Strange to the modern eye is the fact that the boys are wearing uniform: it was an expected form of dress at the time and no alternative was allowed during term-time. Rules about wearing caps were especially strict, and boys had to obey social conventions of the time as well as school regulations. 

For the boys in the photograph, any half-term was simply a marker in the calendar: there would be no half-term break during which they could go home. Especially prized for a boy in 1905, therefore, was the prospect of a ‘half-holiday’ or a ‘whole holiday’ during the term. In fact, the first half-term break (from Saturday to Tuesday) did not take place until the autumn term of 1965 and even then it was introduced merely as an experiment, albeit one that lasted until 1997 when the half-term break was first extended to a whole week in all three terms.

The time away from lessons on such days offered a chance to ‘escape’ the boundaries of school and boys would take advantage of the opportunity to venture outside the school gates to walk in the Beacons, explore further distances on bicycles - or go boating on the canal.

Sometimes half-holidays were given to mark a special event, such as a win in the annual cricket or rugby football match against Llandovery. More often they marked the achievement of a former pupil who had gained a professional or academic distinction. On less frequent occasions, a whole holiday was given to the school to mark a very special distinction, such as the knighthood of an Old Breconian. Whole holidays were also given on a Bank holiday weekend that fell during term time, including Easter. 

In an extraordinary bundle of letters generously donated to the Archive by Major Philip Pritchard, the nephew of the writer, we can read of such an Easter weekend in school.