Handwriting

Since September 2015, we have adopted a cursive handwriting style in our school supported by the Letter Join website. In Reception and Year 1, children are taught to form their lower-case letters without the cursive style. The cursive handwriting style is thought to help children join their handwriting more naturally, therefore is introduced in Year 2. As the curriculum outlines, children are expected to begin using some horizontal and diagonal strokes by the end of Key Stage 1 and fluent joined handwriting is expected by the end of Key Stage 2. We support this in our school by offering children the opportunity to gain a Pen Licence from Year 4; until this time, they are expected to write in pencil. Children gain a pen licence by showing consistency in size, neatness and joined handwriting for a sustained period of time across all of the curriculum subjects. We feel that this helps children to take pride in their work and teaches them to have high expectations in presentation.

Letter Join is a cursive script which is easy to learn as all letter formations start in the same place. It helps children learn to join from an earlier stage. The link to the website can be found below. It is interactive and has demonstrations on how to form each of the letters, as well as activities. If you need to be reminded of your school log-in, please see the school office or your child's class teacher. It is very important that the log-in is not shared with anyone other than parents and carers within the school community.

Thank you.