What was school like 100 years ago? Life at school in the
Edwardian era was very different to how it is now. These
photographs can tell us a lot about how children were taught at
the beginning of this century. These children were in fact quite
lucky, as they were at school and not working. A generation
earlier, in the 1860s, one third of children in England and
Wales did not attend school at all and right up until 1881
children were not required to go. Only in the 20th century were
young children no longer regularly expected to work alongside
adults. By 1918 school attendance was not only compulsory but
the school leaving age was raised from 12 to 14 years old.
Edwardian schools were similar in a lot of ways to modern ones.
Classes were taken in the 'three R's' (reading, writing and
arithmetic) and there were also physical education lessons
('drill'). Girls were generally taught sewing and needlework. In
addition to their normal lessons, young people also usually
attended Sunday School for religious education