What age would you put this child at?

What a wonderful analogy!

The small, soil grown wild strawberries have an intense flavour and texture, warmed by the sun.

The hot-housed, hydroponically grown strawberry 🍓 looks alright, but is odourless, bland, and white inside and so often disappointing.

How terse this is.
''Most would likely be doing better?''

The little girl clearly has drawing skill and a good imagination, this will stand her in good stead.

Her handwriting can easily be refined. Her spelling is good.

A lad at College who had no GCSE's because he'd been put off by teachers at school, at age 18 took his GCSE's and A levels and got top grades in all..{Maths, Chemistry, Biology and something else {he had 4 grade A's at 'A' level {the highest mark possible then} and went to study at Bristol on his chosen course.

Children can be discouraged early by the ''Could do better'' mentality, and it can cause them to shut down to learning, as a harridan of a teacher can put them off.

Kids need encouragement, so they take pleasure in learning.

We don't know what Country the OP is in, or even if they use a Roman alphabet.

I think it comes of thinking of these formal learning skills as acquisitive. And of course in one sense they are. But the way it was described to be was that it is a bit like language in infant brains. We are born with an innate ability to discern and reproduce the sounds of any language. However, if by the age of ( about 2 I think it is) we have not heard them being used, the brain will actually do a clean out and think We are not needing these sounds, let’s dump them from the repertoire of possible sounds. That’s why if you haven’t been exposed to a language from a very young age you will seldom ever speak it (no matter how grammatically perfect) quite like a native as your brain has to replicate the sounds, rather than draw on your natural innate library you were born with. Similarly formal learning such as reading writing and arithmetic or times tables are one solution skills. In other words, they train our brain that 3x2 can only have one answer; or that letter b makes one sound ( sometimes a couple for some letters). If we are exposed to this one solution style thinking, it introduces rigidity of thought too soon developmentally and closes down certain conceptual strengths.

I am still baffled about the British early start to reading/writing and school in general. Cant see any benefit in it, on the contrary.

I guess there is a different aproach to what the word "school" means /in terms of what children do and how much /formal/ teaching there is.

I've tried to say this on MN before but it's not true that in other countries in Europe children don't go to school til 7. They do. In fact in some countries they start at 2 and a half - but the schools run on different lines and they're not trying to drum phonics and formal writing into the poor kids!

He§ll get there, in his own pace. Its a shame if he isnt giving the space he needs.

It really isn’t a race. He will have his own strengths.

Are going back to UK any time soon? Unless I missed it you dont say anything about that. If you are not, why are you so worried whether she is up to British school standard?
In most if not all other European countries children start school at 6-7 years of age. In some schools they dont learn joined up writing until about 8 years old.

Stuff like this makes me sad. My boy who’s 8, has dyslexia and ASD, doesn’t write as well as the drawing in op. Bless him. He tries so hard. But he only learnt to read this year so writing has always been extra hard for him.

Free reading In reception is unbelievably rare.On the rare occasion I have seen it, comprehension is low.

Not read the whole post, only OPs posts. I'd have said 4 (but pre school rather than reception) on the basis of the Y. It looks copied rather than naturally formed.

On reading, my youngest is in Year 2. I'd say the "average" in his class (state outstanding, reasonably involved parents) is "average" according to Oxford Owl. But there are kids who are still on level 5 and there are kids who have been free reading since reception.

My eldest is in juniors and it's all balanced out now in terms of decoding. Those who read earlier probably have a better comprehension and wider vocab but again, I'd expect that to balance out again in a few years.

Many countries don't start reading and writing until 7.

I have put my child in Steiner school in the UK for this very reason. He is 6 and will formally start reading writing next academic year.

For the first 6 years the child gets used to their body - building strength, motor skills, balance. This is all a child needs to do for these first years.

There is no need to rush them, they all get to the same level. I'm not sure why we push the intellect so hard so early in this country.

Sorry, ISN’T simultaneously developing other skills

It has to take time in the sense that if the brain is occupied with processing those tasks, it is simultaneously developing other skills.

The curriculum in wales is play based until age 7 and has been for years.

As education is devolved there isn’t a “UK education system”.

Do you have a source for that please @lostinaforeigncountry? It would be a useful citation. Thank you.

4 girl or 6 boy

It’s not that they can’t it’s that they can better master it when a bit older and the time spent doing this takes away from other developmental steps.

But it doesnt take any time. Both mine seemed to absorb phonic sounds via osmosis and chose to try to read/wrote at four. I was a very imaginative writer as a child and chose to spend time writing stories.

I was reading at four myself, it hasn't impacted my development, I'm a happy, confident, resilient, successful adult with a good job etc.

The art/drawing thing is irrelevant. My 7 year old is terrible at drawing, always has been. Top of class in pretty much everything else. I can't draw either.

It’s s bit like force ripened strawberries 🍓: it’s not that they don’t turn red, just that not letting it happen as nature intended inhibits the flavour.

It’s not that they can’t it’s that they can better master it when a bit older and the time spent doing this takes away from other developmental steps. Brains are designed to tackle different things at different stages and starting before the 6/7 stage tends to compromise other skills such as imagination. Uk children now tend to require more structure and provided stimulation than previous generations or children in systems that wait a little and foster more conceptual independence.

The countries which teach reading and writing at 6/7 teach language and spelling as it is - not phonetically - too, interestingly. Why do we teach phonetics to young children? 55- 65 year olds didnt learn phonetics and yet have highest levels of literacy as a generation.

To answer your question though, I think children can learn as you say from a young age, but at 6/7 they learn more quickly, remember better longterm and make connections better. So more effective learning. And better for under 6s to be learning in a more exploratory way?