Ds is 7. He was a great sleeper as a baby and toddler but probably since he started school he's had trouble falling asleep at night.
I do try to get him to wind down in the evening but sometimes it's not possible because he has clubs until 6.40-7.00pm.
What I do now is get him to have a bath/shower and brush his teeth and aim to have him in bed by 7.30pm. Then I let him read or colour until 8.00pm then lights out. Sometimes it ends up being a bit later.
Sometimes he goes to sleep but sometimes we hear him banging around still as late as 9.30pm. Dh gets annoyed but if he can't sleep he can't sleep. I struggled to get to sleep as a child but I grew out of it. It's horrible tossing and turning in the dark.
Sometimes if I just leave him to read or colour past lights out he falls asleep. Later than I'd like but at least he just nods off and usually earlier than when I actually go up and turns the lights off iyswim?
He does need more sleep as he gets overtired so I don't think it's a case of putting him to bed too early.