How important is it for a measure of progress if a child fails to get a pen licence by the end of year 3?

[Guest]

As the term ends, academic question here please? How important is it for a measure of progress if a child fails to get a pen licence by the end of year 3?

Forget a summer of play etc and focus on handwriting and grammar etc?

[Cathryn]

I am sorry but a pen licence? Nothing like making kids feel like they are not good enough. What a joke. Give your kid the pen tell the school to take a hike and tell your kid that they are amazing and having the best handwriting will not stop them. I mean everyone looks up to doctors but show me a doctor with handwriting that you can read!

[Katie]

They will get a pen license when they go into year 5 that's still a whole year away. My son only got his in year 5.

Please stop putting more pressure on your kids for something that doesn't really matter. Let him a kid.

Don't miss: Our primary school have banned pinafores and want all children in shirts and ties from day 1

[Mark]

Reading helps with Grammar

Find things that help with writing that isn’t writing, things like cross stitch help, colouring in and making sure pencil/pen grip is correct helps, and of course some writing practice.

But make things fun, its not school, its not lessons…

Write a shopping list

Write a menu for the week of what they would like to eat

Write a list of things they’d like to do for the week, park, swimming etc.

get them writing but not let them know they are doing writing practice.

While you’re at it, cooking and baking are great for maths, measuring ingredients, halving our doubling the recipe for larger or smaller portions etc.

Timing, if we put these in the over at 4.27 and they need half and hour what time do we take them out…

Love the decking by the way.

[Dini]

A break for summer but I’d be asking the school how they plan to support them in the new school year because if they are going to use a pen license for motivation then they also have to ensure that those that are struggling don’t get left behind.

[Mark]

A pen licence is a completely made up thing in life that has absolutely no bearing on children and their ability. It’s not linked to how clever they are, it’s not linked to how kind they are, it’s not linked to how loving they are. Obtaining a ‘pen licence’ won’t affect their ability to get into university or to get a job.

Please don’t buy into this “pen license” crap. It’s just another pointless obstacle that schools bring in for absolutely no reason.

[Lorna]

Have you seen GPs handwriting? They can perform surgery on me and they probably haven’t got their pen license

Honestly. As someone who works in job involving a lot of writing and communicating- I have never had to personally hand write a letter. Thank the lord for Arial size 12 and Microsoft.

Honestly… handwriting is the least important thing to learn in school to be quite honest.

Explore these too: My daughters primary school is considering academy status and wanting to join the equals trust

[Corinna]

We are children for such a short time in our lives - let them enjoy summer - do a bit if you want but don't make it be the focus of the summer. My kids don’t have a pen licence and they’re going into year 6.

Schools are just set up to make children who struggle feel a failure - so I say it doesn’t matter, as long as you try your best, because your best is always good enough.

[Anne]

Best way to increase handwriting skills is actually not by writing, but practicing fine motor skills (as long as gross motor skills are good or they’ll find the fine motor stuff harder). So painting, picking up Lego, digging in mud with stick.

That kind of thing.

Whatever you do let them play and explore.

[Katie]

My son has only just got his own licence (year 5) he has dyslexic which affects his writing & spelling. I’m super proud of him for achieving this however it begs the questions is it really necessary?

My son was so upset one of his friends didn’t achieve their licence & he was the only one in the class.

Personally I think they should be given the option of using pen or pencil ready for when they start the upper school.

Also, check out: Has anyone had any experience with their child refusing school which would be willing to chat to me?

[Jenny]

You get on average 12 summer holidays with your children. That's it. And you want to waste one of those summers by punishing your child for 6 weeks over a bloody pen license?

[Amanda]

Don’t measure progress against everyone else. He will get there when he gets there.

My son has dyslexia and had a speech delay. Every year his report read that he was at reading level below that was expected of the class.

He’s just had his school report and he’s finally at the average reading level (he’s finishing in yr5) - this was through his hard work, it finally clicking, reading with a TA and reading at home on an evening. No structured reading during half terms though as he wanted a break.

Maybe ask the school what they expect of him - if his handwriting is so bad surely they can have a handwriting intervention part way through the school day to work on it. Or implement pencil grips, stop cursive handwriting etc.

Or maybe he won’t get his pen licence at primary school (which is fine as he will use a pen at high school with or without the licence).

I don’t agree with school holidays being about school work (unless they enjoy it). There are apps on the iPads with rubber pens that can be used but please don’t punish them for not having a licence - not having a certificate like others is punishment enough.

[Ashling]

This is my sons handwriting. Its not the neatest but he really does try. He's nowhere near a pen licence but there is no way I could even think of punishing him especially when I know he tries so hard.

I really can't believe this is even a question.

[Lisa]

You're joking surely? It's not even a thing in Scotland, you would make your child miss out on the summer holidays just because a teacher won't give them a piece along paper to say they can use a pen. Shite mum award goes to you if you do.

[Chrissy]

One of the key factors for good pen control is finger, shoulder and core strength. the best thing for those is playing. Lots of tunnels/dens to encourage crawling for shoulder strength. Lots of finger strength tasks like Lego, playdoh, needing bread.

You can build in fun writing if they want but let them have fun and focus on good moral too.

[Stephanie]

They're only young once. My handwriting was so bad in school that I used to get into trouble for it. When I got to secondary, and the pressure for writing a certain way was off, my writing improved because I combined print and cursive. We were told, as long as our handwriting was legible, we could write however we wanted. I am now a maths teacher with a degree and PGCE. Also, I got two A's and a C for my a-levels.

My point is, handwriting is the last thing you should be getting your 8 year old to do in the summer holidays.