All children to start school at age four in primary reforms

All children will be expected to start primary school at the age of four under reforms announced today.

The Government promised funding for full-time places in England from 2011. It marks a significant shift in policy and a move towards lowering the already early starting age for formal education.

Currently children have to start education in the term after they turn five, although many start earlier.

Many who are "young for their year" are kept at home until they are thought to be ready for full-time schooling.

But a government review said parents should not wait until January or the following academic year before enrolling their children and must be told about the "benefits" of starting primary education aged four.

Ministers stopped short of changing the law to force all pupils to start school a year earlier. However, parents warned that the "cruel" reforms would shorten childhood and lead to a generation of institutionalised children.

Margaret Morrissey, from campaign group Parents Outloud, said many children would not be ready for school by the age of four.

"It is going to put tremendous strain on very young children who haven't reached that stage of development," she said. "We are left with about three years of being able to call our children our own. After that, the Government will dictate what you are allowed to do with your child — when you can go on your holidays, when you can't, what you have to do for homework.

"That will go on for the rest of their childhood from four years onwards. It is an extremely sad day."

Ofsted's former director of inspection Sir Jim Rose, who conducted the Government's primary review, admitted that "opinion was divided" about whether children should start reception classes in the September immediately after their fourth birthday. But he said that for children born in the July or August, holding them back can damage their education.

Research has found that pupils who are young for their year can be regarded as "immature" when they reach school and score significantly lower test and exam results than pupils born at the beginning of the academic year in September.

The disadvantage can last throughout pupils' academic careers and leave summer-born children less likely to go on to university. The review said: "Parents concerned, for whatever reason, about how well their child will thrive in a school environment will need clear guidance on the optimum conditions and the benefits to children of entering a reception class in September immediately after their fourth birthday."

Under the reforms, four year olds will be allowed to begin primary school part-time. Ministers promised to allow parents the option of leaving their children in full-time nursery education for 25 hours per week.

Teachers will be given more training in how to make early primary schooling less formal with more activities based on play under the plan. The number of compulsory subjects will be dramatically reduced with six broad "areas of learning" to allow teachers more flexibility.

But all nurseries and primary schools will still have to teach the "nappy curriculum" for under-fives, including literacy targets.

The nursery curriculum, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage, expects children to be able to write labels and captions and begin to form "simple sentences" by the age of five. But only 28 per cent of pupils currently reach this level.