School Records   

The establishment of a state-run system of elementary education did not take place until 1831 under the direction of the Chief Secretary, E.G. Stanley.  The national schools which resulted were built with the aid of the Commissioners of National Education and local trustees. The curriculum was to be secular in content, though provision was made for separate religious instruction at special stated times.  The Board gave assistance to local committees in building schools and made a major contribution towards the teacher’s salaries.  A teacher-training school was established in Dublin.  Model schools were set up gradually throughout the county.

The records produced by the National School System can be divided into two sections:  those made centrally by the National Board of Education and those which were made on a local level by the individual schools.  The former are split between the National Archives of Ireland (NAI ) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).  When the records were divided, some classes could not be easily split between those relevant to Northern Ireland and those relevant to the twenty-six counties.  For this reason, some classes of documents, which cover Northern Ireland, such as the teachers’ salary books, remain in the NAI. 

PRONI also holds the registers of about 1,500 national and public elementary schools for Northern Ireland.   The earliest registers date from the 1860s and they record the full name of the pupil, date of birth (or age of entry), religion, father's address and occupation, details of attendance and academic progress and the name of the school previously attended.  A space is also provided in the registers for general comments which might tell you where the children went to work after leaving school or if he/she emigrated.  Some have an index at the front that can greatly ease searching.  

For those tracing ancestors in areas now part of the Republic of Ireland, things are considerably more complex.  The vast majority of school registers remain in the custody of local schools or churches.  Parish priests also hold come national school registers.  Few have lodged their records in the NAI.  Those that have include Celbridge, County Kildare, Corlespratten, County Cavan and Glenaniff, County Leitrim.  Some collections of correspondence relating to National Schools have also found their way into the NAI.  These include Ballyeaston, County Antrim, Ardrahan, County Galway and Clonvaraghan, County Down.  The registers of Denmark Street National School, Dublin, are available in the NAI on microfilm. 

The most important accession of National School records the NAI has made recently was from the Representative Church Body.  It consists of the records of sixteen National Schools, sent there along with various collections of Church of Ireland parochial records.  Ten of them have registers which start before the turn of the century.  These are Drung and Maghera in County Cavan, Robertson’s Parochial National school (Civil Parish of Raphoe) in County Donegal, St Stephen’s (Civil Parish of St Peter) in Dublin City, Tuam Mall in County Galway, Cahirciveen in County Kerry, Rathmore in County Longford, Banagher in Queen’s County, Drumbawn in County Tipperary and Inch in County Wexford.

 You can view the lists for Roll Books and Registers, lists for which are arranged by county: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/Nat_Schools/natschs.html