Handwriting at Prince Rock

Handwriting at Prince Rock

At our school, the skill of handwriting is an integral part of our teaching. Handwriting is a skill that needs to be mastered and is taught in every year group within our school. Handwriting should be neat, legible and fast. Our aim is for pupils to produce handwritten work without thinking about their handwriting. It should become an integral part of their learning.

At Prince Rock Primary School, we do not follow or use a specific scheme to teach our handwriting. Instead, this policy outlines the handwriting we teach, by year group, and the expectations we have of our pupils.

Ultimately, we want children to be proud of the work they achieve, both because of the content and the way it is presented.

We aim to:

Handwriting will be taught explicitly in short, frequent sessions.
Handwriting will be modelled by the teacher or teaching assistant.
Where possible, handwriting should link to phonics and spelling patterns.
Teachers and teaching assistants will model all writing in-line with this handwriting policy. Teachers will model joined handwriting from Year 1.
From Reception, pupils should be practising using the size of lines they are going to use in their writing books. No handwriting guidelines should be used.
All staff have high expectations of handwriting. Rewards will be given for consistently good handwriting. Pupils will be asked to re-write work that is not satisfactory (See section 4: Best Handwriting).
Pupils can gain a pen licence from Year 5 and they will use erasable pens to aid presentation. Pen licenses will be reset at the beginning of each academic year.

Year Groups

EYFS

Letter formation to be taught using the RWI mnemonics
Individual letter formation and practice is essential.
Word formation to be taught based on letter groups being taught.
Begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
Form capital letters correctly.
Activities to develop fine motor skills (and therefore pencil grip) will be an integral part of the foundation stage curriculum.
Children will be encouraged to use small pencils once children have displayed a tripod grip.
Digraphs joined when first taught.

Year 1

Pupils should be taught to:

Sit correctly at a table, a fist distance away, both feet on the floor and sat up straight. Pupils should be encouraged to tilt their book for ease of writing.

Continue to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
Form capital letters correctly.

Start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left not joined (See section 3: Letters to be joined and not joined)
Digraphs and trigraphs joined when first taught.
Handwriting practice should be linked to phonics and spelling learning where possible.

Year 2

Pupils should be taught to:

Sit correctly at a table, a fist distance away, both feet on the floor and sat up straight. Pupils should be encouraged to tilt their book for ease of writing.

Continue to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
Form capital letters correctly.
Ensure spacing between words reflects the size of the letters.

Start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left not joined (See section 3: Letters to be joined and not joined)
Handwriting practice should be linked to phonics and spelling learning where possible.

Years 3 & 4

Pupils should be taught to:

Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left not joined (See section 3: Letters to be joined and not joined)
Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting when writing at speed.

Years 5 & 6

Pupils should be taught to:

Write legibly, fluently, with increasing speed and personal style by choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding, as part of their personal style, whether or not to join specific letters
Choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task (e.g. quick notes, letters)
Pupils in Years 5 and 6 will be able to use pens if their handwriting is deemed to be suitable by their class teacher.

Joining

Letters which join:

a, c, d, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, r, t, u, v, w, z

Letters which do not join:

b, f, g, j, p, q, s, x, y

Use of the RWI Handwriting scheme will be used to support the teaching of joins. Additional guidance can be located on the shared drive.

Handwriting in the Classroom

All pupils in the school will produce a ‘Best Piece of Handwriting’ three times a year (October, February and June). This will be laminated and kept in the front of their books to encourage pupils to write to the best of their individual ability. These pieces will be dated so staff can monitor improvements in handwriting over time. These best pieces will be kept and handed onto their next teacher.
Handwriting practice will take place daily in all classes across the school. This will be a taught and modelled session (where appropriate) using RWI spelling.
All displays around the school will use the whole school font. Existing displays do not need to be altered, but any new displays will need to be created using the new font. Flipcharts and worksheets to be prepared in this font. “Twinkl”
Handwriting around the school will be given a priority. The English Team will provide details each year of which displays year groups should produce.
There will be a reward system in place across our school for handwriting
- In EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2, there will be a handwriting King and Queen in each class. This will be the child who has shown exceptional personal handwriting as deemed by the class teacher.
- Across the whole school, there will be a handwriting certificate per class for the child who has tried their hardest with their handwriting. This will be awarded in PPA assembly every Monday.