Year 1 English · Key Stage 1 · Writing – handwriting

Year 1 handwriting: pencil grip and forming letters

In Year 1, handwriting is taught directly and often, not left to pick up along the way. Children learn to sit properly at a table, hold a pencil comfortably, and form lower-case letters in the right direction, starting and finishing in the right place. They also learn that letters belong to handwriting families that are formed in similar ways. Good habits now make writing easier and less tiring later.

Pencil grip and letter formation, explained

Handwriting is a physical skill as well as a literacy one. A child who is squashed, wobbling on a chair that is too high, or gripping a fat felt tip with a clenched fist will tire quickly and write less. So teachers start with posture: bottom back in the chair, feet flat on the floor, the table at about elbow height, and the non-writing hand resting on the paper to keep it steady. The pencil should be a sensible size for a small hand, not an oversized chunky one.

The aim for the pencil is a comfortable grip, often called a tripod grip: the pencil is pinched between the thumb and first finger and rests against the side of the middle finger. Many five- and six-year-olds are still building the small muscles in the hand and fingers, so you will see all sorts of grips in a Year 1 classroom. Teachers encourage a grip that is comfortable and works rather than demanding a perfect one. Left-handed children should be given specific teaching. Typically the paper sits a little to the left of the middle of their body and is turned so that its top slants towards the right, the pencil is held a little further back from the point so the writing stays in view, and they sit on the left of a right-handed neighbour so their elbows do not bump.

Letter formation is where Year 1 handwriting gets its detail. Children learn where each letter starts, which way the pencil travels, and where it finishes. Many letters begin at the top and go straight down, such as l, i, t and u, but the round letters c, a, d, g, o, q and s begin with an anticlockwise curve, which is the opposite way to a clock. Getting the direction right now matters because a wrong starting habit is hard to undo later, and it makes joining letters together in Year 2 and beyond much harder.

To make the job manageable, teachers group letters into handwriting families, meaning letters that are formed with similar movements. Schools often give the families friendly names and pictures, though the names and exact groupings differ from school to school. One family might be the “long ladder” letters, made with a straight line down (l, i, t, u, j, y). Another is the “curly” letters that start with an anticlockwise curve (c, a, d, g, o, q, s). A third is the letters that go down the line and then back up to make an arm or a bump (r, n, m, h, b, p, k), and the diagonal letters v, w, x and z make another. The letters e and f are placed in different families in different schemes. Practising a family together helps the hand learn one movement and reuse it. Many schools teach unjoined letters in Year 1, while some add small lead-in or exit strokes ready for joining; the curriculum introduces joining in Year 2.

Words your child will hear

Letter: One of the 26 symbols we build words from. Each letter has a name, a sound or sounds, and a shape.
Lower-case letter: The small version of a letter, such as a, b, c. Most of what we read and write is in lower case.
Tripod grip: Holding the pencil pinched between the thumb and first finger, resting against the middle finger.
Starting point: The place where you put the pencil down to begin a letter. Teachers often mark it with a dot.
Anticlockwise: Turning the opposite way to the hands of a clock. Round letters like c and o start this way.
Handwriting family: A group of letters formed with similar movements, so they can be practised together.
Writing line: The line that letters sit on. Some letters, like g and p, have tails that drop below it.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 1, pupils should be taught to:

Sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly
Begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
Understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (ie letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these

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

Try it: writing the letter ‘a’

How does a Year 1 child learn to write a lower-case ‘a’ the way it is taught?

Get ready. Sit with feet flat and bottom back in the chair. Tilt the paper a little (top slanting to the left for a right-handed child, to the right for a left-handed child) and hold it still with the other hand. Hold the pencil with a comfortable pinch.
Find the starting point. The letter ‘a’ belongs to the curly family, so the pencil goes down just below the top of the letter, roughly where the number one sits on a clock face.
Make the round part. Travel anticlockwise: up and over to the left, round and down, and back up to meet where you started. Many teachers have children say it as they go, such as “round, up and down”.
Add the line. Without lifting the pencil if you can, go up to the top of the circle and then straight down to the writing line, making a short upright line on the right-hand side. Stop on the line.
Check it. Does it look like the model? Does it sit on the line? Is the upright line joined to the circle? Write three more, each one a little better than the last.

A lower-case ‘a’ is a small anticlockwise circle with a straight line down its right-hand side, starting near the top right of the circle and finishing on the line. Children practise it alongside the other curly letters, c, d, g, o, q and s, because they share the same starting movement.

Common mistakes and how to help

Starting round letters at the bottom, or going clockwise

Children naturally draw circles in whichever direction feels easy, and a circle drawn from the bottom looks fine on its own. The problem shows up when the next stroke has to join on, and later when letters need to be joined up.

What helps: Say the movement out loud and mark the starting point with a dot. Let your child trace a big letter in the air, in sand or with a finger on the table first, then on paper.

Believing that a tight, squeezed grip gives neat writing

Children concentrating hard often grip harder, which makes their hand ache and their lines wobble. Some then decide that writing is tiring or just not for them.

What helps: Keep practice short and check posture and pencil size before blaming effort. Activities that build finger strength help: tearing paper, modelling dough, pegs, building bricks and drawing big shapes.

Reversing letters such as b and d, or p and q

Everywhere else in a child’s world, an object stays the same object whichever way it faces, so it is reasonable to assume a letter does too. The four shapes are also very similar, and reversals are common in Year 1.

What helps: Use one consistent story for each: ‘b’ starts with the line, then the bump; ‘d’ starts with the round part, then the line. Practise them as different movements rather than treating mix-ups as a worry.

Making every letter the same size and floating above or below the line

Early on, children concentrate on the shape of each letter, not its height compared with the others. Tall letters like l, short letters like a and letters with tails like g can all come out the same size.

What helps: Use lined paper and point out which letters are tall, which are small and which drop below the line. Size and spacing are a later step, so praise good shape and direction first.

How to help at home

Make writing physical first. Practise letter shapes on a bigger scale: trace in a tray of flour or rice, paint with a brush and water on a patio, or use chalk outdoors. Big movements help the hand learn the pattern before the small, precise version.
Build finger strength through play. Modelling dough, tongs to pick up pom-poms, pegging washing on a line, threading large beads and tearing paper all strengthen the muscles used to hold a pencil. They are good for a restless afternoon and really do count as handwriting practice.
Check the set-up, not just the pencil. Look at where your child sits when they draw or write. Feet supported, table at about elbow height and a normal-sized pencil make a big difference. If your child is left-handed, place the paper slightly to their left, slant the top of it towards the right and sit them on the left of any right-handed sibling.
Little and often with one family. Five minutes on one family of letters, such as the curly ones, is better than twenty minutes on the whole alphabet. Write the letter large, say its movement aloud together, then let your child write a row and circle their best one.
Use their own name. A child’s name is a strong reason to write carefully. Make labels for toys or a card for a relative, and praise the letters that start in the right place and travel in the right direction, even if the rest need work.

Leads on to

Year 2: Letter size, spacing and joining