Handwriting in secondary school

[Redundantmum22]

Hello everyone,

I have a very stressed out 9 year old who has quite wild cursive handwriting. The teacher times each activity with an alarm and work is sometimes binned if not neat enough. It's causing a lot of anxiety here at home especially at homework time.

His non joined handwriting is beautiful and he can write quickly and precisely when he isn't under pressure to join letters.

What's the expected handwriting at secondary school? I don't remember!

He's in Year4 and they've started to discuss expectations for secondary school and he's worrying himself silly that he'll never be good enough.

I know school has its problems and he's on the waiting list for another school (we only have 2 in our town so it's a long wait!)

Thanks!

They don't care at secondary as long as they can read it.

(Normally though cursive is faster than printing and by y11 they need a reasonable speed for exams.)

My ds is in year 8 and I can bet your 9year old has better handwriting than him. Granted we haven’t got to the essay based exam stage yet but so far, after being constantly nagged about the state of his handwriting at primary school it’s never once been mentioned at secondary. As long as it’s legible it really doesn’t matter.

As long as it’s readable and they can write with speed in pen then anything goes.

Iirc it is something assessed for sats but after then noone cares as long as it is legible.

Jeez no wander he's stressed if his teachers doing that! How do the kids in the class with SEN/dyspraxia cope? This would have been traumatising for my ds2 who is at secondary school and uses a laptop for all written work because of his handwriting. He just cannot write neatly particularly at speed and no amount of pressure from a teacher will change that, he just doesn't have the fine motor skills.

Cursive they dont care about.
Vaguely legible is a bonus (DS and I went through one of his books before a test, and neither of us could read it, we had to pick out key words, and recreate what it might have been as typed notes so they could be revised from).
DS reckons the teachers sometimes mark stuff correct that looks about right but isnt readable!!!!
He does have dysgraphia, which seriously affects handwriting, and types extended pieces.

Thanks everyone!! This is so reassuring

@LIZS I didn't know it was assessed for SATs. Good to know.

Honestly, his handwriting is beautiful and clear when not cursive. And he can write very quickly too. Sometimes he does half and half for speed when at home and even that looks wonderful.

It's just the speed pressure in Yr4 is making it wild and scrawly. Other children have the same issue but DS is hypermobile and he finds writing a little awkward & painful.

I think they get 10 mins or 30 mins for a written piece of work

If your ds has hypermobility he should be allowed to use a laptop for all written work, ds is the same & he was able to right from Y5. Has he been assessed by an OT?

Hey @Nat6999 - no he hasn't yet! Who's the right person to contact? Is it via school or NHS?

School know he has hypermobility and he was under the SENco lady but she left and it seems like nobody has taken over

DS1 reverted to print at high school. He’s dyspraxic so his cursive looks like a spider has crawled across the page. His print is lovely, so he just uses that.

It is assessed for SATs but the school ought to be able to put in for dispensation and allow him to type his assessment pieces. My DD has terrible handwriting and was allowed to type up the pieces that were used as evidence for that element. It's a teacher assessed part based on their work over the year rather than a test. She got very close to greater depth for that element based on her typed work.

Now in secondary she still has permission to type up extended pieces and nobody has mentioned her handwriting again. We're a long way off exams so I'm not sure what will happen there. Her writing is getting more legible but her hand just can't keep up with her brain.

Are you under the hospital? If not ask your GP for a referral, speak to school & ask for allowances to be made, he should be allowed extra time in exams & to use a laptop for written work & exams.

Thanks everyone so so much. I'm so relieved!

Sorting referral now x

If he has hypermobility, then teach him to touch type and move to a laptop.

DD is in Y9 and has used one since Y6... never handwrites at all. She has hypermobile finger joints and dyslexia.

FWIW, I am endlessly complimented on my beautiful handwriting, and I have never learned to do either cursive or joined up. I print everything...

What's the expected handwriting at secondary school? I don't remember!

Legible please. I need accuracy and speed.

@MrsHamlet perfect thank you!

@OhCrumbsWhereNow Same! I get compliments too and mine is only cursive when I have a brand new mechanical pencil 😂😂 I used to work in architecture!

But rarely joined up.

I've setup his own user account on my laptop and he's typing away!

One thing we have found is that an iPad with keyboard and e-pen has been so much better than a laptop/chrome book.

It's cheaper, lighter and you can take photos of the board or of handouts and then edit them. Then work can all be kept together rather than half saved online and a bunch of scrappy bits of paper.

You can also get keyboards that have a really strong casing for both the iPad and keypad, which is ideal when they are are chucked into bags and traipsed about everywhere.

If you want a good touch type programme, we used EasyType Junior which is specifically designed for dyslexics, but works for everyone. DD loved it and took her about 2 weeks to be pretty fast.

And yes, has always amused me that now I'm an adult people like my handwriting so much, whereas school didn't think much of it... examiners always loved me though 😄

I am a teacher. That teacher is way out of line putting that kind of pressure on your dc when she knows he has issues writing. And it's completely unacceptable to ever put his work in the bin. That is a complete No! No!
That happened back in the 60's but not now. I would have a meeting with her and explain how stressful it is for him and that you want her to ease up on him for the moment while you get some advice from an OT. Perhaps the OT would recommend he write whatever way he is most comfortable with. That is like forcing a child with dyslexia to read aloud if he can't . Where is her compassion?

My 13 year old sons hand writing is appalling. Very legible, looks like a 5 year olds. He seems to manage to get by. I WISH I had pushed him to improve it when he was younger though or the school had.

Both ds & my brother have terrible handwriting, ds has a job as an elections Coordinator, my brother has a degree & works in IT management for Royal Mail. Both of them write like an arthritic spider has walked across the page. Once he gets out of school nobody will ever care what his handwriting looks like, just get him to perfect his signature, let's face it, how often do we actually write nowadays?