Twitter outrage over headteacher's EYFS comments

In a video interview about how St George’s School in Battersea achieves its excellent results, headteacher Janet Hilary says, ‘What is the nonsense of "we play all day in the early years?" I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have hours of free play, but there is plenty of time in the school day for structured teaching. At St George’s we do structured teaching from three.’

Ms Hilary, who is now executive principal of Floreat Academy Trust, goes on to tell the interviewer, Derrie Clark, an educational psychologist, that every three-year-old in their nursery speaks in full sentences.

The interview has been posted on YouTube by Reading Reform Foundation UK, a lobbying campaigning and teaching body.

Asked how they achieve their results, Ms Hilary says, 'The children at St George’s have lots of play and lots of discovery, but they of course just love structured teaching.

‘Children are taught the right way from the start. They aren’t allowed to develop poor habits themselves by working out how one learns. They are taught how to learn and from the start. They are taught their phonics, how to write properly from the word go – no mark making. They are taught tripod grip and how to orientate letters from the start. We create non-negotiables from nursery.’

The video was also highlighted by blogger The Quirky Teacher, who said, 'This structured learning consists of teachers explicitly, directly teaching children the basics right from the start. This includes the correct pencil hold (hallelujah!), correct systematic synthetic phonics teaching, correct letter formation and even elocution lessons. As a consequence, the triangulation of direct instruction of reading, writing and speaking, combined with their high expectations that all children speak in full sentences, has resulted in all children being able to read, write and speak English in excess of the government’s floor standards.'

The ex-headteacher of St George’s, a school based in a deprived area where more than 30 languages are spoken by pupils, goes on to claim that it is a ‘calm school’ with no behavourial problems and that it has eliminated special educational needs.

She tells the interviewer, ‘I woke up one morning and thought what is Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

‘In every school there will be some children with SEN. When I joined the school, we had 76 per cent of children with SEN. But today, and this is true, we have two pupils with a diagnosed learning disability. That is our SEN caseload. We have eliminated SEN.’

Ms Hilary says they do ‘remarkable things’ and if they can do it, so can other schools.

The sector has reacted angrily to the video interview, posting more than 20 comments on Nursery World’s Twitter page.

One Twitter user said that the headteacher fails to draw attention to any difficulties young children may have, and another asks what has happened to meeting individual development needs.

@HayBee1477 called the interview ‘unbelievable’ and @stefanrichter said he was amazed at some people's beliefs that play isn't learning.

@Sue_Cowley, tweeted, ‘I’m not entirely sure how you prevent three-year-olds mark making’, while@DeborahFielden countered 'In fact probably best to remove fingers altogether. Best mark makers of all'.

@RDut24 tweeted, 'Playing all day' for three-year-olds….described as 'nonsense'. I’m in shock.’