A very common sort of diary entry from country schools is shown here. Teachers usually tried to match the school holidays with the hay harvest because so many boys would be absent helping on the farm.

This Ynscedwyn School entry is from 1899 and it reads:
"School was closed yesterday afternoon on account of the Sheep-Dog Match".
Another entry from the same year read...
"A holiday on account of the Ystradgynlais Flower and Poultry Show".
Schools often had to close because hardly any children came to school when local events like these were taking place ! But since life for Victorian children was often very tough, it is nice to know that it wasn't all bad !
The Welsh weather often affected numbers in the school...

Getting to school (or not) in bad weather...