New Zealand has this right in that it is not compulsory to send our children to school until they are 6. We can keep our children home until they turn 6. So, if we are wanting to teach our children at home we don’t apply for an exemption to keep our children out of school until they are just turning 6. Please read this link below:

Formal schooling should be delayed by at least 12 months because an over-emphasis on the three-Rs at an early age can cause significant long-term damage to bright children, according to a leading academic.

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9266592/Bright-children-should-start-school-at-six-says-academic.html

If you have not read this article yet then please do. The author goes on later to say:

He added: “Most children under age six need lots of time to play, and to develop social skills, and to learn to control their impulses. An over-emphasis on formal classroom instruction – that is, studies instead of buddies, or staying in instead of playing out – can have serious effects that might not be apparent until years later.”

Dr House said the Government must “help slow down the premature ‘adultification’ of children”.

We need to remember this in New Zealand if or when the Government wants to make preschool compulsory:

Dr Richard House, a senior lecturer at Roehampton University’s Research Centre for Therapeutic Education, who was due to present his findings at a major conference in central London on Wednesday, called on the Government to launch an independent inquiry into England’s school starting age.