I must apologise for the rather infrequent posts over recent weeks - I have been working hard to try and get the final copy for our book to the printers. We had a very busy couple of months over the Autumn period, taking photographs around the nurseries to go in the book. It is now called ‘All Aboard….for fun and activities with The Old Station Nursery’ and is a really colourful celebration of some of the things we get up to at nursery.  Once the photos were all taken by our very talented designer, Mazz, the really painstaking work of selecting and editing started.  Fortunately I had set myself Christmas as the deadline for the majority of the text, but I’ve been surprised at how much work was still to come. The last few weeks have been fairly frantic, making sure we have the correct permissions from parents to use the photos we have selected and pulling the whole thing together. Numerous friends have proof-read the draft, but we still seem to be tweaking and making last minute changes. However, tonight is the last chance for that, as tomorrow it will be winging it’s way to the printers.

Then the real work starts, getting ready to sell it. We’ll be offering it at a discounted rate to all our parents in the nurseries, but will also be selling it via our website and bookshops etc.  Watch this space!  Right….off to have another quick check through for spelling mistakes…..

Children should be allowed to delay the start of their compulsory schooling until they are at least six, a third of all primary school teachers say, in a report due to be published in full next month.

 

Three in four teachers are also adamant that it is wrong to admit children to mainstream classrooms at the age of four, according to a survey published today by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

A government inquiry is recommending that all children be allowed to start school in the September term after their fourth birthday.

Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted inspector, believes this will help counter the fact that summer-born children fare worse in exams because they start school at a later age.

His final report is expected to be published within the next month. Today’s survey of 700 teachers says many pointed out that children from Scandinavian countries did better in international tests than those in the UK despite the fact they did not start formal schooling until age seven.

Claire Jagger, a primary teacher in Cornwall, said: “I have taught in Finland, Lapland and Russia and have seen firsthand the way in which their seven-year-olds start school ready to learn.

“They are emotionally ready, socially able, physically content and mature enough to deal with the curriculum in school, bringing good solid life experience and a thirst for learning.”

Another teacher said: “Summer-born children, especially those born in August, often lack the maturity to cope with school. They would be better off staying at pre-school for longer but there is also a lot of parental pressure for the children to start school so they can go to work. I often feel like a child-minder and not a teacher.”

Teachers also said it was important for children to continue to learn through play right up to the age of 11. The survey comes as ATL members prepare to debate later today at their annual conference in Liverpool a call for the return of enjoyment in teaching and learning.

We have seen a real change at our nurseries over the last few years, as the school age has been lowered and many children now start in the school nursery class once they are 3, in order to secure a place in the Reception Class. Many children may still be wearing nappies at this age and it can cause real issues within a busy nursery class.  Hopefully the outcome of this report will be to encourage further debate about what is really the right time for children to start in formal education; at least the new Early Years Foundation Stage should see a continued emphasis on learning through play right through the first year a child is in school.  We feel that the most helpful thing we can do is to work with the schools which our nurseries feed into and try and ease the settling in route. Many of you may have seen ‘Louie’, our puppet, in each of the Lincoln nurseries, who has a big brother at school and is a focus for discussion and role play around moving on to school. If you have any ideas for improving this transition, do let us know.