“We start school too early in the UK!”

If a child is reading before they are 5 and they are comfortable with it, then they were not taught by a parent and grandparent they taught themselves.

Born in wartime when books were few and far between, my mother sat me on her lap and read the same half a dozen books to me many times. it did not take me long to connect word spoken with word written and then recognise the same words in different contexts, to noticing similarities between words I knew and words i didn't. By the time I started school. I was a fluent reader.

DH was the same - except that his mother was a reception class teacher - This is also how my children learnt.

When DS had a half day at school the term before he started I simply gave him the book he was reading at home to take in to school and told the teacher that is what it was. I never spoke to the teacher again on the subject, nor did I ask DS whether the teacher had asked him to read it, but when he started school, after a few days, the teacher told me he was in the top ability group with the children who had started the previous term.

AuntieE

Some children are ready to start school at five, I was, and have always been thankful we were living in Scotland then, and not in Denmark. I would have been bored out of my mind if I had had to stay day in and day out at home until I was seven.

Some children are ready to start school at six, and some not until they are seven.

What we should consider in all countries is assessing children at age five, six and seven and letting them start school when they are ready.

And NO: teachers teach, parents and grandparents SHOULD NOT.

There is nothing worse when teaching either a kindergarten class or Primary 1 then discovering that a third of the class can already read, some well, others very badly because adults with no knowledge of how to teach have attempted to teach the alphabet or primary reading skills.

And while you are trying kindly to teach children the ministry-preferred method, instead of their parents' no method at all teaching, you also have another fifteen or sixteen children who start school with none of the skills it is the school's purpose to teach them.

Well....how do you stop a child learning to read by itself? I could read when I went to school, so could my children, they worked the basics out by themselves
Is it right to hold children back if they're working it out on their own?
Said son thankfully didn't start school until statutory age, because of where his birthday was, he wouldn't have been ready has he been born 3 months earlier and started shortly after his birthday
I'd never prevent any child teaching herself to read, it's the key to so much knowledge and enjoyment
I also have memories of my son rightly correcting me when I misdescribed a shape while we were out, no mummy, it's a sector...and it was

What we need is excellent early years practitioners everywhere to guide our young children and then we would be ok in the uk.

There are lots of excellent early years practitioners already in the UK, doing exactly what you describe pigsmayfly

The snag is, that according to those excellent early years practitioners and backed up by the knowledge from all those countries whose education systems we are encouraged to believe are *so much better,*you need a higher staff/pupil ratio than 2: 30 (1 teacher and 1 teaching assistant per 30 children) to get the most out of the variety of play opportunities that give access to a variety of learning opportunities that are in place in most EYFS classrooms.

I’m waiting for a government who puts money into that before they, or parents beat UK teachers with the could do better if you copy other countries e.g. Italy or Finland etc stick.

Good nursery education is all about learning through play and well trained educators extending that learning through play going on. About setting up a variety of play opportunities that give access to a variety of learning opportunities. So many young children have a wonderful time at nursery and enjoy joining a reception class which is part of early years and allows for more learning through play until they reach year 1 which is a transition year to a more formal KS1 curriculum. What we need is excellent early years practitioners everywhere to guide our young children and then we would be ok in the uk

Thanks for taking the time to find all that data NotSpaghetti.
We didn’t have a school bus, or any local bus when mine were in primary. I walked our children what I now know to be nearly 4 miles (3.7) each way before school started and at the end of the day because there wasn’t a primary school nearer.
I suppose I could have home-educated, I was a teacher after all, but there weren’t the same resources when my children were young.

Macaydia

Mamie, you said that your grandmother, your mother, you and your daughter worked full time. So, I am wondering, who was the mother or caregiver of your mother, yourself and your daughter during the full-time parental absence?

(Praise to all of you for a good work ethic, sincerely.)

My grandmother worked because my grandfather was disabled in the first world war. My mother worked full time because my father's health was ruined in Burma in the second world war. My mother was surrounded by aunts in her childhood, my grandmother looked after my sister and me. Our children had childminders and then nursery school. We both worked full time (although teaching gave me the holidays) and always shared parenting. My granddaughters were full time in nursery from a few months old and you could not wish for two more well adjusted, hardworking girls.
It is not what you do, it is how well you do it.

