What is the best age for children to start school?

As SEN recruitment experts, our team at Class People have made a habit of keeping on top of the many debates and developments that go on within the education sector. One of the subjects that has interested them in particular of late, especially in light of SEN, is what age children should start school - a debate that has gone on, and will probably continue to do so, for a long time. Such has been the heat of the debate in our offices that we thought ought to summarise what we’ve learned in this blog!

What is the current school starting age?

In England (where the schools we work with here at Class People are based), children start school in the school year that they will reach their fifth birthday/the September after they turn four. However, this is not the case all over the world: ExpatChild has a detailed list of the varying global school starting ages on their website here, but some of the most notable ones include Sweden, where children don’t start school until they are seven years old, and France, where they lowered the school starting age from six to three years old in 2018.

Interestingly, however, school starting ages do not only differ by country, but can also differ by the type of school the children attend. Although children are obliged to start school at age five in England, some independent schools choose to delay more formal education practices until much later, including Steiner Schools.

Steiner Schools have been around since 1919, when the first of them opened in Stuggart, Germany. Since then, over 1,200 Steiner Schools have been established across the world, with 35 of these in the UK and Ireland. The Steiner education programme holds the underlying principle of providing an “unhurried and creative learning environment” for children of all abilities, faiths and backgrounds. The goal of these schools is to help children between the ages of 3 and 18 find joy through learning, and develop their physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural and spiritual sense of self through a wide variety of creative and academic classes.

Why do children start school at age five in England?

The compulsory school starting age in England was actually made law in the 1870 Education Act; apparently there was very little debate around the starting age at the time, though the main reasons the age of five was settled upon were: protecting children from exploitation at home and unhealthy conditions in the streets, as well as appeasing employers, as an earlier starting age meant an earlier finishing age. So, quite unexpectedly, the compulsory starting age actually had little-or-nothing to do with children’s learning and development!

Since then, however, plenty of research has been carried out to see if an earlier starting age has a positive developmental/learning impact, and this has found that:

children are more likely to learn more at school than they are at home, so starting earlier grants them more opportunities to learn; particularly when it comes to reading, writing, and maths.
starting school earlier means finishing school earlier, so children can use what they’ve learned earlier in the world of work. Similarly, later school starters’ wages are significantly less than those who start earlier (about 10% lower at age 24).
those who start school earlier have a higher IQ at the age of 18 than those who start later, as well as scoring higher on Literacy and Maths assessments
children who start school earlier are placed in an environment with other children, allowing them to learn essential social skills such as sharing, kindness and thoughtfulness, consideration and communication among others, putting them in better stead for social interaction in the long term
children who start school earlier develop a greater sense of independence earlier on; again, putting them in greater stead to thrive as adults

So why do many people feel that children should start school later?

When you consider the original (non-education-focussed) reasons for the creation of England’s compulsory school starting age alongside the multitude of research from other schools around the world where children start school much later, it’s not surprising to hear that has been an outcry from parents and teachers alike for the school starting age to be raised. Reasons for this include, but are not limited to:

children starting school later have greater opportunities to explore and play than they do when they start school earlier. Increased play opportunities have been found to have a positive impact on children’s mental health, whereas those who have less play opportunities experience the opposite. Play has also been found to increase children’s motivation to learn compared to instructional approaches
the pressures of academic achievement are introduced to children at an age where they are more likely to be able to comprehend and handle them more effectively
children who start school later are less likely to be inattentive or hyperactive in class

So, what really is the best age for children to start school?

Unfortunately, there really is no definitive answer to this long-standing debate, and it’s highly unlikely that it will reach a conclusion in the next few years. So, while the compulsory school starting age remains at five years old in England, the best course of action that schools and teachers can take is to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to enjoy positive learning experiences.

Class People (particularly when it comes to SEN recruitment) are eager to ensure that this is the case with the teachers and schools that we work with. We are proud to offer teachers of all experience levels the best opportunities to enrich the lives and learning experiences of pupils across the UK, as well as provide schools with high quality teaching staff.

In fact, we are currently working with a couple of the Steiner Schools we mentioned above at the moment, which, as an SEN recruitment agency, has been a particular joy for us and the full time and supply SENCOs, Behaviour Support Leads and Pastoral Leads we have helped to place there. Because of the unhurried nature of these schools, SEN pupils are able to learn at their own pace, and subsequently have a more enjoyable learning experience, and more SEN pupils are joining as a result.

If you would like to discuss any of the opportunities we have available, either in these Steiner Schools or in another educational setting, or you are a school looking for experienced teachers, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! We have also had some fantastic feedback about our sister company Cover Teachers:

"We have really appreciated the hard work that Cover Teachers have done on our behalf since last September. They have always been very professional and quick to respond to our cover needs, particularly after hours through their 24/7 texting service. Cover Teachers have a reliable and wide ranging pool of great Teachers, general TAs and more specialised TAs and their understanding of our school has enabled them to send us appropriate cover. Thank you! We recommend Cover Teachers as a first class agency."

Avanti Park School