Ms Paula Hilliard:

We have Aistear, the national curriculum framework, and we all work under that. It is like an umbrella that embraces the many different curriculums. We are working from an emergent interest of the child. We are following the lead of the child. It is unfair and unacceptable for me to promise any parent or teacher that by September I will have every child ready to write, or even to recognise, his or her name because every child develops at his or her own rate. We, as providers, need to embrace that, acknowledge that and support the child in that development.

Many of us have good positive relationships with our local primary schools and the feedback we get is that for going into school, they would like the children to be independent, to be able to put their own coats on, to be able to follow some simple instructions, to be able to get their lunches out of their bags, and manage those daily routines, for instance, be able to go to the bathroom by themselves. Those, for me, are the priority as the child goes to school because if a child cannot do those things, he or she will not be able to sit at a table for any length of time. We need to satisfy the needs of the child, as he or she works through our services. When the service is satisfying that need, whether that is to paint all day or play in the sand, the child learns many other skills and learns how to concentrate as he or she does it.

With that development, the child will eventually be able to come to the table and sit, but why would we ask a four year old to sit at a table for any length of time? It would not be realistic or fair.