Handwriting at Our Lady of the Rosary
Joy Excellence Service
For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6
HANDWRITING
As a school, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary school hold the teaching and development of every child’s handwriting as a high priority. We encourage all children to take pride in not only the content of each piece of work they produce, but also the presentation.
In each year group, children take part in handwriting lessons delivered through whole class teaching input and small group intervention activities, as appropriate.
This is with the aim of:
• developing effective and efficient pen/pencil hold
• developing the habit of concentration which is crucial to good handwriting
• placing a strong emphasis on the insistence of perfection in presentation
• providing the class teacher with the opportunity to help assess individuals' progress and monitor areas requiring reinforcement
RESOURCES
We are very proud of our pupil’s handwriting and take particular care in our cursive handwriting style. We use Letter-join’s on-line handwriting resource and progression as the basis of our handwriting policy as it covers all the requirements of the Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum and builds fluency and stamina for writing.
The children can access Letter-join both in school and at home, which reinforces letter and number formations taught at each phase linked to the phonics and statutory spellings and grammar for all year groups.
PROGRESSION
BUILDING FLUENCY
When children have learned the 'lead in lines' and are forming all cursive letters accurately, they will begin to learn the diagonal and horizontal joins needed to become fluent and confident writers.
Letters with diagonal joins are: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, s, t, u, x, y, z
Letters with horizonal joins are: o, r, v, w,
BUILDING FLUENCY
Forming and joining cursive letters neatly and accurately can be a challenge for some children at first.
However, with targeted support and regular and repeated practice, all children can develop a neat and consistent handwriting style.
Fluent cursive handwriting supports spelling, stamina for writing and reduces cognitive overload when writing across the curriculum.
PEN LICENCE
Earning a pen licence is a proud moment. This enables pupils to use a pen for both their schoolwork and homework.
To achieve their pen licence children need to demonstrate that they are:
• Using a correct pencil/pen grip
• Writing on the line
• Forming letters correctly
• Joining letters correctly
• Sizing letters appropriately
• Leaving appropriate gaps between words
• Ensuring that ascending and descending strokes are the right length
