Education: First mistake

I hope that Labour will have the courage to act upon the evidence that children start formal school too young.

The worst mistake we made as parents was to send our son to a private school at the age of three. He hated it and was very resistant to learning. We moved him to state school at five. He is now 11 and scarred by the experience which he describes as "feeling like an orphan". He is a very poor scholar and we attribute this to his too-early start at school.

Karen Ludlow,

Hamilton Road, London W5