Should children still learn to write by hand?

Parents are told that writing by hand is vital for their child's growing brain, and that screens are eroding it. We sort the viral headlines from the solid evidence, and find the real benefit belongs to one group above all: children still learning their letters.

Your child's fussiness for food is mostly inherited, and most of the things parents try in order to fix it make it worse. Find out why young children refuse food, why it is rarely a parent's fault, and the unglamorous method that genuinely changes how they eat.

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Children in Isles of Scilly

How children here are doing, from the 2-year check to the end of primary school, set against England as a whole.

Health and early years

At a glance

Measure	Isles of Scilly	England
Good level of development at the end of Reception 2024/25 similar	92.3%	68.3%
Children in relative low-income families (under 16) 2024/25 lower	8.9%	19.8%

“Higher” or “lower” means the difference from England is bigger than the margin of error; “similar” means it isn’t. These are figures for all children in the council area, not for any one school or child.

Schools

Primary schools in Isles of Scilly

1 schools

The Five Islands Academy St Mary's

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Should children still learn to write by hand?

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Children in Isles of Scilly

At a glance

Primary schools in Isles of Scilly