How do I find log books and other school records for a particular school in Scotland?

If you know the name of the school then you should first contact the local archives service. You can find contact details in Your Scottish Archives. You may also find up to date details in the published Records Management Plan of the relevant local Council. Every Council in Scotland is required to make proper arrangements for its archives and other records. Many Councils run their own archives service or support an arms-length organisation to run the archives service on their behalf, but some Councils run a joint service with another Council or have deposited their older records with one of the larger archives services.

If you do not know the name of the school, then for the period after 1873, there are several options. Postal Directories for each county and town have, in many cases, an appendix with a list of educational establishments. In the case of cities, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, these are subdivided by district. Many are online at <https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/> [accessed 26 April 2024]. Francis H Groome’s Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland (various editions) mentions how many schools were in each place (in most cases) but does not name the schools.

If the education authority (e.g. school board, county council, etc) published a diary or annual handbook, these might be held by the local authority archive service or local studies library for the area concerned, and these usually list the schools and other educational establishments in the area. The local archives or library may have other resources or might have compiled lists of schools to help with these kinds of enquiries.

Once you know which schools were operating in the area concerned, you can use maps to work out which school was nearest to where your ancestor lived. If your ancestor was Roman Catholic, look for the nearest Roman Catholic School.