Eighteen months on from the founding of our campaign, the Open EYE group is feeling encouraged by having seen eminent groups, such as the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the recent Select Committee report on primary education, speaking out against four-year-olds in primary school and against many of the learning and development goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
This is a strong message for children to start school at six or, at least, after their fifth birthday, as originally intended by the 1870 Act of Parliament. Even the Government's Early Years Advisory Group gave such advice to the DCSF. Last year, minister Beverley Hughes ignored the message conveyed by nearly 10,000 signatories to our Downing Street petition, choosing instead to accuse Open EYE of 'scaremongering' through our campaign for publicising these concerns.
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