Using school records to research your family history

Why school records are useful

Unlike most records, school records follow children across many years of their lives. This makes them one of the only records that can show a person’s whole childhood.

Depending on the type of record, you can find useful information about your family members, including:

• their name and age
• when they were enrolled at a school
• where they lived while at school
• names and occupations of their parents
• schools they attended
• photographs of them as a student
• notes about incidents or events involving them
• what school life and culture were like for them
• information about their teachers.

If you’re building a family story, school records can add rich detail about everyday life including glimpses of who your relatives were as children and what their world looked like.

Types of school records for family history research

School records can help you uncover details about your relatives, their schools and daily life.

For detailed examples of how to undertake searches for school records, see Case studies: how school records can help.

Corporal punishment books

Corporal punishment was allowed in government schools until 1983. Its use was governed by certain protocols.

The teacher inflicting corporal punishment had to record it in a corporal punishment book. The record had to include the name of the student and punishment they received. These books are rare but, when they do exist, they can offer insights into school discipline in the past.

Find out more: corporal punishment, suspension and expulsion.

Enrolment records

Enrolment records have information about:

• enrolment dates
• full names of students
• addresses of students
• birth dates of students
• names and occupations of parents or guardians
• name of previous schools and subsequent schools attended by students.

Depending on the age of the record it may be publicly available at the Public Record Office Victoria.

Find out more: Understanding student enrolment records.

Parents and friends clubs and groups (formerly mothers clubs) minutes

Parents and friends clubs and groups, known as mothers clubs prior to the 1970s, were key to gathering financial and other support from the local community.

The minutes of meetings of these groups include information on fundraising efforts and maintenance ‘working bees’. These records can illustrate the issues and activities that the school community focussed on.

Find out more: The role of mothers clubs in Victorian public education.

School council minutes

School councils are groups that set the broad direction and vision of a school within the school's community. They usually have between 6 and 15 members, including:

• the principal (formerly known as the head teacher)
• parents
• a staff representative
• interested community members.

In more recent years, high schools have included a student representative on school council.

Minutes of school council meetings can give insights into the culture of a school, include mention of major events and names of Council office bearers.

Find out more: School councils and how schools are governed.

School District Inspector report books

From the 1850s to 1982, school District Inspectors wrote reports about Victorian government schools.

Their role and the contents of their reports changed over time, and involved:

• examining students and teachers
• judging the performance of teachers
• assessing the quality of the curriculum
• assessing the physical conditions of the school.

Most inspector report books include general comments on the quality of the teaching, the teaching resources, and the physical conditions of the school. Student and staff names are rarely mentioned except for the head teacher’s name. However, the books can give the family historian insights into the conditions experienced by their family member.

Find out more: The role of School District Inspectors.

School histories

School histories can include extra information that provides ‘colour’ to the story of a family member’s school.

Such histories may be informal or unpublished, or produced by a professional historian for a formal publication.

School photos

School photographs can include:

• formal class photographs
• sport team photographs
• photos of school events.

Browse a sample of archived photos from Victorian schools.

School policies

School policies are directives that apply to individual schools and provide rules for the school community to follow.

School policies can set rules about:

• discipline
• student conduct
• health and safety
• parent behaviour.

School policies can give insights into the culture of a school as well as providing proof of what rules were applicable at what time.

School yearbooks (magazines)

School yearbooks (or magazines) can contain:

• photos and summaries of significant school events, camps and activities
• student artwork and writings
• home group photos / year group photos / class photos
• photos and summaries of events of Year 12 formal / graduation ceremony
• staff photos / staff group photos.

Find out more: School yearbooks and magazines.

Teacher summary records

Teacher record books, created from 1863 to 1959, contain the names of thousands of teachers and the schools they worked at. The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) have digitised these books and you can access them online at the PROV website.

Find out more: School staff employment records.

Other departmental records of interest for family history

The Public Record Office Victoria has a list of records created by the department that deal with school matters. These include:

• correspondence between schools and the Department that can be a valuable resource for historical information on the school
• building and property files that provide information on the development of the school’s buildings.