What were you taught when you first started school.?

He is a lucky lad to learn anything at school. Cynical me wonders what he saw on tv and what he heard people talking about

Not very much. I remember reading and doing jigsaws. It was a Catholic primary school so there were nuns floating around all the time shouting orders.

I remember at first (aged 5) we all did reading, but quickly the teacher realised i could already read, so when the others did reading i was allowed to play in the 'wendy corner' which was set up like a little wendy house- unfortunately no one else was there to play with me? there was no 'unlearning' of my reading though, which is what happened to the elder of my own kids when they started school knowing how to read- they made them start again learning the 'phonics' method as nowadays- pointless! In our school I dont remember stuff like history items like Titanic or haulocaust stories till at least 10, to prepare us for high school at 11.(im only 58 though, so maybe there were 'guidelines' by then) Maybe another child told the class the snippet, as im sure the actual teacher would have had their true facts straight, and mentioned the survivors as well?.?

Some of these stories are so sweet.

Callistemon21

^I knew my times tables by the time I was seven. I remember reciting them by rote in class.^

Every day!
We had to know them before we went on to junior school.

That's right.

I went to school in Scotland. I remember playing with the dolls in the Home Corner, and practising handwriting with chubby pencils, also counting little coloured discs into groups of ten. We learned to read with Janet and John books, then later, we did a thing called the Reading Laboratory which had colour bands you worked your way up to Gold, each colour had a little booklet and a test card to check that you had really read the book! In the afternoons we went on Nature walks, or did Art or sewing. We also did Music and Movement to BBC Schools Radio, usually seemed to involve rolling up like a seed and pretending to grow into a plant. The teacher would read us stories at the end of school, I remember hearing The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier and one about an Eskimo child, can't remember what it was called, but I loved it.

Thankyou for the world so sweet/ Thankyou for the food we eat/ Thankyou for the birds that sing/ Thankyou God for everything

Oh yes! Brings it all back.

I went to boarding school in Darjeeling at aged 4. From the start we were taught to read and write, nursery rhymes and singing, also table manners in the dining hall. English history was in the curriculum. My grandson went to Grammar school in Chatham but never learnt anything about English history, eg, kings and queens or the wonderful industries we had in the U.K.

But its a good idea for you to write it down for him about your relatives, and other historical times, like war or anything in the years up to now- for him to read when he is older as someone else suggested. It will be very interesting for him by then, and helpful in his history, personal as well as schooling. Sadly i think theres less children 'choosing' history lessons now that they are allowed to choose their choices of lessons at high school when they reach about 13/14- another stupid idea introduced by the Gov't.(to do with National Curriculum i think) What was wrong with learning the whole lot till they left school, including geography & history, like we did? Opting out of any particular subjects is a ridiculous idea.

We were read the adventures of Worralls, written by Capt. WE Johns who also wrote the Biggles books. Looking back, our teacher, Mrs Weston, must have been a very enlightened person, choosing stories about a female hero in the mid fifties. Good for her! ~Great stories about working behind enemy lines, helping the French Resistance. Cor!

I learnt French at school from the age of four. It is very easy to learn languages at the age - I probably spoke better French then than I do now! This was a small private school. I absolutely loved it - apart from arithmetic and learning tables, of course.

Edith81- I'm surprised about the grammar school not teaching those things, my middle daughter went to grammar school and they were very BIG on the history lessons- and everything else was very thoroughly covered too- she had compulsory language lessons too including german & french & spanish. Plus history music and of course English, maths, biology, P.E. etc.She came out with around 12 or13 A* & A*plus. It was the only grammar school in a large area (it still is) and the test for it was very hard.But they did cover ALL subjects in classes.And back then (80's) there was no 'opting out' or 'making their own choices of lessons'- much better, i think.

Ladybird Peter & Jane books. I loved reading about them and their dog Pat.

My daughter was told the original Dracula story at her first school, she had nightmares for months!

The first thing I learned in infants school (age 5) was that being able to read and write when everyone else was still learning the alphabet made me very unpopular with my teacher! My grandmother had taught me and I could easily read my books and write in joined up writing. When I told my teacher that the word she had just written on the blackboard should have a capital letter I was sent to stand in the corner for being impudent. She insisted I learned everything again from the beginning starting with ABC etc. I was so bored. I told my Gran and she went to the school and complained, which only made my teacher like me even less! When I tried to help the girl next to me I was told off for talking, slapped with the ruler and sent to the corner again.

