Handwriting Fonts For Teachers: School Fonts Compared, And When A Font Is Not Enough

Compare School Handwriting Styles

Last checked: 24 September 2026.

Which Font Is Best For Teaching Handwriting?

The best font for teaching resources is one that matches your school's handwriting style, so children see the same letter shapes on sheets as they are taught to write. Check three things:

1. Letter shapes. The a, f, k and y match your model.
2. Lead-ins and exits. They match your style: print, pre-cursive or cursive.
3. Licence. It covers classroom use and printing.

See handwriting worksheets to make sheets in your style without installing a font.

Is There A Free Pre-Cursive Font?

Yes. PreCursive is a free pre-cursive font released under the SIL Open Font License, designed by Matthew Napolitano. It has regular, lined, italic and bold styles.

It was designed for young American pupils in their first years of school, so check that its letter shapes match your school's model. It does not join letters. See pre-cursive handwriting.

Which Fonts Join The Letters?

Joined school fonts usually come with a scheme or a paid licence. Letter-join includes joined fonts for Word with a school subscription, with or without entry strokes. Sassoon sells joined versions, and Twinkl lists looped and unlooped cursive fonts. A joining font joins every letter the same way, so check it against your school's break letters. See joined-up handwriting.

What Is The Sassoon Font?

Sassoon is a family of typefaces designed for children's reading and handwriting, with print and joined versions, sold under licence. Rosemary Sassoon spent two years researching which letterforms children found easiest to read before designing Sassoon Primary. She has worked with type designer Adrian Williams since 1985. Sassoon is sometimes recommended for dyslexic readers, but we found no strong evidence that one font suits dyslexia better than another.

How Do You Get Scheme Fonts Like Letter-Join?

Scheme fonts such as Letter-join come with the scheme's subscription and are downloaded from the publisher's site. Check what your school already pays for before buying another font. See handwriting schemes.

Can A Font Teach Letter Formation?

No. A font shows the finished shape of a letter but not where it starts, which way it moves or the order of strokes, so children still need to see the letter formed. The DfE writing framework warns that copying or tracing without seeing the movement makes it harder for pupils to build a mental model of it. The Handwriting Repeater shows every stroke in order. See letter formation.