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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Norfolk Nan on Sunday 28 April 24 12:18 BST (UK)
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Is it possible to access school/education records for the 1960s and 1970s? If they exist would they be with the local authority or elsewhere?
Thank you.
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What sort of school records and what country?
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England, London so LEA and anything that explains why someone was excluded from school (as early as infants) and the discussions and decisions that followed on. A relative was excluded for (I think) disruptive behaviour and went to a 'special unit'. Eventually was diagnosed as dyslexic at a time when the borough didn't recognise it and had no useful services to help so was again sent to an out of area school. We'd like to know more, if possible.
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First course of action would be to check with the school(s) if you know the name and they are still in existence. Next, check with the education authority to see if they still hold the records- may possibly have been deposited in archives and unavailable due to the dates involved. It's also possible that only the person involved would be able to request such records if they do survive and can be located.
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Great, thank you. I know only one of the schools involved is still in existence, the rest all gone. But I'll try as you suggest - fingers crossed.
Thank you, again.
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Good luck.
Due to space restrictions the school records that I wanted used to be archived with the local Town Authority, but during re-organised they were given to the County authority. The latter authority disposed of oldest records to make room for more recent school records The exceptions being pupils who became famous.
Much to my chagrin I think they could have done the reorganising when I had made a special visit to the town only to find every office that I planned to visit was closed, such as the Registrars office for BMDs, etc. The local main library didn't have many records either , I think they were given to the local college/university to sort, study and then archive in their premises.
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England, London so LEA and anything that explains why someone was excluded from school (as early as infants) and the discussions and decisions that followed on. A relative was excluded for (I think) disruptive behaviour and went to a 'special unit'. Eventually was diagnosed as dyslexic at a time when the borough didn't recognise it and had no useful services to help so was again sent to an out of area school. We'd like to know more, if possible.
Even if located, I'm doubtful you would be able to access these records given data protection. They are too recent.
CD
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That's probably true but as the person involved is still alive and kicking maybe they'd release them, if still available, under freedom of information or some such thing. I can but try but I suspect the Borough concerned won't have made any effort to keep them. It's that sort of place.
Thanks all
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An exclusion would have been recorded in the school log book. Also when the child left the school it would probably record something. Also visits to the school by someone such as an educational psychologist. These would not have said much only perhaps something like,
“X was excluded for X days for X.
Reports would have been written about X but they wouldn’t have been recorded in the school log book. They would have been shared with the receiving school and discussed to a degree with the parents. How much discussion went on with the parents in the 60s is difficult to say.
The school may still have it’s school log book but whether they will let you see it is a different matter. Some will say there is a 50 year closure and some a 100 years. Some might be kind enough to copy a specific entry for the person involved and some may do this for a family member.
The person involved is more likely to get a response than a family member.
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My old primary school built in late 1940s let me visit their archive room
They had photos of sports events . Shows put on by various classes
Prize giving .pictures from the 70s of parents helping build an animal centre
And some newspaper articles about the above events and teachers retiring
I went to the secondary school and they had not kept such things and the oldest photos on the walls were from the 1990s
By the way my visit was a decade ago
I don't remember seeing any records of attendance absences or discipline....
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I still have my Primary and Secondary Schools report books.
Not exactly pleasant reading, a daydreamer, could do better, lacks concentration, inattentive.
Still two degrees and professional recognition later the schools did get me on the right track.
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an interesting question - we can access our medical records but don't think about our school records.
My guess is that records if they exist are only available to the person involved.
I sent for my college records some years ago and I just got a short note showing what grades I got - nothing I didn't know already.
A teacher friend tell me that everything about a child is recorded nowadays - test results - any disciplinary issues, however minor. Don't know how long these records are kept or if they are ever made available to the child/parents.