Children 10–13 could be excused from school for half of every day
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the protracted absence of students and staff in schools up and down the country, and with them, lots of anxieties: worries about staffing, concerns about students’ achievement in forthcoming exams, questions about the role of parents, and concerns about the physical and mental health of the pupils themselves. Even in better times, school attendance has often been in the news with parents facing being sent to parenting classes, fined or even receiving a jail sentence if they don’t ensure that their children are educated.
For our ancestors similarly, the issue of school attendance was a hot topic in Parliament and the press. The 1870 Elementary Education Act, set the framework to provide education for all children aged 5–13 in England and Wales. In Scotland, a similar
