Elementary Education Act 1870 further acts in 1876 ("the Sandon Act", which gave parents a legal obligation to ensure that their children were educated) and 1880 ("the Mundella Act") made attendance compulsory for children until they were 10 years old, with various exemptions. Many factory owners feared the removal of children as a source of cheap labour. However, with the simple mathematics and English they were acquiring, factory owners now had workers who could read and make measurements. Following continued campaigning by the National Education League, following the Elementary Education Act 1880, attendance to age 10 became compulsory everywhere in England and Wales. In
Science education in England divide into primary (still called elementary) and secondary education. Elementary schools were defined in law in England through a series of acts of parliament which made education compulsory and free for children up to the age of 11 (later increased to 12). There were six (and later seven) standards for children to pass; science education did not feature in any of these standards, but for some schools it was an "add-on" especially at the higher standards (such as sixth and seventh—science subjects included physics, chemistry, mechanics). Promotion from one standard to the next was on merit and not age. Not