Hughes orders review of EYFS literacy requirements

Children's minister Beverley Hughes announced Sir Jim Rose would be looking at the literacy requirements of the new birth to five framework, as part of his review of the primary curriculum.

Rose will look at how appropriate the aims, which include children being able to write their own names and begin to form sentences, are for children aged five.
Hughes said: "We have always said we will keep the Early Years Foundation Stage under review."

However the literacy requirements of the foundation stage have come under strong criticism, including from the Open EYE campaign group. Spokesman Richard House said: "There is no existing evidence that these goals are appropriate for five-year-olds."

Hughes also said new regulations would let childcare providers apply for exemptions from areas of the foundation stage's learning and development requirements, where parents support them doing so or where they conflict with their own principles, such as in Steiner or Montessori settings.

The review has been welcomed by the National Day Nurseries Association, but Conservative shadow families minister Maria Miller has labelled the review another layer of bureaucracy.