| Description | Under the provisions of the 1870 Elementary Education Act (9th August 1870, drafted by Liberal MP William Forster) local authorities and organisations such as the BFSS were required to send back returns in order that the Government might know which regions were without adequate schooling. In the areas without sufficient provisions for children's education (from ages 5 to 13), school boards were to be set up. According to the wording of the Act of Parliament, 'the managers or principal teachers of every school' were required to fill in their form and hand them over to their local authority or organisational authority within a specified time. The results would be compared with the number of children within the age group required to undertake elementary education, and so shortfalls in terms of the number of school places could be spotted. |