ABSTRACT
At the age of five the child enters the primary school. In this country it has been the custom to deal with the earlier years (five to seven plus) in separate schools or divisions and since these are part of the primary school, it follows that the fundamental principle governing the curriculum which we enunciated in chapter VII (pages 91 to 106) of our Report on the Primary School applies broadly to the infant school also. It is the special function of the infant school to provide for the educational needs of the years of transition that separate babyhood from childhood. Our main concern must be to supply children between the ages of five and seven plus with what is essential for their healthy growth, physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral, during this particular stage of development. This does not mean that this stage is to be, or indeed can be dealt with in isolation from what has preceded it or from what is to follow it. It is essential to keep in mind the importance of continuity with the work of the later years of the primary stage, but no one who has grasped the idea that life is a process of growth in which there are successive stages, each with its own specific character and needs, will dispute the conclusion that the best preparation for a later stage is to base the training during the particular stage on the immediate needs of that stage. In the words of our previous Report (page 92), ‘no good can come from teaching children things that have no immediate value for them, however highly their potential or prospective value may be estimated.’
