By Caroline Rushmer, a registered childminder in Cheadle, Cheshire Our education system is in danger of getting stuck in the past instead of moving forward into the future. Why are we obsessed with seeing quantifiable academic achievement from the age of three or four, when a great many children at that age do not possess the maturity, capacity for concentration or memory it requires? We seem to be constantly pressured into 'moving them on to the next stage', instead of enjoying, and allowing them to enjoy, the stage of development they are at. As a parent with a late-August son, I am well aware of the correlation between the month of birth and level of academic achievement (statistically, autumn-born girls do best, and July-and August-born boys do least well). I would dearly love to keep my son in his nursery school for a further year and enter reception class a week after his fifth birthday. My local authority, however, has made it clear this is not possible as it contravenes its admissions policy. Despite all the Government comments about 'parental preference', this does not seem to exist in practice.
By Caroline Rushmer, a registered childminder in Cheadle, Cheshire Our education system is in danger of getting stuck in the past instead of moving forward into the future. Why are we obsessed with seeing quantifiable academic achievement from the age of three or four, when a great many children at that age do not possess the maturity, capacity for concentration or memory it requires? We seem to be constantly pressured into 'moving them on to the next stage', instead of enjoying, and allowing them to enjoy, the stage of development they are at.
As a parent with a late-August son, I am well aware of the correlation between the month of birth and level of academic achievement (statistically, autumn-born girls do best, and July-and August-born boys do least well). I would dearly love to keep my son in his nursery school for a further year and enter reception class a week after his fifth birthday. My local authority, however, has made it clear this is not possible as it contravenes its admissions policy. Despite all the Government comments about 'parental preference', this does not seem to exist in practice.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance is working to support parents like myself who want their children to have the time and space they need to develop and mature in the most appropriate setting. Nursery and pre-school provision has suffered since a significant number of LEAs altered their admissions policies to capture the lucrative four-year-olds under the previous Government's nursery vouchers scheme. Thousands of pre-schools have closed - a blow to many communities, particularly in rural areas or where state provision is limited.
Now is the time for early years providers to speak up on behalf of our four-and five-year-olds and tell LEAs that what they need is time to play, mature and develop their self-help skills, time to learn how to learn from a wide variety of opportunities and experiences, and, above all, time to be the young children they are and never will be again.
