Colons and Semicolons in Lists
Your child can use a colon to open a list, like you will need these items. They use semicolons to split longer list items that hold commas.
In curriculum terms
Use a colon to introduce a list and semi-colons to separate items within lists, particularly when list items contain internal commas or are complex phrases
Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →
How to tell they’ve got it
Tick these off as you see them — no test required.
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Try this together
When your child writes a list of things that are themselves quite long or contain commas — like a list of ingredients with measurements — do they use a colon to introduce it and semi-colons to separate the items?
Where this sits on the map
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solid = must come firstdashed = helps
Curriculum alignment
Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.
Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 VIC
Australian Curriculum v9 candidate
understand how to use the comma for lists, to separate a dependent clause from an independent clause, and in dialogue
Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only
These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.