English Handwriting & Transcriptionusually ages 6–10

Joining Letters

Begin to join letters using diagonal and horizontal strokes, understanding which letter pairs are best left unjoined, forming letters of correct size relative to one another

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Join 'in', 'un', 'it' with a diagonal stroke connecting the letters
Leave letters like 'b' unjoined when followed by certain letters, explaining why
Write with consistent letter sizing on lined paper, ascenders and descenders in proportion

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Try this together

Is your child starting to join up their letters when writing, so that their handwriting flows more smoothly rather than each letter standing completely separate?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Sitting and holding a pencilages 4–6Joining letters builds on Y1 lowercase letter formation

Forming Capital Lettersages 5–6Capital letter formation supports correct sizing in joined writing

Joining Lettersthis skill · ages 6–10

Unlocks

Building Writing Staminaages 6–7Joined handwriting supports sustained writing stamina

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LY08medium confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

write words using joined letters that are clearly formed and consistent in size

AC9E1LY08low confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

write words using unjoined lower-case and upper-case letters

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN2-HANDW-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 2

ENE-HANDW-01low confidenceEnglish K-10 · Early Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LY13high confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Literacy strand

VC2E4LY12medium confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Literacy strand

VC2E1LY15medium confidenceEnglish · Level 1 · Literacy strand

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.

Nearby on the map

Forming Capital Lettersages 5–6 Letter Formation Familiesages 5–6 Writing digits 0-9ages 5–6 Sitting and holding a pencilages 4–6

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