Infant school
school for small children
An infant school is a type of school or school department for young children. Today, the term is mainly used in England and Wales. In the Republic of Ireland, the first two years of primary school are called infant classes. Infant schools were established in the United Kingdom from 1816 and spread internationally. They were integrated into the state school system in the mid-19th century. The teaching methods they use have evolved over time. Dictionaries tend to define the age ranges they cater to as between four and eight years old: this corresponds to the Reception year and Years 1–3 in the school system on England and Wales. 10% of children of the relevant age in England attended a separate infant school in 2018. In England, children below the age of five are taught in a manner more focused on play and those above that age have a more academically focused curriculum.
History
The first infant school was founded in New Lanark, Scotland, in 1816.
The public source identifies “Infant school” as school for small children. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Infant, school and small.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q987190. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1816 and 2018.
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This entry incorporates text from “Infant school” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.