In Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole

Henbury View First SchoolHillside RoadCorfe MullenWIMBORNE

DorsetBH21 3TR

Tel: 01202 659179E mail: office@henburyview.dorset.sch.uk

Handwriting Policy

There are four main purposes to this policy: To establish an entitlement for all pupils To establish expectations for teachers of this subject To promote continuity and coherence across the school To offer a clear rationale to parents, carers and any other interested bodies, for our

teaching approach to handwriting.

Aim

At Henbury we aim for every child to learn to write legibly, fluently and at reasonable speed in a joined cursive handwriting script which will also promote the learning and reinforcement of spelling skills.

'Handwriting is a means of communication. Our principal aim is that handwriting becomes an automatic process which frees pupils to focus on the content of the writing. In order for this to occur, handwriting is taught in ways that enhance fluency, legibility, purposefulness and provides opportunities for creative expression'.

The Style

The style we have chosen to teach is a joined cursive script with all lower case letters starting and finishing on the line, except for the top joining letters (see appendix 1). Capital letters (appendix 2) do not join lower case letters. Sometimes children benefit from verbalising the direction of movement and formation of individual letters when forming letters and vocabulary related to the teaching of letter formation is included in appendix 3.

Teaching and Learning

Handwriting is a skill, which needs to be taught explicitly. As handwriting is essentially a fine motor skill, correct modelling of our agreed style by the teacher is very important. We believe that consistency in the teacher’s expectation, the method used and the models provided is the key to effective learning. Teachers use – whole class, small group and individual teaching as appropriate.To establish good writing habits that will serve a lifetime, pupils will be taught correct posture, grip and pencil pressure as well as paper position from entry into Henbury. Children will be taught to use a ‘ramp’ entry, and a ‘flick’ at the exit of each letter, from the very beginning and will be joining their letters as soon as appropriate after they have shown that they are secure in the correct formation of individual letters.

The role of the teacher to follow the school policy to help each child develop legible and fluent handwriting to make the rationale for using a joined script explicit to pupils to provide direct teaching and accurate modelling to provide resources and an environment which promotes good handwriting to observe pupils, monitor progress and determine targets for development to share with parents the ‘why, how and what’ of their year groups experience of

handwriting teaching to support the Literacy Subject Leader in monitoring handwriting successes and

difficulties in each year group in order to achieve continuity and progression throughout the school.

Teachers own handwriting when marking work or writing on the board should follow the agreed writing style thus providing a good role model.

Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

All children will have the opportunity to develop their handwriting skills of legibility and fluency. However, some pupils may need more support and a specific individual, (Individual Education Plan) or group programme would be implemented and monitored closely by the class teacher and Senco. Outside agencies, such as Occupational Therapy would be consulted as necessary.It is recognised that it is essential for all children, especially those pupils with specific learning difficulties, to be closely observed when learning the correct formation of individual letters. This will ensure that posture, pencil grip and pressure, letter formation and placement are monitored and supervised to avoid the development and reinforcement of unhelpful habits.Pupils who experience difficulties in fine motor movement will be given lots of opportunities to develop control through rehearsal with large body movements.

All teachers are aware of the specific needs of left-handed pupils and make appropriate provision. It is particularly important that left-handed children are seated on the left of a right-handed child so they are not competing for space. Teachers are aware that it is difficult for left handed children to follow handwriting movements when a right-handed teacher models them. Teachers or Learning Support Assistants demonstrate to left-handers on an individual or group basis using their left hand as appropriate.Pencil grips, thicker pencils, triangular pencils and wider lines will be used by children who experience problems writing.

