The group of academics, teachers, authors and charity leaders claimed the British system robs infants of the ability to play and puts too much emphasis on formal learning at a young age.
New Zealand Principals' Federation president Phil Harding said Kiwi children have the option to start school at 6, but most start at 5.
"I don't get the sense that there's a great appetite [to delay the school starting age] in New Zealand and the flexibility we've got means that if people want that pathway they can simply take it."
Early childhood and primary schools here were increasingly focused on the developmental learning aspects of a child's life, he said.
In Wairarapa, children arriving at school without basic skills lacked the maturity to learn in a classroom environment, Mr Hodgkinson said.
"First and foremost, many of those children have wanted to be outside and doing stuff. To sit down and have to read a book or write ... they're just not ready for [it]."
There were two sides to the argument on children's development, he said. Instead of focusing on trying to ready children for school, it was possible educators needed to re-look at the way they taught 5-year-olds.
"Maybe we're not meeting their needs in the way that we could. Maybe we need more play-focused learning."
ChildForum early childhood care and education network president Dr Sarah Farquhar said New Zealand's primary school system recognised the importance of play-based learning but teachers faced "contradictory pressures" trying to bring new entrants up to national standard achievement levels.
"On the one hand they've got to get academic achievement for the children at age 5 and 6, but on the other they recognise that the best approach to doing that is more of a play-based approach and working from where the child is at," she said. APNZ