Apart from that I remember learning about animals that lived in different countries, probably a Geography lesson. And a History lesson about the Victorians and how they didn't have indoor toilets and bathrooms. Our school toilets were also outside!

Despite an unfortunate start to my school life I really liked school.

Blinko, yes we too did that same prayer before lunch- it was when i was in a catholic school in Berkshire, aged 6- 8.

The thing I learned at school many years ago was not to talk as you had your little finger slapped by a wooden ruler, it only happened to me once.
If parents went to the school for every little thing not much schooling would be done, these days the curriculum is set, not by the teachers themselves who often are not happy either!

One of my DGDs, who turns 12 today, is very interested in the Holocaust and has read a lot about it, including several novels. I have bought her The Diary of Anne Frank as one of her birthday presents. Sympathy for the victims has prompted her to read novels about children who are modern day refugees. I think that her sister, who turned 10 yesterday, would be able to cope with those books if she was interested. However, I am not sure that they wouldn't find a film more upsetting. Possibly.

In general, I don't object to schools teaching about traumatic subjects, if it's done with sensitivity. However, when my elder DD was at secondary school they had a lesson where the teacher talked about and showed them photos of serial killers. I have no idea why. My DD became particularly frightened of Dennis Neilson (sorry, don't know how to spell it.) She even dreamed that he was trying to get through her window to get her. I had to talk to her and explain that he was in prison and wouldn't be coming out, and that he wasn't interested in girls anyway. We managed to make it into a joke about "your friend Dennis", to take away the fear. That was 30 years ago. I have never understood why they thought it was a suitable subject for kids. I can see that it's important to make them aware of the danger of being attacked or abducted, but this was more like a social history lesson. It certainly scared the hell out of my DD.

Blimey Happysexagenarian- im lucky my teacher didn't mind me already reading and just let me go play in wendy corner then!? I used to help my best friend learn to read better in breaks and after school (we lived near her) so that she could hurry up & come join me playing in the wendy house?

My earliest school memory is of being a witch around a cauldron and reciting "hubble bubble toil and trouble", I also remember my teacher - Miss Roberts - who had a West Country accent, ringing the handheld bell in the playground. and shouting "walk quiortly to yur loins children". Not sure what age I was but before I was 8. I also remember walking to school in the snow and my mum telling me that I was walking on top of the hedge! (Obviously very deep snow that year!). There was a little boy who used to walk with us to school called Billy, I can remember him because he had very short crew cut hair . He was American, and according to mum he used to greet us by saying "Gee Janice, your a living doll!)
Like most of us on here we learned tables by rote - the first thing we did each morning after "prayers"!

I remember being allowed to paint a lot in Reception, because I could already read and was quick at work. Shame my paintings didn’t turn into a marketable talent after all that practice.
In teaching, I remember a discussion with a Y1 class about things that melt and what happens. Charlotte’s contribution was metal. When I asked how she knew, she talked about seeing it in Terminator!

Yes one of my GD's is very interested in the Holocaust stories etc, and i bought her a book for christmas, and another ill give her when i go visit (they're over 70 miles away) but she's 14 now so probably was learning it in school history and its captured her interest.But they have never taught them about serial killers, and i can't think why they would do that? Does the head of the school know? Did they approve that? It sounds very odd that they would do so? ?

Yah! Allioop Peter and Jane and Pat the dog.

Loved ladybird books our infants class had a foldable book case filled with them in book corner. I can still visualise the illustrations.

Here’s a rhyming one: Ginger(?)
Gingers’ bedroom was a kennel
In the garden by the wall
Where he often lay a dozing
Waiting for his friend to call

Oh yes, Mollygo, i had forgotten about the painting- we did a lot of that too- it was little pots of powder paint at first- and we had to wet our brush a bit & dip in, and we had little plastic pots for if we wanted to mix any colours- gosh i can still remember the smell of those powder paints! ? And the soap, at all the little sinks we had white buttermilk soap- i liked the smell of that. And also, school dinners back in those days were quite good in our school- a proper meal, quite nice then, not the fast food cr*p that schools get in ready prepared nowadays.?

1928 At the age of five I went to a small private school run by a mother and daughter.
I could already read but learned to write on ready ruled paper. We learned French and had to greet everyone in that language every morning. We learned about the British Empire and on Empire Day paraded around with Union Jack flags. On May Day we also had a parade through the streets dressed in white and as it was my birthday I was The May Queen.