ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief description of the project schools, and their staff, the organisation of the schools, their approach to teaching reading, writing and maths, and their policies towards involving parents in the education of their children. Nursery teachers varied in the methods they employed to encourage early 3R (reading, writing, and maths) skills. Although teachers were divided over the use of direct writing activities, and many had low expectations concerning the actual skills children should acquire before moving to infant school, by and large writing seemed to be an accepted part of the nursery environment. The term "infant school" goes back at least to 1816, when Robert Owen started the New Lanark Infant School in Scotland. One important feature of infant school education in England, which distinguishes it from many other European countries, is that there is as yet no centrally controlled curriculum, although government proposals to introduce a national curriculum are at present under discussion.
