Reviews

See how Penpals for Handwriting has helped to raise standards, enthuse staff members and motivate pupils with the new case studies:

• Glory Farm Primary School Get to Grips with Penpals for Handwriting (PDF, 494Kb)

"The one I've really had a very great interest in recently has been "Penpals for Handwriting" from Cambridge University Press. It's filled a gap in the market for a lot of primary teachers, and it's the first resource I've ever seen that actually shows you how to teach handwriting, which has been missing for a long time. And the fact that it's been based on good Early Years practice, doesn't put the pencil in the child's hand too quickly,and then gets the children later to develop as fluid writers,to find their own style of handwriting to suit what they do,is absolutely fantastic. I've seen a lot of very happy children using that resource." Teacher's TV

"A brilliant resource for teaching handwriting, and a highly appropriate use of ICT to enhance the delivery of literacy. The CD-ROMs, designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard, have many excellent features and are well worth the cost. This is a great resource to ensure quality teaching in a sometimes overlooked aspect of literacy." Junior Education

"Penpals has really made a difference to all our pupils - one boy in particular has turned a corner so much so that his parents didn't even recognise his handwriting!"
Headteacher
Shalbourne Primary School, Wiltshire

"We have seen a marked improvement in all children's handwriting."
Colerne Primary School, Chippenham

"It's a really fun and enjoyable way for children to learn and for teachers to teach. We've only been using it for a term and we've already noticed the improvements in the presentation of children's work."
Priory Primary School, Sandwell LEA

"We are astonished at the improvement of our handwriting in Years 3 and 4 in the short time we've been using Penpals."
Cwrt-yr-Ala Junior School, Cardiff

"A great deal of thought has been put into the design and implementation of the software. The information and unit screens all have a uniform format that is well illustrated, colourful and inviting. The navigation elements are logical, with clear links and child-friendly icons and buttons. "
Child Education

"The Penpals for Handwriting CD-ROMs do much more than merely support other materials in Cambridge's excellent handwriting scheme for three-to-11 year olds. The activities add a new dimension, providing stimulating and interactive activities for those who find handwriting - and letter formation in particular - difficult."
TES (Special Needs)

"This scheme is a real delight for children, engaging the whole class and encouraging interaction and participation, producing a flexible, fluent and legible handwriting style that will support children to write with confidence." Special Children

"My children have always enjoyed handwriting lessons but they became even more enthusiastic when presented with the activities and animations on the whiteboard. They loved the warm ups - these really helped to settle the class and focus them at the beginning of the lesson. The interface is bright, colourful, very interactive and yet well organised and simple to navigate both for teachers and children alike. The icons are very intuitive and hovering over them displays a description of what they do. The children certainly appeared more focused and more engaged. Everything is delivered in such a bold, bright and interactive way that children cannot fail to enjoy what they are doing. This has been a wonderful, stimulating piece of software to use, enjoyed both by the children and myself. I can't wait to use it with a new class next September and work through each unit from the beginning to the end of the program. I am sure it is going to be really successful."
Schoolzone website

'Handwriting has often been the 'Cinderella-skill' in terms of the teaching of writing and too many published resources have relied far too much (and too soon) on worksheet materials. For many young children, worksheets in Nursery and Reception classes can often be counterproductive. Instead, we should be linking preparation for handwriting to music, movement and art, and ensuring that these experiences are both appropriate for handwriting and enjoyable for the children. In this respect, the practical suggestions in the Teacher's Book and CD of Penpals: Foundation 1 are the best materials I have ever come across. Penpals provides everything necessary for structured teaching of handwriting in the junior years. Frequent links to other literacy objectives for the age group mean handwriting lessons also become an opportunity to revise other aspects of writing at word, sentence and text level.'
Sue Palmer, literacy specialist and educational writer

'We now know that if children are to achieve comfortable, legible, flexible handwriting styles, they need to be aught to form and join each letter efficiently. Penpals sets out to achieve this. Children need good models to copy, lots of practice and feedback to help them fine-tune their performance. If the practice element of letter formation includes the practice of spelling patterns, as in Penpals, the resultant pedagogy addresses two of the essential sub-skills of good written communication, namely handwriting and spelling. Efficient handwriting leads to higher quality writing.'
Dr Rhona Stainthorp, lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of London

'The Sassoon family of typefaces has been used throughout this scheme. Many people might therefore describe them as the model but they are typefaces, not exactly a handwriting model. No hand could copy them exactly and be so consistent and invariable. Equally, no typeface, however many alternative letters and joins are built into a font, can be quite as flexible as handwritten letters. Our letters represent the movement proportions and clear characteristics of basic separate and joined letters. It is likely that every teacher will produce his or her own slightly different version on the whiteboard, and pupils will then do likewise. It matters little if the slant of proportions of a child's writing differ slightly from any model. We are not teaching children to be forgers. We are equipping them with an efficient, legible handwriting that will serve them all their life - one that suits their hand and their personality. Flexibility is stressed throughout this scheme.'
Dr Rosemary Sassoon

'Every Early Years teacher knows the importance of establishing solid fundamental skills before beginning to teach handwriting. Preparation is crucial – it is vital to resist the urge to rush into formal handwriting work before gross and fine motor skills are firmly established and before children are adequately confident. Penpals: Foundation 1 is a rich resource which supports the holistic and kinaesthetic approach of the Foundation stage, with a variety of art- and PE-based activities. The gross and fine motor activities offered in Penpals help to develop not only important physical skills, but also emotional skills such as confidence and self-esteem. We expect an awful lot from very young children and well-prepared but flexible resources are crucial in supporting them. In short, Penpals provides lots of opportunities to build handwriting skills in a very pleasurable way.'
Fiona Thomas, former Foundation Stage teacher and TTA researcher

'The children are constantly asking when they can do some more handwriting – the activities are so much fun! The early feedback I have been given from teachers is that the children are so much more aware of their handwriting style than they were before we used Penpals. One of the most exciting things is the use of warm-up activities. This really suits our philosophy of how children learn – we encourage lots of movement, and appreciate that children have different learning styles – most children simply have to move when they learn! I have personally recommended it to other headteachers, and feel we are lucky to have it.'
Headteacher, Crondall Primary School, Surrey.

'The F1 materials should be compulsory reading for all Foundation Stage teachers.'
Belton Primary School, Loughborough

'The practical suggestions in the Foundation 1 Teacher's Book are the best I have come across.'
Sue Palmer, series consultant.

'The children absolutely love it. They can't wait to go on to the next stage.'
Risley School, Derby

'The CD-ROMs are absolutely marvellous and have the potential to transform the teaching of handwriting.'
Sue Palmer, series consultant

'This is just what we need.'
Stanah County Primary School, Blackpool

'The children love the warm-ups – they haven't done anything like it before.'
Leamington Primary School, Liverpool

'Children really enjoy it. And it ties in brilliantly with the spelling work.'
Highfield Primary School, Manchester

'What many teachers have a problem with is the over fussy, over prescriptive nature of some handwriting schemes. While being systematic about progressive introduction of letter joins, Penpals takes a refreshingly relaxed view of style development. This is not a scheme that will create a school of handwriting clones. This is a resource that any school floundering in a handwriting free-for-all-zone would be well advised to consider.'
TES Teacher