HANDWRITING AND PRESENTATION POLICY 2017/2018

“Handwriting is a tool that has to work. It must be comfortable, fast and legible.”

Angela Webb, Chair, National Handwriting Association

Introduction

At St Edward’s CE Academy, Cheddleton, we are constantly looking at how we can improve the inclusive provision for our children to ensure that our children meet their potential and achieve at school. To this end, the information contained within this policy will be regularly reviewed and updated as necessary.

Rationale

At St Edwards Academy, all children are introduced to Cursive Handwriting from the start. We believe this raises standards in the Early Years which has impacted throughout the whole school, developing confidence, accuracy and fluency and improved presentation.

The rules of the Cursive Style help to minimise confusion for the child as every letter starts on the line with an entry stroke and leads out with an exit stroke

Handwriting should be actively taught, a flexible, fluent and legible handwriting style empowers children to write with confidence and creativity.

Associating handwriting movement with visual letter patterns and aural phonemes will help children learn to spell.

Aims and objectives:

Our aims are based on the following core values and ethos in our mission statement, which is:

“Learning and Caring Together”

Our aims are designed to ensure that the school meets the needs of all, taking into account gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, sexual orientation, age, ability, disability and social circumstances. It is important that in our school we meet the diverse needs of all pupils to ensure inclusion for all and that all pupils are prepared for full participation in our multi-ethnic society.

We therefore aim to ensure that:

  • All children have access to a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum and out of school activities.
  • All children who may have special educational needs and/or additional needs are identified and provided for as early as possible and inventions suitably matched
  • We reduce barriers to progress by embedding the principles in the National Curriculum Inclusion statement
  • We aim to ensure the children develop a fluent, comfortable, legible, joined handwriting style;
  • That they learn the conventional ways of forming letter shapes, both lower case andCapitals;
  • We aim to ensure that the children understand the importance of clear presentation in order to communicatemeaning;
  • We take pride in the presentation of work, developing handwriting with a sense ofenjoyment and achievement;
  • We feel supported in developing correct spelling quickly through a multi-sensoryapproach to handwriting;
  • Be able to write quickly to aid expressing themselves creatively andimaginatively across the curriculum and for a range of purposes; and
  • Aim to use their skills with confidence in real life situations.

Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

Our school has adopted ‘Joinit’ handwriting tool which teacher cursive and joined up handwriting.

In Foundation Stagethe children are encouraged to:

  • Develop gross motor control;
  • Develop fine motor control;
  • Recognise different font types both cursive and not in the environment
  • Use large equipment to make marks e.g. big chalks, large paint brushes,shaving foam, finger painting etc.;
  • Use a range of mark making tools such as pencils, pens and crayons, etc withconfidence and enjoyment;
  • Develop a recognition of pattern;
  • Develop a language to talk about shapes and movements; and
  • Develop the main handwriting movements to make patterns including straight lines, loops, circles, angles, eights and spirals.

When the children have developed appropriate gross and fine motor control, they will begradually introduced to letter formation and encouraged to learn:

  • How to write their first name, using a capital letter for the beginning and correctletter formation;
  • Letter recognition both cursive and stand alone script;
  • Learn the letter lead ins from the line;
  • Learn correct letter formation alongside direct phonic teaching;
  • Learn tohold and use a pencil effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed and lead in’s and flicks;
  • Learn how to correctly form capital letters;
  • Receive instant feedback when errors in pencil grip or formation are seen; and
  • Write their name in full, from memory, using cursive letters.

The majority of children must, by the end of Foundation stage, be able to write their full name in cursive script (excluding children on a pupil passport).

In KS1 the children will:

  • Reinforce correct letter formation, cursive with lead-ins and flicks and the main joins for: the long ladder family; the one armed robot family; the curly caterpillar family; the zig-zag monster family; capital letters;
  • Write all letters, correctly formed and orientated, using a comfortable andefficient pencil grip from the line with lead-ins and flicks;
  • Write with spaces between words;
  • Develop some speed and stamina; and
  • Begin to join up letters.

Following these initial stages, children will progress to:

  • Write legibly, with correct spacing between and within words;
  • Use upper and lower case letters appropriately and correctly sized;
  • Form ascenders and descenders correctly and consistently;
  • Develop their ability to join letters in a word; and
  • Practise writing at speed.

