A new curriculum for the under-5s, which would require four and five-year-olds to write simple sentences and use punctuation, is to be watered down after experts described it as “overly ambitious for most children”.

Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, is expected to announce the changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS) in the House of Commons today.

The framework becomes law in the autumn and will affect all nurseries and childcare settings in England, including childminders. It sets 69 learning goals for five-year-olds, including the requirement that children should “write their own names and other things such as labels and captions, and begin to form simple sentences”.

A panel of experts set up to advise on government policy for the under5s argued that “some children, especially those most disadvantaged, may be confused and demotivated by the introduction of these subjects too early”.

The Government has always insisted that the goals were aspirations, not targets. The Department for Children, Schools and Families said yesterday that the two literacy goals in question would be reviewed, and that nurseries and childminders would be able to apply for an exemption from them.

“The Government will prepare regulations to make it possible for childcare providers to apply for exemptions, where a majority of parents support doing so, from elements of the EYFS learning and development requirements which they view as being in conflict with their principles about children’s learning and development.”

The climbdown will be welcomed by campaigners against the framework, who argue that it may produce a “tick-box” culture that relies too heavily on formal learning and not enough on play.

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