| Description | 13/3/1908-5/6/1908
• John M. Bain. Head Teacher, High School for Girls. 14 April1908. Letter regarding Helen J. Smith (DOB 21.08,1888), 108 Main Street, Buckie who had been a pupil at the High School for Girls. The letter advises that Miss Smith had been about to enter the Leaving Certificate for certain subjects when she had to leave school early due to the illness of her mother. Mr Bain states that Ms Bain’s Intermediate Certificate was with the Department and should be endorsed with
o German Higher, 1906, Fordyce Academy
o English, Higher, 1907, High School for Girls Aberdeen
o Latin Lower, 1907, High School for Girls Aberdeen
o French Lower, 1907, High School for Girls Aberdeen
• John M. Bain. Head Teacher, High School for Girls. 14 April1908. Letter regarding Mary C. MacDonald (DOB 11.05.1887), The Manse, Cornhill, Banff who had been a pupil at the High School for Girls and left in June 1905. Mr Bain requests certificate on behalf of Miss MacDonald as she had obtained Higher English and Higher German.
• John M. Bain. Head Teacher, High School for Girls. 14 April1908. Letter to the School Board, including a printed page [possibly from the school prospectus] with a list of all the staff, the subjects they taught and whether they were permanent or visiting staff.
• A. K. Brown. 5 April 1908. Letter to the School Board to report that the visit to the eleventh and last “Mental Defective Centre in Glasgow” had been completed in preparation for caring for such children in Aberdeen. The writer also asks for permission to visit the parents of the children who will be in their care before commencing work as it would be invaluable to know as much as possible about their family history.
• James Campbell. Head Teacher, Marywell Street Public School. 5 May 1908. Letter to the School Board requesting replacement of a destroyed textbook “The Story of the World Series, The Growth of the British Empire,” Blackwood Publishers.
• James Campbell. Head Teacher, Marywell Street Public School. 20 May 1908. Request to close school on Removal [Insrue] day as 34% of the pupils were going to be involved in moving house. [Letters also attached from the following Head Teachers advising of the same need for closure – Jams Rose, Causewayend Public School. John Peter, Hanover Street Public School. Alexander Forbes, Holburn Street Public School. William D. McLeod, Kittybrewster Public School. A. Green, Skene Square Public School. D. B. Lothian, Sunnybank Public School].
• Ellen Crassweller. Head Teacher, Oral School for Deaf and Dumb, Beech Lodge School. 18 March 1908. A letter to the School Board requesting permission to take some pupils to the Scottish National Exhibition in Edinburgh. The teacher intended sending a contribution of the pupils’ work for the exhibits of the work of special schools including the deaf and dumb.
• Isabella Donald. 1 May 1908. Letter to the School Board from her temporary address in Glasgow updating the Board on her progress visiting Special Schools in Glasgow in preparation for work of the same nature in Aberdeen.
• A. L. Dunbar. Supervisor of Manual Instruction, Grammar School. 13 May 1908. Letter to the School Board requesting that James Smith is given a permanent appointment. Details of the certificates held by Mr Smith are including
City of Guilds of London Institute
Road Carriage Building: First Class Honours Grade Certificate (with 2nd prize (Bronze medal award).
Board of Education & Science and Art Department
Elementary Drawing Certificate (Art), First Class
• George Fenton. 2 Loanhead Terrace. 13 May 1908. Letter to the School Board to advise that he has been appointed by the Parliamentary Committee and the Education Committee of the Educational Institute of Scotland as a member of a Deputation which is to be in London for the Committee Stage of the Scottish Education Bill. Mr Fenton advises that his Head Teacher, although he does not state which Head Teacher, supports his attendance and he asks for a leave of absence. [Letter of 1 June 1908 associated thanking the School Board for granting a leave of absence].
• James Findlay. Head Teacher, Rosemount Public School. 28 April 1908. Letter to the School Board to advise he could not attend Dr Kerschensteiner’s meeting as he would be attending a Demonstration Lessons every day that week on “How to Teach Reading by the Phonics Method.”
• Thomas C. Hynd. King Street Public School. 31 March 1908. A letter to the School Board to advise that he was about to reach the age for superannuation, however, due to circumstances detailed in the letter he would prefer to work for another year.
• J. Duncan MacDiarmid. Secretary and Treasurer of the Aberdeen Town and County Association for Teaching the Blind at their Homes. 25 May 1908. Letter to T. C. Hynd, Head Teacher King Street Public School. Mr MacDiarmid requests that pupil, Bella Bremner, who is blind, can borrow her Remington Machine to give a demonstration at a fund raising event. Mr Hynd in turn refers the letter to the School Board.
• John R. Jack. Head Teacher, Walker Road Public School. 20 March 1908. Letter to the School Board asking for permission to use the Boys’ Entrance Hall as a temporary classroom. New admissions to the Infant School had not been possible since the previous September and consequently there was currently a waiting list of about 70 and the extra space was urgently required.
• Thomas A. Mutch. Teacher. 2 April 1908. Letter to the School Board from Mr Mutch outlining his experience and qualifications in detail in the hope of “bettering” his position and salary within the Board’s jurisdiction.
