ABSTRACT
In the late 1990s it is a commonplace to suppose that standards of education have fallen and that schools are to blame for a lack of rigour and plain common sense. In particular, primary schools have come in for criticism, even sometimes from their secondary school colleagues, for failing to teach the basics of numeracy and literacy adequately. Primary school children need regular physical activity to release the pent-up energy which otherwise often reveals itself in classroom disruption and inattention to task. The current government obsession with target-setting for improved numeracy and literacy amongst primary pupils by the year 2002 derives from the untested assumption that this will improve the reservoir of national skills and talent and, inevitably, national prosperity. Schools' own specialist teachers would need access to specialist facilities as well, with rooms equipped for science and technology, for example. As primary schools are organised and funded there is little time for management built into their structures.
