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Moorhouse Primary School- Handwriting Policy
Moorhouse Aim
Handwriting is a key English skill that needs to be taught actively through frequent, discrete lessons with
ample opportunity to practise. At Moorhouse, we teach handwriting through the Penpals scheme which
supports teaching and learning of the skills required with whole-class sessions, practise sessions and further
pupil activities.
Our philosophy is that developing the necessary fine and gross motor skills in readiness for handwriting is
vital to setting children on the right path – and that warming up for handwriting is equally important for older
children. Penpals comes complete with Penpals Gym – a series of age appropriate fine and gross motor skill
exercises to start lessons off.
At Moorhouse, we aim to enable every child to secure Handwriting that is both fluent and legible. We aim for
good handwriting skills to be evident in all writing activities across the curriculum and not just in handwriting
lessons.
Purposes of the policy
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To establish an entitlement for all pupils
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To embed continuity and coherence across the school thus establishing a systematic and
consistence in style of writing using the scheme PENPALS.
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To highlight the schools approach to this subject through a systematic teaching programme
(PENPALS) to be strongly adhered to and valued by all.
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To establish expectations for all teachers.
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To endeavour that all children have an attractive style of writing that makes them feel pride and
pleasure in the standard and appearance of their work.
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To meet the National Curriculum recommendations.
Objectives
All children should be given the opportunity to develop an effective, cursive style of writing in line with the
PENPALS scheme. In order to this they should be taught:
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how to hold a pencil/pen using the correct and comfortable grip
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to form letters properly, that is, where to start and where to finish
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to form letters of regular size and shape
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to use the correct terminology of ascenders and descenders
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to form upper and lower case letters correctly
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to write from left to right and top to bottom of the page
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to put regular space between letters and words
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to write carefully on the line.
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how to join letters
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to be fully aware of the importance of neat and clear presentation in order to communicate meaning
effectively
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to write legibly in both joined and printed style with increasing fluency and speed
Foundation stage- Reception
Pre- Writing skills
In nursery and reception, children develop and strengthen gross motor skills especially muscles in the
shoulder, arm, wrist and hand. This is to be done through indoor and outdoor activities. Children then
develop and strengthen fine motor control incorporating a range of multi- sensory activities including:
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threading
constructional apparatus
pegboards
sewing and weaving
tracing
stencils
painting
scissor skills
experimenting with a range of implements e.g pens, pencils, crayons, chalk, feltips, sticks, paints
Use a selection of materials e.g shaving foam, mud, we/dry sand, water
malleable materials
sandpaper and other tactile letter shapes
playing with ‘roll and write’ letters
finger and counting rhymes
implement ‘Write dance’ and ‘Scrimbling’ activities
Formal Writing in Reception
This is started when teachers feel that the children have a specific amount of pencil control and have
established a hand preference.
Writing is taught as part of the Letters and Sounds programme and children are explicitly taught formation
and orientation from the outset. All children take part in early morning writing activities and parents are
encouraged to support their children at these morning sessions when possible.
Key stage 1
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Children with developing fine motor control are encouraged to continue with the pre-writing skills that
the children in Reception encounter.
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Formal handwriting is taught each day.
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Children will follow the PENPALS handwriting scheme and apply this in phonics lessons.
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Children will be taught to join diagraphs (combination of 2 letters representing one sound) in phonics.
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They will do their handwriting in a designated handwriting book
The Teaching of Spelling alongside Handwriting
The teaching of handwriting and spelling are closely linked; therefore it is imperative that handwriting is
practised when spellings are taught from the early stages of phonics in Key Stage 1. Diagraphs should be
joined in key stage 1 when teaching from the Letters and Sounds programme as follows:
Key Stage 2
The children in Key Stage 2 will be provided with the opportunity of writing letter patterns weekly using the
Penpals scheme with frequent practise every week when rehearsing their spellings. From the beginning of
Key Stage 2, the children will be taught to develop legible handwriting joined up. Children will be assessed at
the beginning of Key stage 2 and gradually moved on to using a pen. Children at Moorhouse are very proud
when they receive their pen licence!
In Key Stage 2, children will progress as follows, developing a fluent and legible style with increasing
accuracy and speed:
Guidelines for good handwriting
Modelling handwriting
All teachers, teaching assistants and trainee teachers should be familiar with the contents of this policy,
thereby ensuring that the handwriting modelled to the children is in line with the style adopted throughout the
school.
The learning environment
The learning environment should be conductive to good writing by:
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Ensuring the tables and chairs are the correct size
There is adequate space
There is good lighting
The atmosphere is calm and purposeful
The materials are accessible, suitable, varied and of good quality
Penpals posters and prompts are displayed in the classroom
Position of the writer
Children should sit comfortably with their feet flat on the floor and their body upright, leaning forward slightly.
The non-writing hand should rest on the paper, supporting the upper body, facing slightly to the dominant
side. The eyes should be approximately 30-40 centimetres away from the paper. If copying from the
whiteboard the children should be facing it. The whiteboard should have guidelines on it to demonstrate the
position of the letters.
Grip
When teaching the children to grip, care should be taken that the children do not grip the pencil too tightly as
they will tire easily and not develop a free flowing movement. They should hold the pencil between the thumb
and the forefinger with the pencil resting on the third finger. The thumb and the forefinger should be able to
move slightly so that the fine motor movements required for writing are possible. Pen/pencil is of paramount
importance as it is very hard to undo once established.
Assessment
When children are engaged in handwriting activities teachers and teaching assistants should constantly
observe the children and offer ongoing support and identify, intervene and address any misconceptions.
Sample of children from each year group will be chosen each year to track progress.
Left handed children
These children are noted and given guidance to ease the process of writing, by implementing these
strategies;
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They are seated on the left of a right handed child, so their arms do not clash
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Their paper needs to be to the left side of the mid-point of their body and tilted to about 30 degrees
clockwise so they can see what they have written
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To avoid smudging their work they are encouraged to position their fingers about 1.5 cm from the end
of the writing implement.