Handwriting
PENPALS FOR HANDWRITING
At Pontyclun Primary we follow the Penpals for Handwriting scheme throughout the school. The scheme progresses through the five developmental stages of handwriting:
* Physical preparation for handwriting
* Securing letter formation
* Beginning to join along
* Securing the joins and practising speed
* Fluency and developing a personal style
We develop and secure the children’s handwriting through weekly pattern practice and daily ‘play’ writing in the Foundation Phase. The scheme focuses on whole-class teaching using digital resources to enable modelling and interactive learning, along with written activities to support independent work. Our younger children also enjoy practising letter formation in a number of exciting ways: in sand, using paint, in the air, on the interactive whiteboards and iPads, as well as on paper with a pencil!
Besides this, the children are introduced to four main characters which help them memorise the sequence for writing each letter correctly. The key thing to remember is that all letters start from the top – apart from d and e.
In Key Stage 2, children are encouraged to write legibly and join securely with the incentive to achieve their pen licence from Year 5.