May 3rd. Attendance pretty good on Monday after the Easter Holidays. John Thorn played truant on Monday and Tuesday and spent his school money. June 13th. Mrs Bailey found Albert playing truant on Wednesday morning and brought him to school giving him a good thrashing in the cap-room with a stick she brought with her. Following the 1870 Forster Elementary Education Act, Albert Road Board School in Leicester opened on 2nd September 1878 with an average role of 500 children. Drawn from the first-hand accounts of the headmasters in the school log books, this book details the diseases and ailments suffered; the struggle of local families to feed and clothe their children, especially during difficult times of strike and war; the introduction of vaccinations and the school health inspector; the arrival of the telephone and electric lighting; and comments about the curriculum, staff and leisure activities. Sometimes humorous and sometimes sad, everyday life is captured here: from accounts of overcrowded classrooms and corporal punishment, to squabbles about tending the classroom fires, this book captures the reality of life at this Victorian school.It is a must for local and family historians alike.