• John McKenzie. Head Teacher, Ashley Road Public School. 3 April 1908. Letter to the School Board with Class size details and request for an additional teacher as over 80 new admissions were already expected.
o Room I - 94 on roll. This is also the room new additions would be added on to
o Room II – 66 on roll
o Room III – 57 on roll.
o Room IV – 63 on roll.
o Room VIII – 57 on roll.
o Rooms V and VI are not mentioned.
• John McGregor. Head Teacher, Old Aberdeen Public School. 4 March 1908. Letter to the School Board advising that 4 years ago the school staff had personally called on all the local residents to raise money for the library. Mr Bain requested £5 for the library as he felt he could not ask staff to do this again.
• Meta McCombie. Teacher Aberdeen Girls High School. 27 March 1907. Letter to the School Board requesting an increase in salary and includes in the letter details of her class subjects and number of pupils
o Latin Class I – 27 pupils
o Latine Class II – 40 pupils
o Latin Class III – 30 pupils
o Greek Class III – 2 pupils
o Greek Class IV – 7 pupils
• Elizabeth D. Nisbet. Head Teacher, Victoria Road Public School. 29 April 1908. Letter to the School Board in response to a query from them about the punishment of Jessie Bruce. Ms Nisbet complains that Mrs Bruce has been a source of annoyance ever since her children joined the school. Ms Nisbet recommends that if Mrs Bruce is not happy she should move her children to another school.
• Elizabeth D. Nisbet. Head Teacher, Torry Public School. 4 June 1908. Request for £2 10s from the McKnight Mortification and Town Council Scholarship Fund for supply of books to pupils.
• John Peter. Head Teacher, Hanover Street. 28 April 1908. Letter to the School Board requesting money to buy “slightly shop soiled” books at a reduced price.
• Will Robertson. Head Teacher, Skene Street Public School. 29 May 1908. Letter to the School Board to advise that Alex Thom, 168 George Street left school some weeks earlier at the age of 14 and had not returned a history book. The class teacher had “sent for it” and the Compulsory Officer had called but still the book had not been returned. Mr Robertson requested that the School Board write to the father about the return of the book.
• Alexander D. Robertson. Elmbank Cottage, 141 Hardgate. Pupil Teacher. Letter to the School Board listing his qualifications and requesting his indenture as a Pupil Teacher be cancelled as he was now eligible to matriculate at the University.
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 24 March 1908. Letter to the School Board about the Franco-British Exhibition.
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 22 April 1908. Letter to the School Board regarding salaries of some of his teachers. In the letter Mr Simpson gives information relating to teachers’ performance in support of salary applications.
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 25 April 1908. Letter to School Board regarding the Dalrymple Bursary including legal document relating to the bursary.
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 27 April 1908. Letter to the School Board in response to a query about numbers of pupils following the Secondary and the Intermediate Courses. The following information was provided
Secondary Stage - Classical VI 19
Classical VI 25
Classical V 21
Modern VI 13
Modern V 17
Total 95
Intermediate Stage – Classical IV – 20
Classical III – 27
Modern IV - 31
Modern III - 33
Modern iiA – 36
Modern iiB – 28
Total – 169
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 1 May 1908. Memo to the School Board with comparator information of percentage of “Town Bairns” and “Landward Bairns.”
• H. F. Morland Simpson. Head Teacher, Aberdeen Grammar School. 14 May 1908. Letter to the School Board regarding the Prospectus and Masters who take Boarders.
• William Stewart. Head Teacher, Porthill Public School. 13 March 1908. Letter to the School Board to advise that a boy called Thomson had fallen off a railing and fell about 18 feet. Mr Stewart had called Dr Forbes and had told Dr Forbes to bill the School Board which he hoped was correct as he knew the boy’s mother was a widow.
• William Steward. Head Teacher, Porthill Public School. Wednesday, 20 May 1908. Letter to the School Board requesting something be done about the water supply as the water closets had flushed only once since school assembled on the Monday.
• William Stronach. 9 Murray Field Terrace. 4 June & 5 June 1908. On 4 June Mr Stronach submitted a typewritten letter of application, which had originally been an application for Head Teacher of St Clement School, with scored out sections and amendments written by hand to make it a general application. The School Board was obviously not impressed with this and on a letter of 5 June Mr Stronach apologises for his “mutilated” application and advises he encloses a new application [not with letter].
• William Thomson. Head Teacher, St John’s Public School. 16 April 1908. Table detailing average number of attendances and the representative percentages 1901-1904.
• A. G. Wallace. Head Teacher, Central Higher Grade School. 20 March 1908. Letter to the School Board list names of 61 pupils who desired to be considered for nomination as Junior Students.
• A. G. Wallace. Head Teacher, Central Higher Grade School. 28 April 1908. Letter to the School Board regarding the circumstances of a pupil called Stephanie A. G. Glass. Stephanie was a pupil who due to her “struggle against poverty and home circumstances,” seemed to have lost heart and Mr Wallace wanted the Mr Hector of the School Board to speak to her.
• A. G. Wallace. Head Teacher, Central Higher Grade School. 28 April 1908. Letter to the School Board providing details on numbers of boys/girls taking Intermediate Curriculum and the number beyond the Intermediate Curriculum stage.
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