Continuity and Progression

FoundationPupils will have opportunities to play with mark making and writing and these experiments are recognised and praised as an important stage in the child's understanding that marks on paper convey meaning. Plenty of practice of pre-writing skills involving scribbling and pattern work will help develop perception and hand-eye co-ordination. Initially to start cursive writing, specific teaching of the ramps is used to develop children’s motor memory through repetitive movements using multi sensory techniques, e.g. writing in paint, sand, on large whiteboards etc – a multi-sensory approach is used to help pupils feel the movement in the hand. Pupils are given the opportunity to experiment with a range of writing materials and implements, e.g. crayons, chalk, finger paints, brushes, sand, felt tips etc and fine motor skills and finger strength will be developed through many and varied classroom opportunities, e.g. bead threading, playdough, colouring in, jigsaws etc.Individual letter formation is modelled and taught in the agreed style. Close attention is given to pencil grip, correct posture, the positioning of the paper and organisation of the writing space. Teachers are vigilant to ensure that bad habits do not become ingrained and that the specific needs of left-handed pupils and those with special education needs are met. Once individual letter formation is secure, children are encouraged to join letters in words.

Key Stage 1Building on the foundation stage, pupils at Key Stage 1 develop a legible style. This is achieved by reinforcing a comfortable and efficient pencil grip and by practising handwriting in conjunction with spelling and independent writing. Correct letter orientation, formation and proportions are taught in line with our agreed handwriting style. Children use joined handwriting for all writing, except where other special forms are required.Formal handwriting practice is undertaken daily in Year 1 and individual letter formation is consolidated and similarly formed letters are joined together.Formal handwriting practice is undertaken at least twice a week in Year 2, and spelling patterns and letter strings are rehearsed to reinforce and improve spelling skills.Handwriting practice can be included in homework in Year 1 and 2.Specific needs of individual pupils are met through individual or small group support with the teacher or learning support assistant.

Key Stage 2Handwriting speed, fluency, and legibility are built up through practice. Children use joined handwriting for all writing unless other specific forms are required, e.g. printing on a map, note taking, posters etc - appropriateness to the task being paramount. Children at Year 4 will begin to use a Berol handwriting pen for the majority of classwork where appropriate.

Teaching generally occurs outside the Literacy Hour, although shared and guided writing provides many opportunities for modelling and monitoring of handwriting. There are times at both key stages when this aspect of writing is a focus for attention and more time is devoted to the objectives relating to handwriting and presentation.

Cross Curricular Issues

Children's awareness of the importance of presentation and the variety of handwriting styles/fonts that are available will be encouraged through the use of ICT. Pupils will be encouraged to evaluate a range of fonts and to select these for appropriateness to the task.Our agreed handwriting style is to be used in all other curriculum areas unless other specific forms are required.

Monitoring

Children's handwriting may be formally assessed as a chosen focus during the termly moderation of our 'First of the Month writing', or formatively whilst marking pieces of writing. Teachers consider the next steps for children's handwriting development and share these with the children in the form of targets.Things to look for when assessing a child's writing: is it legible? are the letter forms complete? are the joins correct are the letter heights differentiated? (ensure ascenders and descenders are formed

appropriately. is there consistency of size and spacing? can speed and fluency be maintained?

Resources

Foundation variety of resources (examples previously given) to promote hand eye co-ordination

and fine motor skills. range of writing materials and implements, e.g. crayons, chalk, finger paints,

brushes, sand, felt tips etc. Individual alphabet card with all letters for children to trace over the top –linked to

Jolly Phonics scheme which is kept at home or in their book bag to reinforce/practise letters.

A sound scrapbook to practise letter formation

KS1 pencils, books with lines, line guides, whiteboards, handwriting cards, tracing

activities, felt tip pens, marker pens and resources from Foundation if necessary.

KS2 as for KS1 and the introduction of the Berol handwriting pen at Year 4

Review Date

Each year in the Autumn term by Subject Leader and staff in a first half term staff meeting.

Appendix 3)

Vocabulary Linked to the teaching of handwriting

ramp, point of entryflick, tail, point of exitascenders, descenders, tall letterscapital letters, upper case letters, big letters,lower case letters, small lettersup down tall,tallershort,shorter over underspace gap firstlast begin startend again roundstraight next round lettersup strokes down strokes leftright direction heightabove below evenalternate pattern Clockwiseanti-clockwise circular diagonalsequence space letterword line paragraphindent script cursivejoin

Henbury View First School – Document Amendment Page

Document NameVersion Number

Nature of Change Date Agreed by Gov. Body

Introduction of Version Numbers 15 May 2011

Handwriting policy V01 None 21 Sep 2015