he is trying to say and his handwriting is suffering because he can't do all three.

TamTam29 why would a reception teacher be preparing children for Y1?

At ds's school they are preparing his year for entry into year one. It has been a gradual process which started last Sept and I assume is designed to ensure there isn't a massive leap between the end of reception and start of year one.

The guidance (Continuing the Learning Journey - Next Steps) from the government and backed up by excellent research (EPPE & NFER Transition research etc) is that schools should not use Reception as preparation for Y1. Rather the first half term of Y1 should be structured much more like reception and this is a more effective and less stressful way to manage the transition.
EYFS states that Reception should NOT be viewed as preparation for KS1.

mrz, although I totally agree with you and am lucky enough to work at a school where the EYFS is highly valued and continued throughout YR1 and into yr2, however, I know from experience that there are still far too many schools out there that don't share our ethos or arre following the guidence.

My SIL is struggling to get her DD into school in the mornings at the moment because they are "getting the children ready for yr1" DN has been refusing to do any reading or homework at home and her CT has reported to SIL that her schoolwork has regressed.

I just wanted to check that wasnt the reason for nemos DS regression.

nemo, I would think it is the style being taught that is confusing him.

for some reason (I am sure it is a very sound reason to teachers, but I have not heard of exactly why), they now teach children from reception up to write their letter with flicks, so that once they start doing joined up writing it is easier.

I am badly explaining it I know, but they don;t teach them to 'print' anymore, they teach them curly flicks. and it confuses the hell out of those who have already started to write before starting school. I had this issue with DD1.

he will improve again, once he gets used to it all

Nemo my DS1 did a very similar thing at the beginning of Yr1, I went to speak to the teachers and I was reassured that they had picked up on this and were giving him more help.
They also said it was not unusual for writing to get worse for a period of time as the children have more ideas to get down on paper but can't write as quickly as their brain is working. His writing has improved a lot over the past couple of terms.