In Victorian times,when the children did manage to get to school often there were still problems.
The school buildings were heated by stoves or an open fire which were nowhere near as efficient as modern heating. Children often had to shiver all day in the wet clothes they had arrived in.
Without electric light the school buildings were lit by gas or oil lamps on gloomy winter days, and more than one teacher complained that the children could not see clearly to read.
In New Radnor School in 1881 the school log books tell of such difficult conditions.

The entry reads:
"The severity of the weather makes it impossible to carry on school-work satisfactorily - the children cannot hold either pens or needles properly"

In extreme weather the ink froze in the inkpots in the classroom!

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