Honilands Primary School Working Together on Handwriting Our aim is to help children develop a free flowing style which is well formed and legible, so that they can write with confidence and speed. The decision to use a continuous cursive style is to support the speed and confidence of writers from the earliest stage. Aims: Children achieve a neat, legible style with correctly formed letters in cursive handwriting. Children develop fluency and speed. Children recognise that handwriting is a form of communication and as such should be considered important To promote confidence and self-esteem To encourage children to take pride in their work
To display neatly presented work around the school as a model of excellence for others to aspire to Principles: Equal opportunities are provided for all pupils to achieve success in handwriting Handwriting is taught regularly and systematically in classes each day for 10mins, preferably immediately after lunchtime. Patterns are used initially, by writing with a variety of tools and using multisensory methods, to help free flowing hand motions.
Correct pencil hold and letter (and number) formation are taught from the beginning and handwriting is frequently linked with spelling. When marking or writing comments, members of staff use cursive handwriting as appropriate. Displayed writing throughout the school includes cursive writing and computer generated writing. A flowing alphabet of separate letters with
joining strokes is taught from reception age. All writing should be produced using the
continuous cursive style. Foundation Stage: In the Foundation Stage children take part in activities to develop gross and fine motor skills and recognition of patterns. Individual letter formation is taught, modelled and practised in working towards the objectives listed below at Key Stage 1. Children are taught the letter formation in the school’s ‘handwriting alphabet’. Copies of the school’s alphabet are displayed in every classroom and are available for parents. Children are taught good posture and pencil hold. Key Stage 1: The children are taught how to form both lower case and capital letters and how to join them, whilst still developing fine and gross motor skills with a range of multi-sensory activities. Handwriting is taught regularly and in conjunction with the introduction of phonic skills. The children are taught to: Write from left to right and from top to bottom. Start and finish letters correctly.
Be consistent with the size and shape of letters and the spacing of letters and words. Have the correct pencil grip. Find a convenient position for their page. Have the correct posture and position. Key Stage 2: During this stage the children continue to have direct teaching and regular practice of handwriting. We aim for them to develop a clear and fluent style and by the end of Key Stage 2, be able to adapt their handwriting for the following different purposes: A neat legible hand for finished, presented work. A faster script for notes. Print for labelling maps or diagrams. The cursive script can be found as a font on the curriculum network.
All adult writing for children
should reflect this and where possible typed sheets or IWB work should also use this font. The first writing alphabet that is taught in Early Years looks like this: Precursive
It is important to show where each letter starts and how it is formed.
Where to start All letters start from the line. Children can experience great difficulty if s/he: If they are not using a sharpened HB pencil. Not using the correct seating posture.
When children start to join it should be a natural progression. The ‘joined’ alphabet that we teach looks like this:
Some letters join from the top when in a word: r. V. W. X does not join. Capital letters do not join.
The capital letters we teach
are: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ To form numerals, the children are taught to start at the top: 1234567890 Resources and Writing Materials Handwriting books with pairs of lines are used to help to achieve appropriate height and even formation of letters. Guidelines are also used with plain paper when redrafting where appropriate
All adults in school are expected to have read this policy and to use this script. What Else Can You Do ? Ensure children practise other ‘fine motor’ manipulative skills.
This could include tying knots and bows, ball
games, Lego, jigsaws, clay, play dough, painting, colouring, finger painting, threading beads and sewing. It is important that children hold pencils between the thumb and first finger.
Pressure should be even - never
heavy. Sitting correctly, with good posture, a satisfactory work surface and sufficient light are important when s/he is writing or drawing. Further guidance can be found on this website: http://www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-advicesitting-pencil-grip-paper-tilt-angle-left-handed-writers.html
