Boy trapped in Wick North School store room for four days and 'little the worse' for it. Find out more stories such as this and old school photos from Caithness in a new online picture exhibition from Highland Archive Service

Few pieces of legislation can have had such an impact on Scotland’s children as the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 which is now highlighted in a new online picture exhibition.

To mark the 150th anniversary of this transformative act High Life Highland’s Highland Archive Service has created a brand-new online exhibition now available at www.highlifehighland.com/archives-service/educationexhibition/

Following on from the 1870 Education Act in England and Wales, the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 was to revolutionise the education system in Scotland, making provision for a Board of Education for Scotland and the establishment of local school boards across the country.

This was the moment that education became compulsory for children aged 5 to 13-years-old, the training of teachers went into overdrive, hundreds of new school buildings were erected, and thousands of admission registers and school logbooks were generated as record-keeping was standardised.

To mark the 150th anniversary of this transformative act join the Highland Archive through the online exhibition to learn how the act came about, why it was needed, what it meant for our young people, and what the records it generated can tell us about teachers, subjects, holidays, discipline, and other subjects.

Occasionally these records contain wonderful snippets of information such as the 1916 register for Wick North School which contains these words down the side of one Anthony Sutherland’s entry: “Locked in school by accident in store room June 30th 1916 Friday and found on following Tuesday little the worse.

"He was not at school afterwards till August 1917 when school board ordered his attendance at Academy so on September 10 he put in his last appearance at this school where he had been off and on for a week before although his name was not entered on roll.’”

Delve into the Highland Archive Service collections to learn about the benefits the Education (Scotland) Act brought, the problems it created, and the legacy we’re all still living with.

The exhibition can be viewed at www.highlifehighland.com/archives-service/educationexhibition/

The original material used to create the exhibition was sourced from the four High Life Highland archive centres in Inverness, Wick, Fort William and Portree. To view any of the original documents please visit the relevant archive centre as detailed in the exhibition captions.

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