As early years practitioners, advisers and academics, we welcome aspects of children's secretary Ed Balls' proposals to review the primary curriculum (News, 17 January). We have consistently pressed for continuity from the Foundation Stage into Key Stage 1 and argued the case for summer-born children and for boys. Proposals in the briefing letter challenge the myth that formal schooling must start in Year 1, but they bypass various initiatives designed to return decision-making to teachers since the publication of Excellence and Enjoyment in 2003. Unfortunately, they do not address the downward pressures exerted by the primary strategy, and ignore our rich heritage of child-friendly approaches to primary education.
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