GrannyGravy13

Cossy yes which is why I used predominately not entirely in my post.

👍

Cossy yes which is why I used predominately not entirely in my post.

GrannyGravy13

Maybe those in charge of education should realise that one size does not fit all when it comes to learning.

The curriculum stifles creativity, handcuffs teachers, and for the clever children bores them silly.

Children learn trough role play, building bricks, painting, story time all of which is prevalent in pre-schools/nurseries, Reception and Yr 1 classes.

It is Yr 2 when they are expected to knuckle down and the playing gives way to a more formal approach to learning.

That’s not strictly true. My daughter is a year 1 teacher. Phonics are used and there are expected levels to reach and teachers are judged accordingly.

I think maybe the title of this thread would be better titled, “UK start formal learning and testing too early” perhaps?

Macaydia

Cossy, I will accept that i have a ridiculous and outdated view. Still keeping it ! 😊

Fair enough, sorry it trigger a nerve in me as some of us simply don’t have the luxury of choice

Total hours on site per year for primary school children by country:

​United States: ~1,260 hours (7 hours a day × 180 days)
​Australia: ~1,235 hours (6.5 hours a day × 190 days)
​United Kingdom: ~1,235 hours (6.5 hours a day × 190 days)
​Chile: ~1,215 hours (6.4 hours a day × 190 days)
​Colombia: ~1,200 hours (6 hours a day × 200 days)
​Canada: ~1,170 hours (6.5 hours a day × 180 days)
​France: ~1,140 hours (7.5 hours a day, but only 152 days a year)
​Netherlands: ~1,140 hours (6 hours a day × 190 days)
​Ireland: ~1,073 hours (5.8 hours a day × 183 days)
​Japan: ~1,050 hours (5.5 hours a day × 190 days)
​Spain: ~1,025 hours (5.8 hours a day × 175 days)
​Germany: ~940 hours (5 hours a day × 188 days)
​South Korea: ~940 hours (5 hours a day × 188 days)
​Finland: ~935 hours (5 hours a day × 187 days)
​Poland: ~875 hours (4.7 hours a day × 186 days)

Teaching/learning hours break down differently though as some countrieshavea lot of "infill", longer breaks, more assemblies etc:

​Australia: 1,000+ hours
​Colombia: 1,000 hours
​United States: ~990 hours
​Chile: 978 hours
​Netherlands: 940 hours
​Canada: 917 hours
​Ireland: 915 hours
​France: 860 hours
​OECD Global Average: 805 hours
​United Kingdom: ~750 hours
​Japan: 750 hours
​Spain: 742 hours
​Germany: 700 hours
​Finland: 650 hours
​South Korea: 650 hours
​Poland: 540 hours

https://www.hepi.ac.uk/events/launch-of-oecds-flagship-report-education-at-a-glance-2025-hosted-by-hepi-on-tuesday-9-september-2025/?hl=en-GB

There is no correlation between more hours and better results. Finland and South Korea have 35% less teaching time than the US yet, on international PISA exams (obviously taken latef on at about 15) they outperform US (and Australia).

OECD data sees that peak performance sits around 24 to 27 hours of total lesson time per week. Classroom hours past that threshold leads to diminishing returns, student burnout, and fatigue.

I know this thread was really about starting school again 4 or 5 or 6 but I think the length of the school day is too much.
It was one of the reasons why we started to home-educate. Rural school. First on the bus and last off...
A very long day at age 4.

Macaydia

Mamie, you said that your grandmother, your mother, you and your daughter worked full time. So, I am wondering, who was the mother or caregiver of your mother, yourself and your daughter during the full-time parental absence?

(Praise to all of you for a good work ethic, sincerely.)

This work pattern was common in many families at the bottom of the money ladder in times past. my great grandmother, widowed at 36, pregnant with 4 living children had no alternative to working, together with her 12 year old son, to support the family. Her parents long dead. My grandmother was a WW1 widow with 2 small children an elderly mother and invalid sister to support. She managed. My mother manage. My father was in the military, always on the move far from family, almost always worked pre-school did take some of the strain but teaching and school age children are compatible. I worked part and then full time, without help from the time my youngest was 4.

