<P> William Forster's Elementary Education Act 1870 required partially state - funded board schools to be set up to provide primary (elementary) education in areas where existing provision was inadequate . Board schools were managed by elected school boards . The schools remained fee - charging, but poor parents could be exempted . The previous government grant scheme established in 1833 ended on 31 December 1870 . </P> <P> The Act meant that compulsory attendance at school ceased to be a matter for local option, as children had to attend between the ages of 5 and 10, with exceptions such as illness, if children worked, or lived too far from a school . The Act empowered school boards to make byelaws for educating children between the ages of 5 and 13 but exempted any child aged over 10 who had reached the expected standard (which varied by board). </P> <P> The Elementary Education Act 1880 insisted on compulsory attendance from 5 to 10 years . For poorer families, ensuring their children attended school proved difficult, as it was more tempting to send them working if the opportunity to earn an extra income was available . Attendance officers often visited the homes of children who failed to attend school, which often proved to be ineffective . Children under the age of 13 who were employed were required to have a certificate to show they had reached the educational standard . Employers of these children who weren't able to show this were penalised . An act brought into force thirteen years later went under the name of the "Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act 1893", which stated a raised minimum leaving age to 11 . Later the same year, the act was also extended for blind and deaf children, who previously had no means of an official education . This act was later amended in 1899 to raise the school leaving age up to 12 years of age . </P> <P> The 1891 Elementary Education Act provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per head . </P>

When was school made compulsory in the uk