Trends in the early admission of children to school: appropriate or expedient?

Summary

Despite having one of the lowest statutory ages for admission to school in Europe and the USA, there is a continuing trend in the UK towards earlier admission to school from four years. The twin effects of supply and demand for full‐time places in schools for younger children appear to have contrived to bring about this situation. The provision of appropriate conditions for these four‐year‐olds in infant classes appears to have received a rather low priority in many local education authorities (LEAs) although the situation appears to be an improvement over previous years. These failures to provide are the consequences of a combination of government, LEA and school governor decisions.

Keywords::

• early admissions policies
• primary
• nursery