At St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, we are very proud of our pupil’s handwriting and take    particular care in our handwriting style. Handwriting is given high importance and is taught daily.

Handwriting is a skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. By the end of Key Stage 2 all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes. 

Intent

Within our broader English curriculum, our intent for spelling is clear:

• To develop a neat, legible, speedy handwriting style using continuous cursive letters, which leads to producing letters and words automatically in independent writing.
• To establish and maintain high expectations for the presentation of written work across all year groups
• For pupils to understand the importance of neat presentation and the need for different letterforms (cursive, printed or capital letters) to help communicate meaning clearly
• To make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.

Implementation

During the Early Years Foundation Stage time is given to develop children’s fine motor skills with big and small movements. Children are taught to sit properly in order to have the correct posture for writing, hold a pencil in the correct position and form letters correctly, using the rhymes from the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme.

Children in Year 1 – Year 6 follow the Letter Join handwriting scheme. Children in Year 1 firstly begin to develop a pre-cursive style of writing before moving into cursive writing. All staff have very high expectations of handwriting and model the correct formation during lessons. Once children are able to form all letters correctly and use the correct joins, they are given a pen to complete their work. 

During writing in all areas of the curriculum, staff use the find it fix it approach to improving handwriting. If a child forms a letter incorrectly, that letter will be modelled by a teacher in their book and the child then given the opportunity to practise the correct formation. Where children are struggling with certain joins/letter formation, timely interventions take place. As well as interventions we also provide opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills in our outdoor area at lunchtime. Children are provided with a range of resources that require them to work on their fine motor and in turn having a positive impact on their handwriting.

Impact

The impact on our children is clear: correctly formed and joined letters, an ability to write for prolonged periods and beautifully presented work.