I have heard of early learning but this is ridiculous…………….

As anyone who has visited my blog on anything like a regular basis you will be aware that I have a grandson who is currently 13 months old. He is a lively and very amenable child, happy (most of the time!) and engages with people in a very positive way (doesn’t suffer from shyness).

For the last few months he has been attending a day nursery for a number of days a week and a little while ago my daughter said he had received his first “school report.” Given that he was only about 8 months old at the time I was a little taken aback that such a young child was being subjected to any form of assessment.

Well, he has now received his second report (above) which was completed at the mature age of 11 months and I have to confess to being equally “gobsmacked” that such a report is being completed on a child so young.

Looking at the subjects how the hell do they assess “managing feelings and behaviour?” and equally “health and self care” My incredulity as to the validity of this document is stretched to the limit by the assessment of his “reading”  which has been marked as “exceeding” required level of attainment. My daughter has said she is starting him on Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the next few weeks, after all he will be 15 months old by then.

I know that my daughter is very happy with the nursey school and my grandson likes going to mix with the other kids……………perhaps it is my problem with old fashioned ideas about child development.

But all of this “assessment” nonsense is down to Government laying down Key Stages of Learning, but for gods sake why with children so young. Surely they should just be allowed to play at such a young age, kids learn through playing. They make friends, fall out with friends, sulk, get angry, get happy but this is all part of the rich process of child development.

What they don’t need is “structured learning” and assessment criteria…………let them be children for as long as possible and have the freedom of a child!