Homefarm, it sounds as though you were very lucky with your school, I certainly never had any of those things. There is nothing wrong with knowing about the history of other countries per se but there is no need to memorise it these days when it is so easy to go online and find it out.
I don't remember my first infants' school at all (I had two accidents and was mainly home schooled), my second one I remember reciting tables, many of which are totally redundant now, for example 12d=1s, 20d=1s8d, 24d=2s etc.
I learned to write in the old-fashioned loopy style with a nibbed pen and ink, then changed schools and had to relearn to write in the Marion Richardson style with a biro. I love my 2 years at the 3rd primary school, I remember country dancing every Friday afternoon. We were allowed to pick a boy but the one I liked I wasn't allowed to have because he was short and I was tall! My 2 best friends and I 'took turns' to be top of the class in the weekly tests; whoever came top was 'allowed' to wash up the teachers' cups in the staff room with a friend so between us 3 we had a bit of a rota going. We also did the 'potching a hole for the straw in the milk bottle tops with a knitting needle' job.
I still have a 'Singing Together' book in the folder with my recorder music, I can't remember why!
Does Israel want full scale war in the Middle East?
Should women have equal pay and opportunities?