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Summerlea CP School Growing thoughtful learners and independent thinkers

Handwriting

We are pleased to be able to introduce our whole-school cursive handwriting scheme: Letter-Join. At Summerlea School we have decided to adopt a whole school cursive style for handwriting. This is due to the high level of importance the National Curriculum now places on the teaching of handwriting as well as recommendations from our most recent Ofsted report. We believe that introducing a cursive handwriting style will raise standards in writing throughout the whole school, developing consistency, confidence, accuracy and fluency and improved presentation. We felt it was important to introduce a whole school handwriting scheme that introduces cursive letter formation from the end of Reception. This ensures children are prepared to join their letters from the earliest possible stage and means children do not need to re-learn a new handwriting style in Key Stage 1. Another benefit of teaching cursive handwriting is that the children learn to spell correctly as the continuous flow of hand movements create ‘muscle memories’ that help to retain spelling patterns.

Using this scheme you will see the children learn to use ‘entry and exit’ strokes when forming their letters as well as ‘joins’ used to connect letters together.  Below you will see our handwriting progression from Early Years to Year 6 which outlines the key skills taught within each year group. 

We are confident that through regular and consistent use of this scheme, that the standard of handwriting will improve greatly.  Although we provide many opportunities for handwriting across the curriculum, we also teach regular discrete handwriting lessons to focus on and revise specific skills. As well as the sessions that the children will receive during the school day, there is also the opportunity for you to access the same materials at home to further your child’s development. Please see the log in details below:

www.letter-join.co.uk

User name: lj1049

Password: home

In Early Years we begin by:

  • Developing good gross and fine motor control including how to hold a pencil correctly.
  • Pattern formation (spirals, zigzags, waves)
  • Introducing a language to talk about shape and movements  
  • Introducing the letter families, teaching the children how to correctly form the letters using print initially
  • Introducing cursive letter formation from the summer term
  • We begin with letters being written separately (not joined up yet) e.g. cat, dog, pin

 

Long ladder family:

i, j, l, t, u , v, w

 

One armed robot family:

b, h, k, m,  n, p, r; numbers: 2, 3, 5

 

Curly Caterpillar family:

c, a, d, e, g, o, q, f, s; numbers: 0, 6, 8, 9

 

zigzag family:

v, w, x, z;

numbers: 1, 4, 7

 

 

In Year 1 we begin by:

  • Revising the letter families taught in Early Years
  • Continuing to develop good gross and fine motor control
  • Once the child’s letter formation is accurate and the teacher assesses the child as being ready, joins are then introduced (joining two letters together using vertical and horizontal joins):in, am, ab, ch, oa, wo, wh, ob

 

In Year 2 we begin by:

  • Consolidating the letter families taught in previous years
  • Teaching horizontal and vertical joins:

 

  • First join; un um ig id ed eg an or in gung

 

Second join; ch sh th tl ll ill sli slu ck ack st sti ink unk

 

Third join; od pg re ve oon oom

 

Fourth join; wl vl of ff fl flo

 

 

In Year 3 we begin by:

  • Consolidating joins taught in Year 2
  • Teaching main letter joins: in, ine, ut, ute, ve, vi, ok, oh, you, oi
  • Joining to and from letters:

 

s: sh, as, es

 

r: ri, ru, ry, er, ir, ur

 

a: oa, ad, as, ai  (with ascender eg h/descenders eg y): ha, ta, fa, al, ay, ag

 

e: ee, ea, ed, (practicing horizontal join to e): re, oe, fe

 

o: ow, ov, os, (with ascenders eg l /descenders eg g): ot, ol, ok, og, od

 

y: ky, hy, ly

 

u: fu, wu, vu (practicing horizontal join to u)

 

 

In Year 4 we begin by:

 

  • Revising joins taught in Year 3
  • Teaching joins:

 

Main letter joins:

ning, ping, ting, cod, ake, ome, are, fla, flo, fle, who, wha, whe, inly, ick, uck, ack, fte, fir, fin

Silent letters: wra, wri, kni

 

Double letters:

 tt, ll, oo, pp, ss

Spacing:

ew, ev, ex

 

Proportions:

th, ht, fl

 

Punctuation:

! ? ” ( ) £

 

 

In Years 5 and 6 we begin by:

 

  • Revising prior learning from Years 3 and 4
  • Recap harder letters and words :I, y, g, q, b, p, k, v, s, r, f, z, x, yell, eye, jaw, jay, gag, going, quay, queen, kept, vans, rest, fox, zoo, oxen, fuzzy
  • Children to work on dictation materials with a focus on speed and accuracy.