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.

Your area

Children in City of London

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	City of London	England
Good level of development at the end of Reception 2024/25 similar	78.8%	68.3%
Primary pupils persistently absent 2024/25 lower	6.0%	13.0%
Children in relative low-income families (under 16) 2024/25 lower	6.9%	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 City of London

1 schools

The Aldgate School London

When should a child begin to train, and why the old fear was wrong

Should children still learn to write by hand?

How children learn to like food

Children in City of London

At a glance

Primary schools in City of London