Introduction

Many parents, and indeed most experienced teachers, marvel at the miracle of progress a child makes in his two or three years in the infant school. By comparison with a child of 5 a normal child at the end of the infant stage is capable of assuming responsibility and exercising leadership. He will have acquired a measure of social discipline and he can be expected to be friendly, lively and responsive. Unless he is very slow he will have advanced a long way and in many directions in his work. He will have made a satisfactory start in learning to read, write and calculate. His memory and imagination are good. He can express himself often very well in talk and through writing. Indeed, linguistic ability seems to accelerate in many children towards the end of the seventh year when the quality and quantity of what they say and write about never fails to surprise and delight. Children at this stage have learnt to use many different kinds of material for work in art and craft. Hand and eye coordination are quite good and their paintings in particular often have a freshness and directness which is never regained. They can use their physical powers with confidence and their bodies with increasing dexterity and enjoyment. But even before the start of formal schooling at five any parent or nursery teacher will recognize how developed are his curiosity, critical sense and imagination.