| Wish you were here... |
| As seen on
the previous page, it was often almost impossible to get children to attend
school regularly in Victorian times, and most head teachers complained
about this in the Log Books. Farm jobs often kept the older children away at different times of the year. The hay harvest made the biggest difference in attendance, but there were many other important tasks, such as digging potatoes. This example is from Llwydiarth School in 1889... |
 |
|
25th
October
1889 |
 |
|
|
"Owing
to the fact that several of the children were at home digging potatoes the
attendance for this week was very scanty, the average being only 12.7".
Things were no better at the school by 1893... |
|
23rd
June
1893 |
 |
"Only seven children this morning. Many of the children stay at home when they please, which is and has been very often the case". |
|
Drawings
by
Rob Davies |
Most schools had
an 'Attendance Officer' who was supposed
to see that children went to school regularly, but many of them were useless
at this job. The head teacher at Llwydiarth School kept writing to the
Attendance Officer in 1888 about a
boy who had not turned up for 15 months,
but the Attendance Officer himself did not visit the school for 9 months
! In 1887
this school tried asking the local policeman
to visit parents and "the result
was 34 old offendors made to attend" ! Back to Llanfyllin schools menu
|
 |
 |
||
|
RDR
|