Some issues raise their heads regularly in the Northern Ireland education world. One of them is the age at which children start school here. As Britain appears to be moving from a school starting age of five towards starting children as young as four, as we do here, Mark Langhammer, director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Northern Ireland, has reminded Caitriona Ruane of her speech on her first day as Education Minister when she proposed to open a debate on the subject.

Children here start school up to three years before their counterparts in many European countries. In the Republic of Ireland compulsory school begins at six. Research indicates that if good pre-school education is in place children will not be disadvantaged by a later start and may be less likely to be turned off learning.

I have to say our experience as a family seemed to indicate that there is a point where formal education, reading, etc. clicked and energy expended any earlier was at best wasted, at worse demotivating.