InKS2 the children will:

  • Develop joined handwriting, correctly formed;
  • Further develop writing speed and stamina; and
  • Produce writing which sits on the line all of the time.

Following these initial stages, children will progress to:

  • Join handwriting;
  • Write with consistent size and letter spacing;
  • Write ascenders and descenders in the correct place and on the lines; and
  • Write with automaticity (i.e. not having to think about formation).

Teaching and Learning

At St. Edward’ First School we teach the handwriting style advocated by the Joinit programme; some variety is expected. This font ispredominately used in the learning environmentand wherethe teacher produces worksheets and activities. Other fonts are also used to ensure children recognise a variety of text styles used in the external environment. We teach handwriting as a specific skill, on Mondays-Thursdays for 15 minutes, as a whole class plus additional,independent practise.

Basic structure of a handwriting session:

  • Relaxation;
  • Posture check, feet flat on the floor, back touching the chair;
  • Teacher modelling; and
  • Children practising independently with teacher model, then from memory.

Sessions should be fun, varied and multi-sensory: write letters in the air, on backs or on hands (first backs then palms); orally describe letter shapes and joins with children using letter speak.

Use a variety of writing materials including books, whiteboards, chalk, felt tip pens, crayons etc.

Write Dance is also available for use in school although it is primarily intended for Foundation Stage.

Phonic and spelling sessions provide golden opportunities to correct handwriting errors e.g. pencil grip, letter formation, letter joins, size, orientation etc at this time.

The Mechanics of Writing

Sitting Position:Children cannot write, with comfortable control if their furniture and body position are wrong. The table height should be roughly half his height and the seat about a third. Feet should be flat on the floor. The paper or book should not be placed squarely in front of the pupil but should generally follow the position of the writing arm, as below:

Grip

The ‘tripod grip’, illustrated below, gives good control and is least likely to create pain from repetitive strain when writing for long periods. We should always aim for this grip, even if individuals have developed their own style.

Lighting

It is important that the children are able to see what they have written; that the lighting level is comfortable and they are not writing in the shadow of their hand.

Inclusion

Most children are able to write legibly and fluently. However, somechildren will need more support. Provision will be made for this via targeted intervention strategies. Teachers of children whose handwriting is limited by problems with finemotor skills should liaise with the SENCO to develop a programme designedfor the individual child. This may involve extra handwriting sessions and access toextra resources. Other areas that could be considered are posture, visual ability, lighting, angle oftable etc. Outside agencies can be contacted where appropriate.

Teachers should be aware of the specific needs of left-handed pupils and make appropriate provision:

  • Paper should be positioned to the left for right handed children and to the right for those who are left handed, slanted to suit the individual in either case;
  • Pencils should not be held too close to the point as this can interrupt children’s line of vision;
  • Children should be positioned so that they can place their paper to their left side;
  • Left-handed pupils should sit to the left of a right-handed child so that they are not competing for space;
  • Extra practice with left-to-right exercises may be necessary before pupilswrite left-to-right automatically; and
  • Letters which have a cross-stroke such as T, t and f will be formed slightlydifferently by left handers, where the cross is formed right to left rather than leftto right.

Teachers should be alert to the fact that it is very difficult for left-handed pupils tofollow handwriting movements when a right-handed teacher models them. Teachersmay demonstrate to left-handers on an individual or group basis, even if the resultingwriting is not neat.

The contribution of handwriting to other aspects of the curriculum

Teachers discuss handwriting and presentation in all subjects and aim to modelgood handwriting themselves. Teachers are explicit about different types ofhandwriting for example, personal note-taking or best handwriting for presentation and legibility.

Teachers give handwriting a high priority in classroom displays. The use of rubbersis allowed, however, longer errors are indicated by marking through with one neathorizontal line.

Teachers throughout the school aim to make handwriting lessons relevant to the curriculum by providing a purpose to the work where possible, encouraging the childrento view handwriting as part of an overall presentation policy.

General rules of presentation

Exercise Books:

Only the pupil’s name, subject and where appropriate the group, should appear on the front cover. Children are not allowed to doodle or draw on covers. Where this occurs they should be corrected and, if necessary, the book recovered.

