WriteWell International

Help every child to achieve clear, confident and speedy joined handwriting

• A developmental approach that allows children to progress at their own pace

• Structured practice to build fluency and stamina

• Varied activities that reinforce learning across the curriculum

• Comprehensive teaching notes and assessment resources

WriteWell is a complete course designed to guide children from their first steps in mark-making towards the development of secure, fluent and comfortable joined handwriting. Supporting the statutory requirements for handwriting, it provides a consistent basis for teaching and learning this complex skill across all primary school year groups. It includes:

Eleven pupil books providing systematic practice of letters and joins

A single teacher’s handbook packed with teaching and assessment support

A double-sided poster for children to reference when developing their handwriting skills

Why WriteWell?

WriteWell ensures that children get the basics of handwriting correct from the start by providing:

1. A developmental approach

WriteWell follows a developmental model that splits learning into four discrete Stages based on the National Handwriting Association’s eight ‘S Factors for Success’. Children begin the programme when they are developmentally ready and progress at their own pace as their handwriting skills flourish. ‘Ready to Go’ assessments and intervention resources help you to decide whether or not a child is ready to move on to the next Stage.

2. Movement-focused instruction

Correct movements are the foundation stones of legible writing and there is a strong emphasis on movement throughout the WriteWell programme, from the motioninspired letter family groupings, formation patters and kinaesthetic activities, such as sky writing, in the early Stages, to the joining patterns and fluency activities in the later Stages.

3. Physical preparation

Handwriting is a physical process and it is often issues relating to the physical aspects of writing that are the cause of handwriting problems. WriteWell ensures that children develop good writing habits using a system of reminders called the ‘P checks’ (posture, pencil grip, paper position and pressure). Warm-ups are also used to prepare children for handwriting sessions and build stamina.

4. Structured practice

Pupils are given extensive opportunities to practise new learning in activities ranging from simple tracing and copying tasks to more challenging composition exercises. All of the activities have been carefully designed to minimise cognitive load so that children can focus on developing their handwriting, while reinforcing learning from other areas of the English curriculum that have already been taught.

Structure

As handwriting development can vary greatly from child to child, WriteWell splits learning into manageable modules based on the National Handwriting Association’s eight ‘S Factors for Success’: Shape; Space; Size; Sitting on the line; Stringing together; Slant; Speed; and Style. Each ‘S factor’ represents a feature of successful handwriting, and the factors are arranged in order of developmental demand.

In WriteWell, the S Factors are grouped into four developmental Stages and eleven corresponding pupil books, as summarised below. Each developmental Stage is covered in detail, ensuring that learning is firmly embedded before children move on to the next Stage. Stages 1 and 3 require more pupil books than the other Stages because they teach the formation of letters and joins.

Books 1 to 4

Stage 1

Shape

Books 1 to 4

This Stage begins with writing patterns and boosting pencil control in Book 1, before introducing the correct letter formations for lowercase letters, based on ‘letter family’ groups, in Books 2 and 3, and for capital letters and numbers in Book 4.

Stage 2

Space, size and sitting on the line

Book 5

Once letter formation is secure, children learn how to arrange their writing on baselines and to form letters of the correct relative size. They also learn about spacing letters within words and leaving appropriate spaces between words.

Stage 3

Stringing together and slant

Books 6 to 9

Stage 4

Speed and style

Books 10 and 11

Stage 3 is the most detailed Stage, in which children are systematically introduced to the basic diagonal and horizontal joins. Throughout this Stage children also build confidence by using joins to join longer words and to develop a consistent joining style.

Once joining is secure, the focus shifts to developing a personal style that is fast, fluent and legible and can be adapted for different purposes and tasks. Children are encouraged to adopt a slanted style and to experiment with changes to their joined style, such as looping.

National Curriculum alignment

WriteWell may also be used in line with the requirements set out for each year group in the National Curriculum, as outlined in the table below. Links to other areas of the English curriculum, including phonics, grammar and spelling are also clearly signposted in the National Curriculum chart in the teacher’s handbook.

Year Stage 1: Shape

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Stage 2: Space, size and sitting on the line

Stage 3: Stringing together and slant

Stage 4: Speed and style

Letter families

Once children have developed their motor skills and pencil control in Book 1, they learn the letter shapes in Books 2 and 3. The lowercase letters are introduced in five ‘letter families’. This helps children to focus not only on the letter shapes but also to ensure that they are formed in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place. The child-friendly Sassoon Infant font is used throughout Stages 1 and 2 and lowercase letters are taught with exit flicks from letters ending on the baseline.

