English Writing Compositionusually ages 7–11

Narrative Writing

Write narratives with developed settings, characters and plot, using dialogue and description to develop experiences and show character responses to situations

How to tell they’ve got it

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

Write a narrative that includes a described setting, at least one developed character, and a clear plot with a problem and resolution
Use dialogue to show what characters say and reveal their personality or feelings
Use descriptive details and temporal words to organise events into a clear sequence with a satisfying ending

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

When your child writes a story, do they bring it to life with descriptions of the setting, details about the characters, and some dialogue — rather than just listing what happened?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Simple Stories with Beginning and Endingages 5–7Developed narrative with settings/characters/plot builds on simple sequential narrative writing

Writing Craft Vocabularyages 8–11Developed narrative requires craft vocabulary including 'structure', 'voice', 'technique', and 'style'

Narrative Writingthis skill · ages 7–11

Unlocks

Writing Character & Dialogueages 11–14KS3 narrative writing extends KS2 writing narratives with settings, characters, and plot

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

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

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

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E4LE03medium confidenceYear 4 · Literature

discuss how authors and illustrators make stories engaging by the way they develop character, setting and plot tensions

AC9E4LE05medium confidenceYear 4 · Literature

create and edit literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings

AC9E5LE05low confidenceYear 5 · Literature

create and edit literary texts, experimenting with figurative language, storylines, characters and settings from texts students have experienced

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN3-UARL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 3

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

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E4LE05medium confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Literature strand

VC2E1LY13medium confidenceEnglish · Level 1 · Literacy strand

VC2E5LE05medium confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Literature 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

Organising Writing into Paragraphsages 7–10 Rehearsing and Varying Sentencesages 7–8 Revising and editing (age 7+)ages 7–11 Basic Informational Writingages 6–11

All Writing Composition skills →