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Handwriting Competition in my local English Schools, 2023
Mercian posted a topic in Handwriting & Handwriting Improvement
Hi all, the following photos were taken in a local supermarket. They are photos of a few of the entries that were submitted to a 2023 ‘Handwriting Competition’ for kids at the schools that are local to me, in the ‘Midlands’ of England. The competition was organised by the local ‘Rotary Club’. I note that the model that these children are being taught is not the one that was taught to me in the 1970s & 1980s. Those of you that have a keen eye for a waspy will notice that this model seems to cause children to have difficulty drawing the glyph for ‘f’ in such a way that it does not look like the glyph for ‘g’. And that some of these entries include spelling mistakes. The images are of writing samples from children who attend various local schools. One of these schools is the Middle School that I actually attended, although I did notice that the local Primary School that I attended had no entries in the display in this local supermarket. I am posting these images here because it engladdenned my heart to see that handwriting is still being taught in my local schools (in the English ‘Midlands’) in 2023 😉 Slàinte, M. -
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Jack is in Year 6 (age 10-11). His handwriting matches the model quite well, but you will see that it looks as though it has been ‘drawn’ fairly slowly and deliberately. Some of the pupils in Year 5 are already much more confident and more fluid in their handwriting than is Jack. Which is entirely normal! Children develop different motor skills/cognitive skills at different rates! Any given child will progress rapidly at some times, and make only very slow progress at others. Our individual genomes, diets, family circumstances, and the times/intensities with which we suffer illnesses all vary, and each one of these things impacts upon our development. You can be a ‘whizz-kid’ in one term, and a real ‘slow coach’ in the next. Some kids zoom ahead but ‘plateau’ early; others start slow but become sudden ‘late bloomers’. Others develop at a fairly constant rate - but those rates ARE ALL DIFFERENT. Kids can be brilliant at e.g. maths and terrible at languages, or the other way around, or good at only one thing, bad at only one thing, etc. ’One Size’ most definitely DOESN’T ‘fit all’! THIS is why we train people for several years BEFORE we let them teach in our schools. Do you remember how ‘easy’ it was trying to home-school your own child/children during the Covid pandemic lockdown(s)? Now imagine trying to teach several different sets of groups of thirty+ of Other People’s children; children that you don’t love unconditionally! Now imagine trying to do that day, every day, for the whole of your working life.
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Year 6 Scarlett.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Scarlett’s handwriting has been declared the ‘Winner’ for Year 6 (age 10-11). It is clear and confident, and it has some slight variations from the handwriting model that she was taught. I can’t help noticing that her handwriting is largely ‘printed’, rather than being ‘joined-up’, or ‘cursive’. But does this matter?
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Matilda Year 6.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Matilda’s handwriting has been awarded the ‘Runner-up’ for Year 6 (age 10-11). Notice how confident and fluid it is, and how her writing has developed with slight variations from the model.
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From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Kacie has been awarded the ‘Runner-up’ prize for Year 5 (age 9-10). This writing is very upright, and very close to the handwriting model that is being taught. Complete with its glyphs for ‘f’ that look like a mangled ‘g’ or ‘y’.
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Daniel Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Daniel is in Year 5 (age 9-10). His handwriting has been ‘Highly Commended’. It is a close match to the handwriting model that is being taught in the schools in my area.
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Bertie (2) Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This Bertie (the second person of that name whose writing I have photographed) is in Year 5 (age 9-10). His handwriting is a very close match to the model that he has been taught, and it has been ‘Highly Commended’.
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Amelia Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Amelia is in Year 5 (age 9-10). Her handwriting also deviates slightly from the ‘loopiness’ and the joins of the model that she has been taught. But it is perfectly legible and I like it. Good for her!
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Bertie Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Bertie is in Year 5 (age 9-10). In this area, this school year is the first one that one spends at ‘Middle School’ (ages 9-13). Middle Schools are, in my opinion, an eminently sensible idea. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to teach 11-year-olds in the same schools as 16 year old boys and girls. But many of the school districts in this country do house kids in one school from ages 4-11, and then another school from ages 11-18. So maybe I’m wrong. I wanted to show Bertie’s handwriting because it is quite different to the model that he has been taught. Although he does write the model’s flattened-‘f’, he writes his glyphs with very tall ascenders. I am happy to see that ‘deviation’ of this kind is no longer met with a rap across the knuckles with a ruler (or worse).
