Handwriting
At Longton Primary School we encourage the children to use a cursive style of handwriting.
Research Shows the Value of Learning Cursive
Research points out the benefits of cursive writing for cognitive development. One study concluded that elementary students need at least "15 minutes of handwriting daily for cognitive, writing and motor skills and reading comprehension improvement." An article in Psychology Today cited research which shows that:
- Students "wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard." This study included second, fourth, and sixth graders.
- "Cursive writing helps train the brain to integrate visual (and) tactile information, and fine motor dexterity."
- The regions of the brain that are activated during reading were "activated during hand writing, but not during typing."
In the list of files you will find an example of the Longton style of handwriting.