Year 1 English · Key Stage 1 · Writing – handwriting

Year 1 handwriting: capital letters and number shapes

Alongside lower-case letters, Year 1 children learn to form capital letters and the digits 0 to 9. The aim is that they can write them correctly and confidently, starting in the right place and moving in the right direction. These shapes turn up everywhere: in names, at the start of sentences, on birthday cards and all through maths. Secure habits now save a great deal of unlearning later.

Capital letters and digits, explained

A capital letter is the large form of a letter, and in the alphabet each one has a lower-case partner: A and a, B and b. Some pairs look alike apart from size (C and c, O and o, S and s), while others look quite different (A and a, G and g, R and r). Children therefore have to learn two sets of shapes. In Year 1, teachers often teach capitals once most lower-case letters are secure, and they teach them in the same way: where to start, which way to go and where to stop.

In most handwriting models, every capital letter starts at the top. Straight-line capitals such as E, F, H, I, L, T and Z are made from lines and are quick to learn. Round capitals such as C, G, O, Q and S begin with an anticlockwise curve, like their small versions. A few, such as B, D, P and R, combine a straight line with a curve. A useful difference from lower case is that capitals all stand the same full height and sit on the line, so there are no short letters to remember. Children also learn when capitals are used, which links to their sentence work: the start of a sentence, names, days of the week and the word “I”. Here the focus is on the handwriting itself.

Digits are the ten symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Like letters, each has a correct way to be formed, and teachers teach it by showing the starting point, the direction and the finishing point. All the digits start at the top. The 0 is an anticlockwise oval, the 1 is a straight line down (some schools add a small flag), and the 2 starts with a curve before sliding down to a flat base. The 3 is two curves to the right, the 6 curves down to the left and finishes with a small loop, the 9 is a small anticlockwise circle with a line straight down, and the 7 is a line across the top followed by a diagonal. The 8 is often taught as a snake-like S that comes back up on itself, though some schools teach two stacked loops. Your child’s school will have a preferred model.

Digits matter more than they seem. Maths books in Year 1 are full of them, and a 6 that looks like a 0, or a 7 that looks like a 1, leads to wrong answers even when the child understands the calculation. Neat, clear digits also help when teachers mark work. The aim is for both capitals and digits to become automatic so that your child can use all their attention on the content of what they are writing, not on drawing the shape.

Words your child will hear

Capital letter: The large form of a letter, like A, B, C. Used at the start of a sentence and for names.
Digit: One of the ten symbols 0 to 9 used to write numbers. The number 25 is made from two digits.
Starting point: The place where you put the pencil down to begin a letter or digit.
Direction: The way the pencil travels: down, up, across, clockwise or anticlockwise.
Reversal: Writing a letter or digit the wrong way round, such as a backwards 3 or 5.
Full height: Capital letters and digits reach the same top height. Lower-case letters like a and e are shorter.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 1, pupils should be taught to:

Form capital letters
Form digits 0-9

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: writing a capital B and the digit 5

How does a Year 1 child learn to write a capital ‘B’ and then a ‘5’?

Capital B, step one. Put the pencil at the top and draw a straight line down to the writing line. Lift the pencil.
Capital B, step two. Go back to the top of the line and draw a curve out to the right and back in to the middle of the line, making the top bump. From the middle, draw a second, slightly bigger curve out to the right and back in to the bottom of the line, making the bottom bump.
Check the B. Both bumps should touch the straight line, the top bump should be a little smaller than the bottom, and the letter should stand full height. Some schools use a short saying such as “line, bump, bump”.
Digit 5, step one. Start at the top and draw a short line straight down, then curve round to the right, clockwise, to make a round tummy that finishes at the bottom left. Lift the pencil.
Digit 5, step two. Add the flag last: go back to the top of the first line and draw a short straight line across to the right. Check the 5 faces the right way, with its curve on the right.

A capital B is a full-height straight line with two bumps on its right, the top one slightly smaller. A 5 is a short line down, a curve round to the right and a flag added across the top at the end. Schools use different rhymes and models, so follow the one your child brings home. Saying the movement as they write helps children remember the pattern.

Common mistakes and how to help

Writing digits backwards, such as 3, 5, 2, 7 or 9

For a young child, a shape that points either way can seem like the same shape, and at this age reversing digits is a very common and normal mistake. Their hand has also not yet learned the movement.

What helps: Show a model and have them trace it with a finger before writing. Say the movement and mark the starting point with a dot. Most reversals fade with plenty of short practice and nothing else.

Writing the two digits of teen numbers in the wrong order, such as 61 for sixteen

In English we say “sixteen” (six, then teen) but write 16 with the tens digit first, so writing in the order they hear it gives 61. The same can happen with other teen numbers.

What helps: Say the number as a ten and some ones: 16 is “one ten and six ones”. Using ten-frames, bundles of sticks or counters to make the number shows why the 1 comes first.

Mixing capitals into the middle of words, or writing small capitals

Children sometimes like the capital forms of certain letters, such as B or D, because they are easier to form than the small forms, so they use them anywhere in a word. Or they write capitals at the same size as lower-case letters, so it is not clear which is which.

What helps: Remind them that capitals are for starting a sentence, for names and days of the week, and for “I”, and that everything else uses small letters. Make capitals clearly taller than the rest, and write their name on a card to copy.

Starting digits or capitals at the bottom

Drawing a 0 or a 1 from the bottom feels natural and produces the same shape, so there is no obvious reason to change. The habit makes the shapes less consistent and writing slower, especially when the digit has curves, like 2, 3 or 8.

What helps: Make starting at the top a game: a dot at the top shows where to begin. Practise writing with a finger, a brush and water, or chalk. Keep checking the first stroke, because the rest follows.

How to help at home

Write in different materials. Form capitals and digits with a finger in a tray of salt, flour or sand, or draw them with chalk outdoors. Making them in a different material makes practice feel like play and strengthens the movement memory.
Spot digits in everyday life. Read the numbers on doors, clocks, calendars and the front of a cereal box. Ask your child to write the number of their house or their age on a card, saying the direction as they go. Short, real tasks work better than repeated rows.
Capitals for names. Writing family names on cards, labels or place settings is a ready-made reason to practise capitals. Keep the first letter large and the rest small, and praise the capitals that start at the top.
Make a number track. Draw a long strip of paper with squares and write the digits 0 to 9 together, or 1 to 20 as your child gets more confident. Let your child choose the colours, and leave a gap each time for them to fill in a missing digit.
Check and spot mistakes together. Write a row of digits and make one backwards on purpose. Ask your child to be the teacher and find it, then write the correct one. Spotting an error is a good way to learn what the right shape looks like.

Leads on to

Year 2: Letter size, spacing and joining