Catalogue description Department of Education and Science and predecessors: Elementary and Primary Schools Digest Files

Department of Education and Science and predecessors' elementary and primary schools digest files that note important changes in the structure, status, and organisation of schools established before 1966.

Legal orders and official letters on the subject of grants to voluntary schools are included as well as school history sheets giving the number of children enrolled and the average annual attendance figures. The early HMI reports for the period have been omitted from the files, with only the most recent report at the time of transfer being included. Other subjects include changes and improvements to school premises, proposed and actual closures, and parental involvement.

The files in this series were compiled from important papers previously held on general school files as an exercise carried out by the Department of Education and Science for the benefit of their staff in the schools branches. The work on this project probably started around 1966 and was abandoned around 1983. All schools in Bedford to Lancashire and the Peterborough Joint Education Board are included. For other counties, only those files that were called for by Department of Education and Science staff were digested.

The information on these files is similar in type to that included in ED 21, though on the whole later in date, much of it covering the period between 1944 and 1966 though in many cases papers relating to the period preceding 1944 are included on the files.

Files for some schools in Cheshire have been included under both Cheshire and Lancashire.

Papers relating to the period preceeding 1944 should be viewed in conjunction with the papers for the relevant school file in ED 21

A complete volumes of HMI reports for Primary Schools for the period may be found in ED 156

Board of Education, 1899-1944

Department of Education and Science, 1964-1992

Education Department, 1856-1899

Ministry of Education, 1944-1964

Privy Council on Education, 1839-1899

A detailed index is available listed in order of counties county boroughs and London boroughs in alphabetical order. Please speak to staff at the enquiry desk for the precise location.