With the introduction of a new ‘tougher’ curriculum in primary schools in 2014, teachers are under increasing pressure to get their children doing more, at an earlier age. When a six-year-old must be able to use the progressive form of verbs, include singular possessive apostrophes and understand how subordination and co-ordination work, then there is obviously no time to waste. In several European countries, children have not even started school at the age of six. In England, they must not only be writing fluently, but must also understand complex grammatical concepts. And when schools are under pressure to get results in Key Stage 1, it is almost inevitable that this pressure will be passed down to Reception, and from there into nursery and beyond.
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