Handwriting

Our school handwriting scheme teaches cursive writing (joined up) through the whole school beginning in the nursery. Research has shown that cursive writing:

• enables the children to see words as whole units
• enables more children to form letters correctly with less reversals
• forms the most commonly confused letters (b, d, p, q) correctly
• encourages left to right movement

The children will use this style of writing in all curriculum areas. In the Nursery the children experiment with lines and establishing the feeling of continuous flow. They will do this through a variety of methods.

The children then progress to making letter shapes using a variety of materials. They will trace the correct letter shapes. They will learn to recognise and write their names. Some children will learn to write other words.

They learn and use the correct language:
start, entry, sweep up, pause point, reverse, over on top, exit.

The letters are taught in 4 groups. All letters start on the line.

The children are taught to:

• see similarities in letter shapes
• know the name, sound and the shape of ach letter
• understand the link between handwriting and spelling
• write letter strings and to spell using Look, Cover, Write, Check

Capitals letters are written in the ‘Nelson’ style and are not joined.