The ladder family

The rubber ball family

The cog family

The cog cousins

The zip wire family

Capital letters and numbers

Capital letters and numbers are introduced in Book 4 and are grouped according to whether or not they have straight, sloping or curved lines to make it easier for children to learn the correct shapes and develop an efficient way of forming the letter or number.

Joins

At the beginning of Stage 3 (Book 6) letter joins are introduced using the Sassoon Joined font, which is then used as the main handwriting font for the remainder of the series. There are two main types of join: diagonal joins and horizontal joins. These basic joins are divided into three sub-groups to distinguish between joining to letters with different starting points and formations.

Diagonal joins

• Diagonal joins from the letters a, c, d, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, t,

u to short straight letters and letters with descenders (starting at the short letter height) r, n, m, i, u, v, w, p, y and j

• Diagonal joins from the letters a, c, d, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, t,

u to the top of ascenders l, h, k, b and t

• Diagonal joins from the letters a, c, d, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, t,

u to round anticlockwise letters (letters starting at 2 o’clock position) a, o, c, d, g and q

Horizontal joins

• Horizontal joins from the letters o, v, w to short straight letters (starting at the short letter line) r, n, m, i, u, v, w, p, y and j

• Horizontal joins from the letters o, v, w to the top of ascenders l, h, k, b and t

• Horizontal joins from the letters o, v, w to round anticlockwise letters (letters starting at 2 o’clock position) a, o, c, d, g and q

* Some letters (e.g. e, s, r, f) require a variation on these joins and are introduced separately.

Break letters in WriteWell

Break letters in WriteWell are letters that finish with a descender (y, g, j, q), letters that finish on the left (s, x, b, p) and the letter z Optional joins from break letters are introduced in Stage 4 to aid speed or as a stylistic choice.

WriteWell Pupil Books

The eleven WriteWell pupil books provide carefully structured progression and a consistent approach to learning across all four developmental Stages. Printed on high-quality paper that won’t show through, each book contains 15 units, together with a child-friendly introduction and at least one longer ‘WriteWell challenge’ task giving pupils the opportunity to use their best handwriting to ‘show off’ everything they have learnt.

Each unit provides a clear handwriting focus, explained in the information panel at the beginning of each spread, followed by focused practice activities that gradually increase in difficulty, progressing from simple ‘Try it’ and ‘Practise it’ exercises involving tracing and copying, to more challenging ‘Apply it’ activities that encourage children to use the handwriting focus in a realistic context.

Nibs

Depending on the Stage, ‘Apply it’ activities may consolidate phonics, spelling, grammar or punctuation

Letter families and formation patters emphasise the correct movements for each letter

the monkey provides child-friendly handwriting tips in the early books

Correct letter formation is modelled with a red starting dot and directional arrows

The programme covers abbreviations, numbers and punctuation marks, as well as letters

Patterning activities boost pencil control and hand–eye coordination

Thick white paper provides a smooth writing surface that won’t show through

‘WriteWell challenge’ tasks encourage pupils to take pride in their handwriting

Book 10 features a stopwatch icon to indicate timed activities

WriteWell Teacher’s Handbook

The WriteWell Teacher’s Handbook provides in-depth support to help you teach handwriting. Mirroring the structure of the pupil books, it organises learning into four key developmental Stages. For each of these Stages there is a detailed set of teacher’s notes providing guidance on the key issues at each level of development, as well as comprehensive letter formation and joining charts, and assessment and intervention resources.

The handbook also contains a ‘Curriculum chart’ and ‘Scope and sequence chart’ to help you navigate the pupil books at a glance, together with an extended introduction providing essential information for improving the teaching of handwriting in your school. Featured topics include the ‘P checks’ (posture, pencil grip, paper position and pressure), supporting left-handers and creating a whole-school handwriting policy.

An ‘Overview’ at the start of each Stage chapter summarises the contents of the section

‘P checks’ focus on the physical writing process and help to establish good habits

Animations showing the correct formations of letters, numbers and joins allow you to demonstrate each handwriting focus confidently

Detailed notes for each pupil book explain how to teach each unit and get the most out of the activities

Formation charts describe the mechanics of each letter and join, as well as common difficulties

A simple tab system enables you to quickly navigate to the relevant Stage chapter

Exemplification materials help you to decide whether or not a child is ready to progress to the next Stage

Photocopiable intervention resources focus on common problems associated with each Stage

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Further information

For further information regarding the programme structure, or assistance placing your order, please contact our Sales Manager:

Vincent Jackson

+44 (0)1484 601717

vincent@schofieldandsims.co.uk