The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) revealed its consultation plan last week following comments made by schools minister Stephen Timms at the annual conference of the Local Government Association which appeared to suggest the Government was considering raising the school starting age.
However, he denied that changes were to be made to early years schooling. He said, 'We have seen a transformation of standards at primary levels and are not about to go back to on our commitment to the three Rs. The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies have been hugely successful and popular and are here to stay, backed by 190m further investment over the next three years.'
Mr Timms added, 'The Foundation Stage for children from age three clearly sets early learning goals but also takes account of emotional development. The sterile "play versus structured learning" debate is now long behind us and the new balanced approach we have adopted has been widely welcomed by both teachers and parents.
'As we have already said in the Schools Green Paper, we want to develop provision that sees children through the whole Foundation Stage in one place, to improve continuity and enhance parental choice, and plan to consult on this in the autumn.
'If consultation responses suggest a need to review current legislation, we will consider that. Wherever pupils are based, the three Rs will form the backbone of their education.'
A DfES spokeswoman denied children would be starting school as rising-sixes rather than rising-fives. She said, 'A line in the Schools Green Paper talks about the need for a smooth transition from nursery to school. The Foundation Stage consultation will look at how to help children make this smooth transition.'
The DfES spokeswoman added that England 'had no plans to follow Scotland's lead' of letting some children begin their formal education a year later than at present. Last month the Scottish deputy education minister Nicol Stephen said that from next year the parents of winter-born four-year-olds will be entitled to an extra year of funded pre-school education if it is deemed in their best interests to postpone starting school by a year, thereby raising their school starting age to five-and-a-half.
Mr Stephen said, 'The decision to allow the very youngest children in the year group the option of an extra nursery year is an important step forward.' However, he stressed that the move 'should not be seen as a blanket recommendation to parents to seek deferrals - the interest of the child should always come first'.
The Foundation Stage was the theme of a conference in Manchester last weekend organised by the National Association of Head Teachers. Among those speaking at the conference, 'The Foundation: Getting it Right', were Wendy Scott, formerly chief executive of the British Association for Early Childhood Education and now an adviser on Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships at the DfES, and Lesley Staggs, formerly head of early years at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and now a senior early years adviser at the DfES.
