Today saw the launch of a new campaign, based in Fife, to delay the school starting age in Scotland to seven years old.
The Courier reports:
Parents and educators from across the region were shown what could be possible if a kindergarten stage for three to seven-year-olds was introduced to Scotland's education system.
Sunday's launch by Upstart Scotland, which coincided with National Children's Day 2016, took place at The Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery in Letham woods, the first outdoor nursery in the country.
Owner Cathy Bache said a number of parents had deferred their children starting school for a year or even two and had found the benefits immeasurable.
The Upstart Scotland campaign is spearheaded by chair Sue Palmer, the author of Toxic Childhood: How Modern Life is Damaging Our Children.
She commented that Scotland's very early school starting age has created "a cultural attachment to cracking on with formal learning at P1" to the detriment of many children.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this story. Would you support a move to delay the school starting age in Scotland to seven years old? And would you be interested in enrolling your child in a forest school type learning environment?
In England its all about the government and getting parents back to work asap. Now they have started giving out free 15 hours childcare to some 2 year old children aswell. Soon it will be a case of having to put your child into nursery as soon as maternity leave is over, the way this country is going.
Think its too full on in Reception and year 1 at the moment - my daughter started Reception when she was 4.5 years and is now in year one. Reception started off with a mix of play and learning but mostly learning whereas year 1 is just full on learning - which is too much I think for 5-6 year old children - fair enough we want them to learn but it would be nice if they got to play aswell. Like other people have said, they will spend the rest of their lives working so just give them a break while they are so small.