Parents at Wynstones School (“Let children play until 6, demand Steiner parents” (TES, February 1) who fear it may be closed as it does not subscribe to teaching reading and writing in the early years foundation stage, will take heart from the example of Summerhill, described by Libby Purves (“Hurrah for the school that whacked Goliath”). They are not alone in challenging prescriptive expectations of the very young: as another article in the same issue suggests, it is possible that “the relentless target- setting in childhood brought about by wave upon wave of government initiatives and the inevitable subsequent restrictions on natural play, could be pushing us towards an ADHD epidemic” (“Playing with their minds”, TES Magazine).
Wendy Scott, President, Training, Advancement and Co-operation in Teaching Young Children, Keswick, Cumbria.