The school Log Books don't give much detail about the lessons given in class, but there are some references to routine tests given to the children. The examples on this page are both from Llyswen National School...

9th February - "No child had more than one mistake in spelling at the dictation lesson".
The Log Book for 1875 includes some examples of the sums set for the older children. One of these is shown below.

14th May - "Examined Standard II [Class 2] in the following sums - 48,016 times 590, ..9,175,648 divided by 8, ..39,009,017 divided by 6. ..Results - 1 Right, 2 had 1 wrong, and 1 failed, only four being in the class, on account of so many having left".
Perhaps it is not surprising that most of the children had left, if they had to do sums like that !
But in the Victorian years - and for some time after that - the month of May was the time of the 'Hiring Fairs'. Many servants changed their jobs then, and school leavers went along to try to find their first job.
About those sums. If you want to know the right answers - ask teacher ! (Remember that, although the Victorians invented a lot of amazing machines, they hadn't quite got around to inventing the pocket calculator !)

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