Kinetic Letters is the handwriting programme that we follow at Chase Lane Primary. It is an evidence-informed programme that builds the cognitive and physical skills for handwriting. Once children’s writing becomes automatic, it frees up their ability to develop their creativity and write with increased confidence.

The programme follows four main threads:

• Making bodies stronger

• Holding the pencil

• Learning the letters

• Flow and fluency

Making bodies stronger: Children must have core body and arm strength to be able to control their fingers precisely and have the finger strength to write. The children carry out exercises to help strengthen their bodies.

 Holding the pencil: Children need to have a comfortable pencil grip that allows them to write for long periods. Children use the ‘three friends hold’ to grip their pencil, as this is proven to be the most efficient grip to write comfortably at length.

 Learning the letters: When learning to form letters, the children begin with whole body movements and progress through writing in sand trays to writing on whiteboards and finally writing on paper. In Kinetic Letters, all the letters and numbers are formed by starting at one of two monkeys, a brave one (Bounce) who goes to the top branch of the tree, and a scared one (Skip) who goes to the lower branch.  The letters are not learnt in alphabetical order. Instead, the are learnt in ‘families’, where the letters have been grouped according to how they are formed. Each letter has a rhyme that goes with it. The children follow the ‘move it, say it, write it’ approach to help remember the handwriting patterns off by heart.

Flow and fluency: Children work on producing letter movements that allow them to build stamina to write at length. This includes learning which letters can be joined and which letters are best left unjoined (break letters)