Opinion: In my view - Will schools be ready?

Greater flexibility over when children start school is welcome. This initiative has the potential to enable children below statutory school age to flourish through play-based learning in a nursery up to age five, and parents needing childcare will become eligible for more hours from the September after their child's fourth birthday.

Potentially, the offer of termly admissions and flexible part-time hours could require many primary schools to adapt their organisation and teaching to meet the needs of individual children. This would demand a responsive approach to induction, assessment, curriculum planning and transitions.

However, this level of parental choice presents real challenges for local authorities, at a time when many are already struggling to implement the Early Years Single Funding Formula. The proposals have cost implications well beyond the £80m made available for the Government's main aim, which is to encourage schools to admit all children in the September of the year in which they become five. In practice, many parents, whatever their ideal preference, will not want to risk losing a place at their preferred primary school.

Effective early education can, of course, happen in reception classes too, the more so if schools could be released from unrealistic literacy goals and the downward pressures of the Outcomes duty. The forthcoming EYFS Review should endorse the importance of continuing early years pedagogy into Key Stage 1, and ensure that information for parents highlights the underpinning principles that apply across all sectors.

The message to politicians of all parties is that parents and practitioners alike want schools that are ready for children, whenever they are admitted.