It was often very difficult for parents to find the money to pay for their children to go to school in Victorian times.
Although the amount they had to find was usually only one penny (one half pence today) a week for each child, many families, particularly in country districts, had very little money to spare.

This entry from the Llangurig School diary of 1887 says:
"...Much more paperwork should be done to make the scholars expert in the use of the pen; but ex. bks. [exercise books] cannot be had without money, and many of the parents will not buy them".

Two years later, in 1889, the charge at the school went up from one penny a week to two for children over five years old. This probably made the problem worse !
Because many families were very poor many children had to go out to find jobs at a very early age to help bring in some desperately needed money for the family...

From school to work, aged twelve...