Teaching Handwriting

• Handwriting is taught as a starter for English lessons. It is also practised through spelling lessons when writing new words.
• During the early stages of writing, children are not encouraged to join (in line with LWLS). Children instead are taught the correct letter formation, how letters sit on the line and where to start and end a letter.
• In reception, children are given time to practice writing at a desk to support the development of the writing position. Throughout the year, children become progressively more accurate with their formation and refer to the Little Wandle Formation phrases
• Teachers support children with identifying letters that have similar patterns e.g. c, a, d, g all have the same start point and motion.
• Children are encouraged to identify letters which become disfigured through joining and therefore make decisions when a particular letter shouldn’t be joined (e.g. r to n often looks like m).
• A child is ready to join letters when:
  • They have learnt to form all the lower-case letters correctly.
  • Letters are of a consistent and suitable size (for younger children these may be large in size but consistent).
  • Letters are positioned appropriately on the writing line as well as in relation to one another. They are upright and not leaning too much.
• From year 2, children are taught to join letters. The joining of letters should be explained as moving from the ‘end point’ of one letter to the ‘start point of another letter. Where one letter ends and the next one starts determines which type of join there will be: horizontal, short or long diagonal.