Finland’s education system has an innovative approach toward learning.

Finland is one of seven European countries that doesn’t start schooling until the age of seven.

This idea allows children the time and space to develop naturally before being obliged to attend formal and structured lessons.

I believe a child needs to be a child. This means letting them run outside to explore and invent wild games or stories whilst using their imagination.

Ultimately it will lead them to discovering their own passions and interests, something well worth finding in life.

At five years old, what use is it sitting in a classroom crying because the child misses their parents and is overtired from having to concentrate for such long periods of time? It is unnecessary and pointless for a child to begin formal learning so early on in their lives.

According to the Department for Education in 2014, four in ten children are not suitably prepared for school at age five.

A different study in New Zealand compared aged five and aged seven children starting literacy lessons. It revealed early formal learning does not improve reading development and those who had started later had more positive attitudes towards reading and better reading comprehension skills. These figures show that we are putting pupils into formal learning too early.

Another study in America showed those who went to a preschool with a strong academic focus achieved considerably lower marks than those who attended play-based programmes.

All this evidence should be seriously considered in the hope that the government sees reason in making a change to raising the legal school starting age.

By Aimee Mortimore