NEW YORK (Bloomberg) – Pre-kindergarten programmes can bolster children's readiness for school by providing an early start on developing reading, writing and math skills, a new study says.

A Georgetown University study of Tulsa, Oklahoma, pre-school programmes found that students who had finished Tulsa's state- funded pre-kindergarten programme were nine months ahead in reading development, seven months ahead in writing development and five months ahead in math skills compared with students of the same age who had not yet enrolled.

The study, published in Science journal, adds to research that is fuelling initiatives to increase publicly supported pre-school programmes in the US.

Oklahoma is one of only three states that provide all children with the opportunity to attend a public pre-school programme.

"When you're four and five, a whole year difference in age is huge developmentally," said Dr. Ramona Paul, assistant superintendent of education for the State of Oklahoma.

"We have seen that participation in our pre-school programmes has been a very powerful predictor of a child's success in specific areas."