Setting out Work:

After work is completed and marked, a horizontal line should be ruled across the page in pencil.

The next new piece of work should start below the line, except where the space remaining is seen to be unreasonable in which case a new page should be started.

The ‘DUMTUMS’ rule is introduced in KS1 and pupils should be familiar with this by the end of the year in readiness for KS2:

  • Date
  • Underline
  • Miss a line
  • Title (or learning objective)
  • Underline
  • Miss a line
  • Start

In KS2 the date should be written in words for written work, i.e., Tuesday 9th June 2016, although for Maths, Art, Science and DT, the date can be written numerically, i.e., 09/06/07 or 9.2.12

In KS1 it is expected that the date be written in full in Literacy and numerically in Maths. The date should be written on the top left of the page, either at the top or below the ruling off.

In FS it is expected that the teacher provides date and title lines for the children to set their work out neatly.

Assessment and Recording

Teachers assess handwriting when assessing writing, using the LEP Points Grid. Future targets for improvement are set on both an individual and/or group basis.Teachers aim to ensure that whenmarking written work, comments about neatness are kept in proportion in relation tothose about content and/or meaning.

Parent/Carer Involvement

It is very important that parents/carers are made aware of handwriting styles and standards of expectation.

Equal Opportunities

We ensure that each individual child receives an equal learning experienceregardless of ability, culture and gender.

We are committed to equal opportunities for all irrespective of race, gender,sexuality, disability or religion. We will monitor the impact of this policy to ensurethat no group is adversely affected.

Review

This policy operates in conjunction with the Reading and English Policy. This policy was written in consultation with the staff and will be revisited each year. A full review will take place every three years.

The policy was agreed by the Governing Body.

Contact Details

Telephone: 01538 360435

Office email:

Concerns and Complaints

Please refer to our Compliments, Comments & Concerns Policy

Reviewing the Policy

Signed by ______

Headteacher

Signed by ______

Governors

Signed by ______

SENCO

Date – Autumn term 2017/2018

Review Date – Autumn term 2018/2019

APPENDIX 1

Activities and exercises to develop Motor Control

Activities and exercises to develop Gross Motor Control:

Gross Motor Control is the term used to describe the development of controlledmovements of the whole body, or limbs such as the legs or arms. Of particularimportance in relation to handwriting, is the development of good posture andbalance. Activities such as:

  • Dancing and skipping
  • Running and jumping to music
  • Use of small apparatus e.g. throwing, rolling, catching, kicking and bouncingballs
  • Cycling
  • Building with large-scale construction kits
  • Hammering
  • Consolidate vocabulary of movement by talking about movements such as,going round and round, making curves, springing up and sliding down, makinglong, slow movements or quick, jumpy movements
  • Make large movements in the air with arms, hands and shoulders with dance ribbons, use music
  • Rolling hoops
  • Running with hoops
  • Chalking
  • Painting on a large scale
  • IWB.

Fine Motor Control is the term used to describe smaller movements, usually of thehand and fingers (or of the feet and toes).

Activities and exercises to develop Fine Motor Control:

  • Folding paper
  • Cutting out shapes from paper and card
  • Fitting things into frames like geometric shapes
  • Model making
  • Building and stacking bricks
  • Screw toys and wood working tools
  • Pegboards
  • Modelling with malleable materials like Playdoh, plasticene and clay
  • Drawing in sand and sand and water play in general, including sieving, pouringand picking up toys using tools e.g. fishing rods and cranes
  • Sewing and weaving
  • Peeling fruit
  • Develop the pincer movement by using tweezers to pick up sequins, beads andfeathers, sprinkling glitter, sand and salt
  • Scribbling and drawing with chalk, dry wipe pens, felt tip pens and paints onsmall, large boards and easels and on small and large paper
  • Playing with tactile and magnetic letters
  • Puzzles
  • Games and miming involving finger and wrist movement e.g. finger puppets
  • Use increasingly finer tools to make patterns of lines
  • Tracing
  • Colouring within guidelines and pictures
  • Pattern work
  • Using glue spreaders in small pots
  • Painting with the tips of fingers
  • Threading
  • Separating beads into colours.

APPEXDIX 2

Joinit style font

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