Strathdon School records .. Aberdeenshire

[New Zealander]

Can someone please enlighten me on where I might find old records for the Strathdon school in Aberdeenshire?  Perhaps other schools in the area as well?

I am searching for any record of my forebears for the period 1835 - 1855 if anything is still available for that period.

Any information or assistance would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

Alex G

[barryd]

English Registration of pupils and "log books" are available but I am not familiar with the Scottish ones. The registration of pupils are genealogically very interesting with names of pupils, birth date, address, when pupil left school, sometimes when they left and where they went to. Log books rarely mention pupils. The records seem to be in the later Victorian era not as early as you are looking for.

https://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=school+log+books+victorian+times&gbv=2&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=4omNU5rLKti0yAStk4D4Bw&ved=0CCgQsAQ

[GR2]

Most of the older school logbooks etc. are held by Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Archives. They have an on-line catalogue you can consult.

However, in Scotland school was not made compulsory until 1872, and school records before that are few and far between. Schools in larger towns overseen by the council sometimes have earlier records. There are also references to schools in the minutes of kirk sessions from time to time, but they usually concern the schoolmaster or the fabric of the building. For the earlier period, the best you can really hope for is to find a child described as a "scholar" in a census return.

[New Zealander]

Barry and GR2

Thank you for your interest.  I knew with this I would be very lucky to find anything but none the less I considered it worth asking.  School being made compulsory in 1872 was new to me so that was something.

Thank you

Cheers

Alex