Victory For Schools to Opt Out of Early Years Curriculum

[Frazzel]

From The Times by Rosemary Bennett. Fri Oct 1st2009:
"Schools win right to abandon early years 'nappy curriculum'Two schools ahve won the right to opt out of the controversial early years 'nappy' curriculum after ministers dropped a commitment that no pre-school child would be exempt.
After their successful appeals, the Steiner schools will no longer be required to meet the Governments targets including making children aged three and four write simple sentences using punctuation or start using phonics.
The two schools which are the first to be allowed to opt out argued that the EYFS (early years foundation stage) clashed with Steiner philosophy which does not believe that children benefit from formal teaching of subjects until they are 7. They also do not introduce electronic gadgetry until that age.
When ministers first published the EYFS which contains 69 different measures for the progress and development of under 5's, thet made it clear that childminders and nurseries, schools state and private, would have to implement it.
Victory for the Wynstones school in Glouscestershire and North London Rudolf Steiner school in Haringey means that the 40 or so Steiner schools seeking to opt out are likely to be given the go-ahead.
Their success has stiffnend the resolve of many prep schools who oppose the EYFS curriculum. John Tranmer, chair of the independent association of prep schools, said that it would abck any of its 600 members who wanted to opt out.
Critics of EYFS say that such a prescriptive set of measurements is not suitable for young children because they develope at different rates. Professor Richard House, spokesman for the Open Eye campaign against the curriculum said that he hoped the victory would open the floodgates for others to opt out."

Editors note:Lets hope that this starts the ball rolling to also campaign against similar strict precriptive measurements in primary schools. Children are not computers, they are human beings with needs of their own. When will the authorities realise that one size does not fit all.