Handwriting and Presentation
At Kineton Primary School, we believe that the importance of handwriting should not be underestimated. It is vital that children can write quickly, neatly, comfortably and legibly as it is a skill needed in many curriculum areas and indeed life.
We are aiming for children to:
Why is handwriting important?
How is handwriting taught at Kineton?
All of the teachers in school recognise the importance of teaching handwriting and have high expectations for handwriting across the curriculum ensuring:
Resources
At Kineton Primary School, we believe that the importance of handwriting should not be underestimated. It is vital that children can write quickly, neatly, comfortably and legibly as it is a skill needed in many curriculum areas and indeed life.
We are aiming for children to:
- learn the correct sequences for forming letters as early as possible
- write in a fluent, joined style of handwriting as early as possible
- develop flow and speed in their writing
- have a positive self-image and reflect their personality in their writing
Why is handwriting important?
- Legible writing that can be produced comfortably, at speed and with little conscious effort allows a child to attend to the higher-level aspects of writing composition and content.
- Handwriting is a skill that needs to be taught. It is a series of small movements or strokes that we must train our brain to remember and recall when we are writing. Each motor plan is stored in our brain enabling us to write letters automatically. The earlier these habits are formed the better.
- We believe that handwriting is integral to a child’s personal development and know that children’s engagement and self-esteem can be improved by their satisfaction and pride in good quality presentation.
- When writing at speed, research shows that correctly formed letters will maintain legibility for longer. This is important when assessments are based on written work, particularly in time-limited written examinations, which remain a major form of assessment for many formal qualifications. Without fast and legible handwriting, students may miss out on learning opportunities and under-achieve academically.
How is handwriting taught at Kineton?
All of the teachers in school recognise the importance of teaching handwriting and have high expectations for handwriting across the curriculum ensuring:
- The importance of handwriting is recognised and given appropriate time.
- The progression of handwriting is consistent across the school.
- Handwriting is acknowledged to be a whole body activity and emphasis is placed on correct posture and pencil grip for handwriting.
- Expectations of left-handed children are equal to those of right-handed children, and appropriate teaching, advice and resources are available to ensure that they learn to write with a comfortable, straight wrist.
- Handwriting is linked into grammar, punctuation and spelling in order to practise and contextualise all of the transcriptional and stylistic skills for writing.
- Children learn to write in different styles for different purposes such as print for labelling a diagram, illustrated capitals letters for creating a poster, swift jottings for writing notes, making a ‘best copy’ for presentation and fast, fluent and legible writing across the curriculum.
Resources
- It is expected that pupils will start in Year R using a chunky triangular pencil to support the formation of a tripod grip.
- As soon as they are forming letters correctly, pupils will move to using a thinner pencil.
- On entering KS2 or once they have developed a sufficiently fluent style of joined handwriting, children will be able to explore writing using a variety of pens to suit their grip and writing style.
- Pencil grips are available throughout the school to support any children who find them helpful in developing the correct grip. A variety is available and children should have the option to experiment with them before finding the one that best suits their needs.
| handwriting_and_presentation_policy.pdf |
