EARLY SCHOOL NOT RIGHT FOR BOYS?
After reading the letter regarding school entry and the 15-hourentitlement (26 July-8 August), I am prompted to write about thesituation here in Suffolk. Next term all children have been offered thechance to take up a full-time place at school during the year in whichthey are five, bringing us into line with the rest of the country. Thisis instead of the part-time offer parents had in the past, when nearlyall children stayed with us.
This has had a big effect on our provision as it has for many others.Most parents have taken up the place as it represents cheap childcarefor working parents, and for us it has changed the age range of ournursery (our oldest child next term will not be four until October).This means we will no longer take children to the local school each weekand we will only take children out for forest schools in the summerterm.
What a shame this is. Some of the children now going into the school arevery young boys and teachers are going to find it hard to get the bestout of them when they are managing up to 25 in one class. If they werestill here, they would have a one-to-eight ratio and a qualifiedteacher.
Why can't the Government fund a full-time place for those parents whochoose not to send their child into school until the age of five? We,like others, feel they will learn better where they are.
Caroline Priestley, Happy Days Childcare, Suffolk
Our star letter wins 30 worth of books.
INFANTS NOW LESS EXPOSED TO SALT
The Nursery World article 'Risk to babies' health from too much saltyfood' (online, 1 August 2011) was based on a new research report fromthe Children of the Nineties study. Although the article mentioned thatthese were babies born in 1991 and 1992, it failed to point out thatresults of this research may not be very relevant to babies now.
Much has changed since the babies in this research were born about 20years ago, including the composition of processed baby foods. I hopethat parents will not be panicked into avoiding convenience food fortheir babies when that might be unnecessary.
Charlie Owen, Institute of Education, University of London
GRIMM BUT GOOD
Fairy tales were discussed on Channel Five's 'The Wright Stuff'recently, with people arguing that they are not appropriate for youngchildren because they are scary and unrealistic about female roles.Although wary of the typical 'damsel in distress' stereotype, I thinkchildren understand that these stories are not real. One of the purposesof reading is to help children build vocabulary and imagination. Mostfairy tales also contain a large degree of morality, which can help forma child's belief system and build aspirations.
In the end, a child will choose whether or not they want to read fairytales, and it is not right for us to limit their choice.
Charlotte Baker, Derby
RADIO FAILS SERVICES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Frank Field MP reports that children are arriving at nursery with suchpoor communication skills that they don't even know they have names. Apandemic of lazy listening has developed through our predominant screenand keyboard culture. Parents keep toddlers strapped in buggies whilechatting on mobiles, rather than playing or talking with them, and olderchildren are glued to TV or games consoles.
To talk we must first learn to listen, but this year, the BBC hasabandoned its core public duty to provide a 'radio home' forchildren.
Parents and childcare professionals confirm that hearing high-qualitymusic, songs, rhymes and stories, without the distraction of pictures,can encourage listening, communication, imagination, concentration andphysical co-ordination. But cash-strapped homes and nurseries haveincreasingly limited resources to provide this essential back-up.
The BBC spends 460m each year on public service radio and itcould have marked the National Year of Communication 2011 with a networkto support young listeners and their families. Instead, they are leftwith less radio than 'Children's Hour' provided in the 1940s, when theHome Service was the only delivery platform. Listeners aged six andunder now get computer downloads to substitute their real radiohours.
The BBC Trust is reviewing the future of the Asian Network, which is themost costly radio network per listener, with a budget bigger than any ofthe BBC's other digital stations, at a total of 12.1m last year.BBC 6 Music and the World Service are enjoying reprieves, but childrenare a soft target and have suffered the deepest cuts in public servicebroadcasting, which continues to be unfairly geared towards adultneeds.
Susan Stranks, sound-start.com
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