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Brooklyn-Jane Year 4.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Brooklyn-Jane is in Year 4 (age 8-9). Her handwriting was ‘Highly Commended’. I like that fact that her glyph for ‘f’ is more like a printed ‘f’ than is the one prescribed by the handwriting model. I wonder whether this adaptation of that glyph was her teacher’s idea, or if Brooklyn-Jane adapted it herself. I ought to go back to the display, and check to see whether or not everyone in this school uses this ‘f’, or if it is only Brooklyn-Jane.
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From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Ivy is in Year 4 (age 8-9). I note that her handwriting has rather tall ascenders, and that she is not writing the strange glyph for ‘f’, which reminds me at least of a malformed ‘g’.
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From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Jack’s school has already got its Year 3 (age 7-8) kids using the handwriting model that imposes a glyph for minuscule ‘f’ that doesn’t have an ascender. His handwriting was awarded the accolade for ‘Best in Year 3’ among the schools in my area that took part in the competition.
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From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Emma is in Year 3 (age 7-8). Her school has not yet introduced the handwriting model with the minuscule ‘f’ with no apparent ascender. Which is a decision that I applaud! The glyph in question looks decidedly weird to my eyes, not least because I can not bring to my mind any printed typeface in any book or magazine or on any sign that I have ever seen in which the glyph for minuscule ‘f’ doesn’t have one. Stupid!
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2024 Handwriting competition - Skyler Year 2.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Skyler, like Rosie, is already writing in ‘joined-up handwriting’ in Year 2 (age 6-7). My own age cohort was not introduced to this idea until the end of Year 4. Maybe it was just because I was/we were taught in a two-room school in a small village? Had our peers from the town been writing ‘joined-up’ for two years longer than we had? I don’t think so, but I dunno 🤷♂️
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From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Rosie’s school has already - in Year 2 (age 6-7) - got her joining her letters to make cursive! 😮 My own first encounter with cursive was not until the very end of Year 4! To be fair, back when I was at First School, much of the teaching effort in the earlier years had been concentrated on trying to wean us kids off the traditional Stone technology, and on to that newfangled ‘Bronze’ stuff… 😉
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Emilia Year 2.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
Emilia in Year 2 (age 6-7) is still writing with the basic ‘ball-&-stick’ alphabet.
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2024 Handwriting Competition - Olivia Year 1.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
I took this photograph in a supermarket in the nearest town to me. The supermarket currently has a display of entries from our local schools’ handwriting competition for 2024, which was organised by the local Rotary Club. This is of the handwriting of Olivia in Year 1 (age 5-6). She has been taught to write a basic ‘ball and stick’ alphabet.
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Schools’ Handwriting competition 2023 - ‘Ella’, Year 6.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This is a photo of the handwriting sample of ‘Ella’ in Year 6, which was submitted to a 2023 competition for the handwriting of children in my local schools. The competition was organised by my local Rotary Club.
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Schools’ Handwriting competition - Elsie, Year 6.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This is a photo of the handwriting sample of ‘Elsie’ in Year 6, which was submitted to a 2023 competition for the handwriting of children in my local schools. The competition was organised by my local Rotary Club.
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Schools’ Handwriting competition 2023 - Caitlin, Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This is a photo of the handwriting sample of ‘Caitlin’ in Year 5, which was submitted to a 2023 competition for the handwriting of children in my local schools. The competition was organised by my local Rotary Club.
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Schools’ Handwriting competition 2023 - Elizabeth, Year 5.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This is a photo of the handwriting sample of ‘Elizabeth’ in Year 5, which was submitted to a 2023 competition for the handwriting of children in my local schools. The competition was organised by my local Rotary Club.
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Schools’ Handwriting Competition 2023 - Olivia, Year 4.jpeg
Mercian posted a gallery image in FPN Image Albums
From the album: Handwriting Competition 2023 for Schools local to Mercian
This is a photo of the handwriting sample of ‘Olivia’ in Year 4 which was submitted to a 2023 competition for the handwriting of children in my local schools. The competition was organised by my local Rotary Club.
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