The entry shown below from the records of Ynscedwyn school refers to a number of boys from the school who had been working in the local coal mines even though they were only twelve years old or younger !
This was written in the school records in December 1884, and it reads:
"The wet weather has reduced the attendance considerably this week and last. I find that several boys who are under 13 years of age have been stopped to work at the different collieries. One of them has returned to school, but the others are idling about the place".

This means that the employers at the collieries or coal-mines had been checking the ages of the boys and had stopped the youngest ones from working there - but only one went back to school ! A similar entry from eight years earlier in 1876 noted that "Some more big boys coming in owing to the stoppage of the works", showing that some of the older boys would have been at work in the local industries instead of being at school, as long as there were jobs for them.

More about school and work...