The article “Heads read the riot act over new phonics test” (23 March) quotes Sue Palmer, a literacy expert, as saying: “Children will start Year 2, where there is no sand or water play, knowing they have to do this reading stuff which they didn’t do very well in last year ...”

Well, yes, “this reading stuff” is surely one of the main reasons they are going to school, and perhaps if they had done a little more of it instead of “sand or water play” in Year 1, there wouldn’t be such a problem. Children have plenty of opportunities for “sand or water play” in the three years before they start school and, of course, at weekends and in school holidays.

Deborah Took, One-to-one tutor in schools, Reading, Berkshire.