or perhaps, Charlotte, there's a lack of observation somewhere. If that happened to my child I'd be wanting to check for dyslexia/dyspraxia etc - so often leads to kids being rated on 'performance' rather than at a deeper level.

Ralph Lucas, London, UK

Why should children be able to write at the age of five? As mentioned below, many European countries begin formal education far later than in the UK - here in Switzerland, my daughter won't begin school until she is six. I believe children benefit from being allowed to learn through informal play for longer. Four years old is too young to start formal schooling.

Charlotte, Switzerland,

I agree with Andrew's comment above (from Derby). It about time parents took responsibility for their children instead of blaming everything under the sun for their failures. I live in a Sure Start area, my 7 year old did quite well in her Sats. She was ably supported by her teachers etc. One big contributing factor for her success was/is that my we spend a lot of time with her going through her home work and providing her with lots of extra cirrucular activities - all out of the school hours. Extra money can only help if channelled and used correctly, otherwise there will be very little difference between education and the state of NHS.

Adi, London, London

I personally think the age limit set to go to school is fine except some children may not be ready by then due to the way they were brought up. So it should be the parents’ decision for their enrolment and not extending the age any further.

Also parents should be made aware that they could involve helping their children to develop if they have the time and not rely on teachers entirely. Some children may need more guidance and attention than the others so any little help will be useful to them.

I believe in introducing tests in order to assess a child’s progress. However, they should learn to cope with it gradually. It is part of a learning curve that we all have to go through in life. However, I also believe that the maths standard in primary school is rather low and I would encourage my child to learn more as he loves maths very much. In my opinion, it is the parents’ effoeffort that will make a great difference to kids beside of having good teachers!

JO, Edinburgh, Scotland

The government's approach is rubbish, in most classes there are some kids capable of taking a modern GCSE aged 8 if they were pushed hard enough, and there are also children, who, after ten years in the Army, would be capable of cleaning the public toilets.

The government wants to pretend to the parents of the latter, that it's doing something about their children. It may be actually doing something for their children, but it won't help.

Charles, London,

Fantastic irony here - an article telling us that children can't write their names and "must do better" with a link to an article telling us children are losing their childhood due to pressure to perform.

Julian, Brackley, UK

Parents and not schools should ultimately ensure their 5 year old children can spell 'mum', 'dad', 'red' and 'dog'. Not doing this (or finding out a reason why they can't spell these words properly) is tantamount to neglect.

Paul Kano, Manchester, England

I agree with other readers that a huge amount of it is down to parental time, effort and encouragement.

I also think that children not being able to spell their name by the age of 5 is not a big issue. Countries where schooling starts later, catch up and then outstrip countries where the children are formally taught at an earlier age. I think from the age of 4 - 5, development through play, imagination and encouraging children to develop and expand their concentration and attention span is much more important for helping them achieve later in life.

Tina , Dublin, Ireland

By the age of 5, I was extremely proficient at making sand castles, painting pictures, listening to stories with childlike abandonment and chasing girls around the playground! To read the earlier article about chldren being denied their childhood and to then read this article makes me quite angry.

I see this educational pressure working it's power on my 6 year old daughter with teachers being pressured into foccusing on maths and litracy and hardly any focus on emotional intelligence, relational skills, imagination or common sense. Equally important (if not more?) than ticking pathetic government targets. In their desire to compete with the EU with regards to education, perhaps the government should measure those countries that start educating children at the age of 7 with their end of university results. I am sure these countries out do us in the long run.

It embarasses me.

Carl, York,

Back in the dark ages of the 1950s, I was the youngest in my reception class (of 64 5-year-olds!), having only just turned 5 in late August, but most of us could read by the end of the first year; now we push small children into school when they are barely 4. This is not progress.

Most of the developed world's children start school later than ours in the UK, and most of them outperform ours in a big way , well before reaching secondary school. Little boys in particular do better when they have been allowed to spend more of their childhood outside playing, rather than being forced into the Gradgrind-style straitjacket of the National Curriculum.

These days, I teach sixth form students. Many of them, regardless of their GCSEs, arrive in college feeling jaded and weary of the entire educational conveyor belt - no wonder, after 13 years of joyless pressure. And then we tell them they've still got another 5 years to go!

Gill, Southampton, UK

It's now almost 40% at the end of year 1 and a good proportion unable to spell their full name at the end of year 2. Let's face it, with the standard of parenting and teaching these days, it isn't surprising. Miracles don't exist, stop expecting them.

Annie - At five there is no expectation for children to be able to do anything much. Reception is now 80% free choice activity and it doesn't include ANY formal education. A policy introduced by THIS government. Blame them, it is their fault.

Judy , Liverpool, england

It's time we stopped blaming the government and everyone else, and started taking responsibility ourselves as parents. WE have a duty to teach our children these basic skills. As Gerry rightly says - too many parents would rather sit their kids in front of the telly, than give them the time and attention they deserve . I am sick to death of living in a society where everyone would rather pass the buck.

