As children master decoding in their reading, so they must master encoding in their writing - turning the sounds of speech into the letters on the page. As well as taking the grapheme (the letter or letters that make the sound) and turning it into the phoneme (the sound itself), they must learn to do the reverse in their writing. We focus rigorously on handwriting, alongside phonics in reception and Year 1 and continue to develop it throughout their school life. This is to ensure that children can fluently form the letters they need to encode their ideas onto paper - this is transcription. They become the scribes for their own ideas and what a gift to not only teach children to speak clearly but to give them the skills to record it for the world to see!

Handwriting is important because it is often the first impression of writing. Studies show we feel instinctively more favourable about pieces of writing when they are written neatly than when they're written untidily, even if the content is the same.

At Laddingford, we teach the children an entirely joined, cursive writing starting with precursive writing in Reception (including the lead-ins and lead-outs eventually used to join letters right from the beginning). In Reception, handwriting is taught alongside Phonics. We do not join capital letters but we do join all lower-case letters. This is to make sure they're writing is fluent and legible but also quick. We don't teach children to care about handwriting in a superficial manner but to understand that good handwriting enables them to be understood and to get their ideas down faster.

A sample sheet of 'Laddingford Cursive' can be found below along with the order in which we teach the letters (from Year 1) and a progression document that shows what level of handwriting we're expecting, for an average child, throughout the school. 

 

If you have any concerns about your child's handwriting, arrange to see their class teacher.