Policies
Handwriting and Presentation Policy
“Being able to write effortlessly enables the mind to focus more fully on a topic. Struggling with handwriting takes valuable brain energy away from any writing task, but when that skill is mastered, it makes all the difference. Skilled, fluid handwriting is an asset to learning!” - Amanda Witman, Oak Meadow, 2015
Aims
To ensure all children write in a legible and comfortable way.
To create clear and consistent high expectations for the presentation of written work.
Objectives
To motivate students to present their work in the best possible way.
To enable children to recognise and be proud of work that is presented to a high standard.
To ensure each student knows the standard of presentation that is required at Sunny View School.
Expectations for staff
To always model neat, legible handwriting in the correct school font (see Appendix 1).
To ensure handwriting on display (whiteboards, books, displays etc) for the students above Year 1 should be joined, legible and neat.
To devote curriculum time to the development of presentation and handwriting skills.
To model sticking work or resources into books in organised and neat manner.
To ensure each piece of work has an underlined title and date.
To identify and support children displaying difficulties with neat presentation of work and handwriting.
Expectations for students
Pencils should be used in all maths books and in draft workbooks if appropriate.
Margins in books and on paper should be drawn in pencil with a ruler.
Any printed resources are stuck neatly into books.
Pens should be used for written work as soon as possible from Year 3 (when the child is showing appropriate joins, legibility and neatness). Children will earn a ‘pen license’ in Year 3. Children who have not earned a pen license by Year 4 must receive additional support.
Expectations for handwriting
At Sunny View School, joined up handwriting is taught with a sequential and progressive approach using the Twinkl and Nelson Handwriting Schemes. Our aim is to teach children correct letter formation, joining and good handwriting habits so they can write fluently and legibly. By the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) children should have developed a distinctive style that should be swift, effortless and legible. Children who have learnt an alternative style of handwriting, from another school or organisation should be encouraged to continue to use this style if it is neat and comfortable.
Handwriting in the Foundation Stage
Good handwriting relies on secure motor control and hand-eye coordination. Children in the Foundation Stage should learn handwriting through movement with the actual writing of letters as the aim. Children will:
Engage in activities requiring hand-eye coordination
Use one-handed tools and equipment
Draw lines and circles using gross motor movement
Manipulate objects with increasing control
Begin to use anticlockwise movement and retrace vertical lines
Begin to form recognisable letters
Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed
Throughout the Foundation Stage, children need lots of opportunities to develop:
Physical control through large-scale movement such as outdoor play, balancing, climbing, marching and moving to music.
Manipulative skills such as using tools, cooking utensils and scissors.
Fine motor control and hand-eye coordination, through activities such as jigsaws, threading, cutting and manipulating ‘small world’ equipment.
The key movements underpinning letter formation should be introduced through large-scale movements, from the shoulder.
Young children should make movements using both arms. Once the movement is firmly established in kinaesthetic memory, it can be reduced in scale using activities such as sky writing, using sticks in sand etc. and then reduced further in art activities using felt tip pens, crayons and chubby pencils. Children must not be forced to use a pencil grip that is not aligned to their developmental stage (see Appendix 2).
Key Stage 1
Building on the Early Years Foundation Stage, pupils in Key Stage 1 (KS1) develop a legible style. This is achieved by developing a comfortable and efficient pencil grip (see Appendix 2), if required a pencil grip might be added or a large triangular pencil can be used. Handwriting should be taught daily, using the Nelson and Twinkl handwriting schemes. Handwriting should also be practiced in conjunction with spelling, phonics and independent writing activities. Children begin to learn joining letters in Year 2.
Key Stage 2
In early KS2 children consolidate the basic handwriting joins ensuring consistency in size, proportion and spacing of letters. From Year 3 onwards joined handwriting should always be used, unless other specific forms are required e.g. posters, printing on maps etc. Handwriting speed, fluency and legibility are built up through practice. In Years 3 and 4 handwriting should be taught at least once a week. It is anticipated that the majority of children will be writing in pen by the end of Year 3.
In Years 5 and 6 children should be taught to write with increasing fluency and speed. They should begin to develop an individual, neat style based on the handwriting taught in previous years.
Key Stages 3 and 4
The mature writer should be able to produce two standards of handwriting which may look remarkably different, one being a good quality hand which is used when appearance is important, or when making a fair copy of work, the other a fast note-taking hand which may be more untidy, but still legible.
Some students may develop the habit of using a fast, untidy note-taking hand for all purposes. They automatically begin to write fast no matter the purpose, with a consequent deterioration in quality. Bad handwriting habits are often hard to change as they become automatic. It is important to explain to the pupil concerned what that for some purposes the handwriting needs to be slower and more careful. Some work with handwriting patterns can be helpful in slowing down the handwriting movement as the pupil then has a single focus on handwriting skills.
The aim for such pupils might be to produce two pieces of handwriting, one written carefully and more slowly, and the other written in a fast note taking hand. The two pieces of writing should look markedly different.
Inclusion
The vast majority of children write legibly and fluently. Some children may need more support, which should be known to all teaching staff through access to their Pupil Learning Passport. Teachers of children whose handwriting is limited by problems with fine motor skills should liaise with the SENCo to develop a programme designed specifically for the student. This might require extra handwriting sessions or access to additional resources.
Left-handed pupils
All teachers are to be aware of the specific needs of left-handed pupils and make appropriate provision:
Make sure that left handed children sit on the left of right-handed children, otherwise their writing arms will clash.
If necessary, put a mark at the left side of the page to indicate where writing begins as some left-handed children mirror-write from the right.
Left-handed children usually need to have the paper slightly to the left of centre of their body and should be encouraged to tilt their work clockwise, so they can see what they have written.
Left-handed scissors should be made available where needed.
Exercise book presentation
Layout
The date is written at the top and the heading is written on the line below. Both are underlined neatly.
New work starts on a new page.
Miss a line under the heading and start at the margin.
Leave a line between each paragraph.
If a mistake is made, draw a neat line through the mistake and start again.
Mathematics
The short date should be written at the top of the page with the heading below, both should be underlined neatly.
Each page should have a margin, occasionally there might be exceptions e.g. when drawing graphs.
Each digit should be written neatly and clearly in one square. Exception to this should only be when ‘carrying’ digits over.
Each calculation should have one square both horizontally and vertically from another calculation
Classroom organisation and resources
All students should have easy access to the appropriate equipment; rulers, pens, pencils, colouring pencils.
Erasers are used at the teachers’ discretion.
Monitoring of Handwriting and Presentation Policy
The Senior Leadership Team will collect samples children’s work regularly to ensure the policy is being implemented consistently. This ensures that the policy leads to good practice in learning and teaching.
Outcomes of Presentation Policy
Children can communicate meaning effectively in the written form.
Children of all ages and abilities can present their work to the highest possible standard increasing their confidence and self-esteem.
There is a consistency across the school in terms of the standard of presentation expected.
Progression in presenting work between each class is evident and understood by all children and adults.