Barbadosbelle

If the UK school day gets any shorter it might as well just give up

Wow! Is that a “Does the hot weather make you grumpy? comment.

UK schools do more days than either the US or France. I CBA to look up all the other countries, but many have 4 day weeks, or finish at 2pm. Teaching in France I had a 2 hour lunch break.
France has 8 weeks and US has even longer summer recess, sometimes as long as 12 weeks. Some teachers there worry about the impact of such a long break has on what the children recall.

Macaydia

I would cry if i had to leave my baby with someone else. I just didnt feel right about it, ever.

Not everyone feels like that though.

Mamie, you said that your grandmother, your mother, you and your daughter worked full time. So, I am wondering, who was the mother or caregiver of your mother, yourself and your daughter during the full-time parental absence?

(Praise to all of you for a good work ethic, sincerely.)

My children were gagging to start school at 4 especially the youngest one who really thought she was missing out She was always the youngest in her class as her birthday is end of August …All have good careers
I too started school at 4 years old as an only child I loved being at there

And impractible 👍

Cossy, I will accept that i have a ridiculous and outdated view. Still keeping it ! 😊

I would cry if i had to leave my baby with someone else. I just didnt feel right about it, ever.

Btw, when we required childcare, it was all privately sourced and paid for by us!

No state involvement whatsoever.

What about schools? Most of them are state funded?

Macaydia

To Mamie who asked me, "Do you think you have the right to judge other people's life choices?"
No, Mamie. I am not a judge and yes, I do state my opinion on matters, even if it's unpopular.

It’s not just about it being “unpopular” it’s totally impractical.

Some of us don’t have husbands in high paid jobs so our jobs count towards household income.

Our 5 children, all work, they seem just as stable as the few friends/peers who had “stay at home” mums.

It’s a really ridiculous and outdated view that only a loving mother can bring up a successful stable and happy child.

Our children in their twenties friends almost all of whom had working Mums, fewer for our two older ones, in their early forties, but probably about 60% of both parents worked.

When I attended school (I’m 67) many mothers worked.

Macaydia

I dont believe in governments raising a child and I dont think women should have children if they are not going to take responsibility for the child's upbringing.

How very judgemental.

I worked throughout all of my children and I can assure you I 1) had no choice financially and 2) both my hands-on husband and I took full responsibility for raising my children.

For 8 years, whilst they were little, (for three out of the four children) I worked in a 24 hour call centre so DH and I shared childcare. He went into work and started at 7:00am, I started work at 4:00pm, we shared all childcare and some of the housework. We discussed and agreed all aspects of childcare, their education, when and what they were allowed to do.

Our eldest daughter had 1 year off then returned to worked four days a week, when he was 1. Dad also worked 4 days a week (both did condensed/compressed hours, full time but across four days). DGS attended a very lovely private nursery until he started his equally nice country state primary school.

It doesn’t do children any harm whatsoever to be on decent childcare.

It doesn’t mean in any way whatsoever us working Mums are not good, caring, responsible parents.

Cronesrule

I agree they start school too early. Here’s a radical money saving idea, we cut school provision for under 5/6s and use the money on “constructive” childcare placements. I don’t think it matters if a child cannot read at age 6 as long as there is good quality education after that. Of course there will always be parents who think it is a race to have their child reading earlier than other children but in the end, by the time they are adults, this is not a measure of happiness or success in life!

👏👏👏👏👏

Daddima

*And NO: teachers teach, parents and grandparents SHOULD NOT.*

Interesting from * AuntieE* there. So, what were parents and grandparents doing when they were reading to children, talking and listening to children, letting them help with kitchen tasks like weighing, measuring, making things with leftover pastry, playing with liquids and various containers, drawing and painting, sorting shapes, going through granny’s button box or daddy’s coin collection, and that’s just off the top of my head!
I also never met a teacher who objected to a child being able to read when they started school. If you have a child who wants to read, I’d love to know how you would go about trying to stop them.

Brilliant post and response to a totally daft (imo) comment.