Age of starting school

[Marmalady]

I have been looking at the school admission entries on FindMyPast

My husband's grandfather and several of his siblings seem to have started school withing days of their third birthday around 1900 - 1910

Was it common to start so young or was this village school unusual in taking such young children?

[groom]

The Elementary Education Act of 1870, which was also called Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 13 in England and Wales. It might be that a small village school took younger children so that the parents could work on the land.

[stanmapstone]

Portsmouth Evening News - Saturday 06 May 1905
Hampshire Education
Infants at School
A question arose as to the advisability of providing school accommodation for children under five years of age, and a letter was read from the Board of Education, leaving the matter to the discretion of local Education Authorities.
In reply to a question, the Chairman said the local authorities in rural areas could please themselves as to whether they admitted children under five years , or even retained those infants under that age who were at present in the schools.
It was pointed out that from the point of view of grants it was to the advantage of the Committee to admit children to the schools under five years of age, but not to build for them.

Stan

[hanes teulu]

Hansard 14 June 1900

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1900/jun/14/class-iv#S4V0084P0_19000614_HOC_182

I used screen search, search key "three" (to save ploughing through!!)

[Marmalady]

Thank you

So it appears it was fairly common for 3 yr olds to be in school

In my case, the family concerned were in fairly reasonable circumstances -- the father was the village carpenter/wheelwright / undertaker

[Ray T]

Hi Marmalady

I've just been doing exactly the same thing, for the same period but down in sunny Stockport.

My grandfather was nearly 6 when he started and his two elder brothers nearly 7. The majority of children admitted on the same date were born at around the same time.

Ray (from t'other end of C-e-l-F)

[stanmapstone]

There was a Consultative Committee Report Upon the School Attendance of Children Below the Age of Five http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acland1908/index.html

Stan

[stanmapstone]

In 1905, five women inspectors from the Board of Education investigated the admission of infants to elementary schools as well as the curriculum used to instruct them. These inspectors reported the inappropriateness of such provision for these young children and recommended that children under the age of 5 have separate facilities and a different teaching approach from older children (Board of Education, 1905). The inspectors criticized the emphasis on monotonous repetition and rote memorization in the elementary school curriculum. As a consequence of this report, children under 5 were officially excluded from elementary schools.
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n2/kwon.html

Stan

[Marmalady]

lol Ray

The school concerned was Town End Wesleyan -- not The CoE Board School up at top end of CelF!
The Needham family were living on Hayfield Rd at the time