The focus of this research is on the interplay between motor development and the emergent handwriting skills of children from advantaged and disadvantaged communities, during their first year at primary school. This research looks uniquely at the impact of a sensorimotor handwriting programme in the infant classroom on the emergent handwriting skills of young children attending DEIS and non-DEIS schools, and on the practice, knowledge and perceptions of their teachers in relation to sensorimotor development. The study incorporated a mixed methods approach with two phases of data collection.The first phase involved assessment of fine and gross motor skills of 178 children from three DEIS schools and three non-DEIS schools using the standardised BOT-2 test (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005). Assessment results provided the rationale for, and informed the adaptation and implementation of, a sensorimotor handwriting programme across the six participating schools. During phase two, the class teachers participated in a professional development initiative, following which they implemented the sensorimotor handwriting programme with the participating children over a 16-week period. Post-implementation of the programme, children were retested using the BOT-2, and semi-structured interviews were employed to gather information relating to changes in teachers’ perceptions, knowledge and practice in relation to sensorimotor development and the sensorimotor handwriting programme. The key findings of this study revealed that children in the DEIS schools entered junior infants with lower motor proficiency than the children in non-DEIS schools, while postimplementation of the sensorimotor handwriting programme, there was no longer a statistically significant difference. What is clear from the participating teachers’ responses is that they gained new knowledge and understanding in relation to sensorimotor development and emergent handwriting skills, and that the sensorimotor handwriting programme was positively received and regarded. The study is significant in attending to the sociocultural aspect of motor development within the development of emergent handwriting skills.