http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12711145

We didn't have history lessons until secondary school

Well what a great way to put them off the subject. Leave history and other subjects till they can actually read and write. Way too many kids are illiterate when they go to secondary school.

We did a bit of history in year six of primary school - egypt, pyramids; tudor england, henry viii. It was brief and more of an insight into what life was like. History as a formal subject was something I encountered at secondary school. I remember the topics that were taught each term but TBH they were taught poorly IMO. The curriculum may well have been excellent but the actual teaching by teachers was IMO abysmal and is why I was never interested in history until I went to uni.

The emphasis is on Maths and Science in primary schools. This because this is what the league tables show. Other subjects have to be taught in the gaps and teachers try their best to contrive ways of getting other subjects woven into the "core subjects".

Schools are SAT, exam and league table machines. They stopped delivering properly rounded curricula when these requirements came in.