Lorraine, Basingstoke, Hants

Why are children like this still progressing through their school years with all of the other children? Quite frankly, the system of age years in school is stupid. An 11 year-old could be smarter than someone just completing their GCSEs.

I am 13 and, in my year at school, there are potential authors, professors and politicians sitting next to those that, at best, might end up in a "do you want fries with that" job. This is disgraceful. Keep them in school until they are 30 and then let them have a life. A shorter one maybe, but at least give them a life.

Timothy Foxley, Stoke - on - Trent, Staffordshire

1) Why do we insist on children starting full-time education so young?
2) Children's progress needs to be monitored, but the manic obsession with 'targets' and incessant testing stunts true education. Schools become 'education' factories. In the 19th century 'payment by results' was introduced. It was dropped when it was realised that education was becoming distorted & was harmful to children's development & true learning. The same is happening now.
3) The government is trying to micro-manage education, the health service & the police - to mention only a few. The results are disasterous.
4) This is not to ignore other alarming influences on children - the celebrity culture of TV and all media, the break-down of family life, crime & the lack of freedom to be in the outdoors which previous generations had. All these lead to a loss of childhood.

Dave, Wrexham,

Too many kids are dumped in front off telly for a huge proportion of their waking hours from birth to age 3. This is the prime reason for their verbal, numerate and social failings. I, along with several professional friends, have observed this.

gerry, exeter, england devon

I don't understand what the big fuss is about. Children in the US don't formally learn to read until they are 6-7 and 25% still manage to go on and receive a university education. Reading and writing are obviously essential skills, but how is age 5 an important benchmark for concern? It seems too low to me.

Annie, Wiltshire, UK

Poor children from my factory-worker and coal-miner neighbourhood, in a class size of 35, managed better than this thiry years ago in state education. Then the tinkering and experimenting with "better" education methods started.
It took the socialists of the Soviet Union about seventy years to admit their failures and throw in the towel. Does that mean we have to wait another forty years for our socialist busybodies to do the same?
Incidentally, my childhood neighbourhood was only 9 miles from where our esteemed PM was raised and educated and coincident in time (1 year age difference). Is he really going to continue pursuing policies that deny children the standard of education he, himself, enjoyed just to appease the dogma of his own party?

KR, Stockport,

By the time I started school, in the month I turned 5, I could write my name and tell the time to the very minute. I came from a fairly hard-up family, my Mum left school at about 14. We're not special, why is it that today's kids can't manage this?

Diane, Sutton,

I believe that David Laws has got it badly wrong... it isn't about a yawning gulf between the rich and poor and throwing money at it won't solve the problem. Most of the 'middle class' people I know are not rich, but they put lots of energy and time into their kids... the result is kids who will be well on their way to being literate before they get to school. There are also usually two parents around. Contrast this with kids whose up bringing consists of being shoved in front of the tv or locked out of the house and left to fend for themselves by parents who don't seem to give a damn. It isn't rocket science is it?

Andrew Brown, derby, uk

Here in Germany, children are not expected to learn reading or writing until they start school - at the age of six. Likewise in Japan and, if I remember correctly, Denmark. Sweden starts schooling children at the age of 7.

Tina, Duesseldorf, Germany

Why cant we buy schooling 'f'rom the best shop' instead of having to pay for the government's sub-standard product whether we want it or not.

Brian Gilbert, HAMPTON, Middx

It is scary to read this article along with your other story today about children in the last two years of primary school losing their childhood to stress and anxiety. Are you trying to spread this stress back to the age of 5?
Children in Scotland start their first year of Primary school between the age of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2. Many in fact start a bit later, as parents tend to defer most who would be younger than 4 3/4s. Children in other European countries start at 6 or 7. What is this English obsession with getting children into education at 4, and burning them out by 11?

Charles, Edinburgh,

I was a nursery/reception teacher in the Uk for 14 years but for the last 4 have been teaching in Australia. Here children are not expected to begin formal schooling until Year 1. Reception year is a time for children to learn through play, develop their personal and social skills, strenghten fine and gross motor skills and aquire a desire to discover new things. Worksheets are frowned upon. By the time they begin Year 1 the majority of childen are ready to begin their formal education both mentally and physically. At the end of Year 1 the standard of reading and writing is very high. Perhaps it is time to take the pressure of both children and teachers in the UK and follow the examples of Australia and other European countries and allow our childen to develop and learn at a more natural pace.

Paula Malaney, Perth , Western Australia

My daughter scored straight 8s' in her reception year, yet at this week's parents evening we were told she was only average for the school....and she is now on the lowest ability table in Year 1...so perhaps "teacher observations" are rather worrying.

Charlotte, Richmond, Yorkshire,