Back to school in Jane Austen's England

This month, up and down the country of England, children will be lacing up shiny new school shoes, loading up backpacks, and trotting off to school for another year. Though I myself have been out of formal education for some years now, I still use the time of year as an opportunity to reflect on the goals I set at the start of the calendar year, clear out tired pieces in my wardrobe, and invest in a new notebook. The school year has started in September since the years following the passing of the Education Act 1880, which required all children aged five to ten to attend school, presumably to minimise truancy. You see, in the summer months, most children would be expected to help out with house chores and childcare whilst their parents worked the land. In starting the new school year in the Autumn, the hope was that a waning of field work for the year would incentivise school attendance. But if, up until this point, schooling had not been mandatory for all children, then what did schooling look like in Jane Austen's time?