Education and School Records
Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire hold a large amount of records relating to schools and education in the North East of Scotland. From school admission registers to school board minute books, there is a large amount of variety and information to be found.
This map shows the location of schools across the North East. Each school for which we hold records for is located, though there are also some for which we hold no records.
Every effort has been made to ensure the locations are accurate, but if you find any errors please do not hesitate to Opening Hours and Maps and let us know!
View Schools in Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire in a larger map
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The different coloured pins note the historical county in which the school was located: Green: Banffshire You can zoom in and out on the map using the + and - signs. To see a list of schools in alphabetical order, view a larger version of Schools in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, or click the link underneath the map. Clicking on the pin will give you the name of the school, the parish it is in, and its reference number for checking our Online Catalogue to see what records are held. We hold over 4,800 items relating to more than 560 schools in the area! However, there are some schools which we haven't quite pinpointed on our map - can you help? The ones we aren't quite sure of are: Archiestown School (Knockando Parish) Also, if you spot any other errors, such as incorrect locations, duplications, or incorrect parishes, please email us at archives@aberdeencity.gov.uk |
We have also produced some lists which are available for download. These show which schools are in which parish, a list of schools in alphabetical order, and a modern list of catchment areas in Aberdeen City. Please note that the information in this list may have changed over time as some schools have since closed, but it does give an idea of which school may have been attended depending on which street someone was living.
Alphabetical List of Schools by Parish and
Alphabetical List of Schools
Aberdeen City School Catchment Areas
A Brief History of Schools and Schooling in Scotland
The system of educational provision by local authorities dates back to the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act. This Act established school boards in each parish and burgh in Scotland, with powers to erect schools, to take over and run existing schools, and to levy school fees and a local school rate to fund their activities.
The schools opened by the School Boards from 1872/3 aimed to provide an elementary education in reading, writing, arithmetic and religious instruction. Though education was compulsory, pupils were not obliged to attend public schools run
by the School Board. In 1885 the Scottish Education Department Higher Leaving Certificate was introduced, which served
as the standard for admission to Scottish universities.
Until 1901 the requirement for pupils to attend school until the age of 13 years was relaxed for pupils over the age of 10, if they had reached the approved standard in the three Rs, and had secured employment. As a result, relatively few stayed on until they reached their thirteenth birthday.
There are very few records which pre-date the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act. The records for each school may contain one or more of the following classes:
School Log Books
The log book is a daily or weekly log or significant events which took place in the school, which the headteacher was required to keep by the annual Codes issued by the Scottish Education Department. Log books usually note the arrival, departure and absence of teachers, alterations and additions to school buildings and visits of inspectors. Extracts from inspection reports, prizes won by school teams and achievements of individual pupils may also be included. Parts or all of some log books have been closed to public inspection, as they contain sensitive information on named individuals that cannot be made available to the public under the Data Protection Act (1998).
School Admission Registers
A list of pupils attending the school, arranged by date of entry. For each pupil the admission register usually notes the date of admission, name, date of birth, address and name of parent or guardian. Space provided to record the date on which the pupil left the school, and the reason for leaving, is used more rarely - the usual reason given is 'age', which means the child had reached school leaving age. Some admission registers are indexed by surname of pupils.
Lefts Registers
A list of pupils who attended the school, arranged by date of departure. For each pupil the lefts register usually notes the date of admission, name, date of birth, address, date of departure, number of attendances and reason for leaving. Lefts registers survive more rarely than admission registers.
School Board Records
Minute Books record information on the running and administration of the school by the elected board members. Other records may include letter books and financial papers. The survival of such records from board to board is variable. Further information on the various School Board records can be found on our Online Catalogue.
Photographs
Photographs are rare and only survive sporadically in the collections.
Miscellaneous Records
A variety of miscellaneous records survive for schools such as centenary brochures, gardening registers, circulars, prospectuses and so on.
Pre 1872 School Records
Information on some schools which operated before the establishment of the school boards may be gleaned from the organisation which administered the school, for example information on schools managed by churches may be found in the records of kirk sessions. Some earlier schools were taken over by the school board and occasionally records before 1872 survive as they continued to be used by the board school teachers. Generally there are few records of the many private schools in operation in the nineteenth-century, beyond the advertisements in the local press, although records relating to endowments trusts and private schools may survive. For example, Aberdeen Endowments Trust records are held by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives. The records of Robert Gordon's School are held by the school.
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