WTH do kids HAVE to write joined up as soon as they are juniors?

[FabBakerGirlIsBack]

Oh, I know. Flipping results, marks, etc for the bloody school.

I am sick of telling the teacher his writing has not improved for 2 years really as he has been made to write joined up when he can barely write neatly when the letters are separate. MIL and ex teacher says he doens't hold the pencil properly.

Have bought all the various things to put on the pencils.

He doesn't enjoy writing.

I am feeling really quite upset and frustrated by it all and also dreading who he might get next year as I have already had words with one potential teacher for saying she would beat them all up.

Has he not been taught cursive writing from reception?

The rules changed in my DS1's school when he was in Y1, back in 1994, he found the switch to cursive from printing hard.

DS2 and DS3 have both learned cursive from day 1 and have better writing IMHO, although DS3 is a bit of a scruffy writer.

JUNIORS?
lordy they learn it straight away ehre

The whole cursive thing annoys me greatly. We were taught to print and did that for 2 years. Then we were told simply not to take our pencils from the paper until the end of a word, at which point we should go back and cross the t or dot the i. Why can't they do that? You get a really good idea of how to form each letter, and then you get the spelling reinforced while you "cross and dot". It's not hard.

At our school they do cursive from the beginning

My dd has been doing it in nursery!
emoticon, but suppose it might be good in the long run....
Must admit, I thought teachers were instructed to no longer teach printed letters, but to go straight to cursive..is that not the case everywhere then?

jux that sounds like a really sensible way of presenting it! I'm going to try that with dd who gets all confuddled and then loses her temper with it....

cursive from reception here too

now I can see why

your poor ds-he can't be the only one who will find the transition difficult

I suppose you've tried all the fine motor skill exercises?

ggirl - tell me more about the exercises please.

practice using tweezers to pick up tiny things and transfer to pot
operation game similar

sewing

drawing in a vertical position helps to strengthen the upper arm and shoulder dexterity needed

more here some may seem babyish for your ds but there are loads

Thank you.

I feel really worried about him tbh.

well hope they help and he gets the support he needs

His teacher seems happy with how he is doing but it just isn't good enough for an eight year old.