ABSTRACT
A good deal has been said about the poverty of local families as seen by teachers in the school or to be discerned in reports by inspectors. For the average child, poverty could likewise prove a limiting factor since, in depressed years, money gleaned from any source was valuable. Carbrook Council Schools likewise failed to record the contents of the parcels received from the Sheffield Poor Children's Clothing Guild. The number of private gifts made by the Head and his staff alluded to elsewhere were an important feature of the schools during the 1896–1914 period but, once again, these gifts were only accepted because an easy personal relationship had been established. The school dinners introduced during the coal strike had been virtually a necessity to keep young children from starving, but it was not only in the 1890s that many suffered acute hardship and difficulties.
