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The Elementary Education Act 1870 commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. When children reached Standard 6 they sat a test which, if they passed, allowed them to leave on their 12th birthday. In 1891 the school pence was abolished, since when the state has paid all fees. In 1918 the leaving age was raised to 14, which meant many children staying in what was essentially a primary environment well into their teens. In 1944 this was rectified by a tripartite system where the most academically able passed a test to go to grammar school (a few local authorities still have this system) the next stream went to a technical school and the rest to a secondary modern. From the 1960s to the 1980s most schools introduced a less rigid child centred curriculum. From the 1990s a National Curriculum has seen a return to more formal methods of teaching with high stakes testing at ages 7 and 11. Following the Covid closures of 2020 and 2021 there has been a sharp rise in primary age children presenting with mental health and behavioural issues.

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