I’m always amazed at how some people continually express surprise at the fact that boys and girls are different. It really doesn’t come as a shock to me that the two sexes (sorry to be so exclusive here but I’m not talking about the sexual complexities that accrue to some 2 or 3% of the population) are indeed different. We’re entirely unsurprised that male animals are different in behavior to females of the same species, after all.

So, as I say, I’m always rather amazed at the surprise shown by these sorts of figures:

Official figures show girls dramatically outperform boys in every area of early development - including basic literacy, communication and imaginative play.

Some 58 per cent of girls were competent in all areas, new figures have revealed, compared to only 41 per cent of boys.

The gap in reading and writing has stretched over the last three years.

The disclosure is made in a Government analysis of 556,000 children aged four and five at the end of the foundation stage - before infants move into Year One.

It suggests the majority of boys start compulsory school not fully prepared for lessons.

The gender gap persists as children move through primary and secondary school.

At the age of 16, almost seven in 10 girls gain five good GCSEs - compared to only 60 per cent of boys.

So, boys are different from girls at the age that they start school….and they make up some part of that difference by the time they reach 16. So what actually is the problem that everyone is worried about?