The notes below were written by Dave Woolven after he completed his transcription of the registers in the early 2000s. We have only included registers up to the early 1940s on this website, but we have included all of Dave's notes some of which refer to later dates..
'Register 13' - which does not follow the pattern of the other records - is odd. It is made up of junior boys and girls. All the other junior records are single-sex. It seems to be made up of pupils entering the school for short periods. Some of these appear in the other registers, some don't.
General notes on St Woolos School and the Admission Registers
As far as I know, the schools in Newport were on an ad hoc basis. From the addresses some of these schools were in ordinary terraced houses. In 1873 the first two proper schools were opened. It seems that St Woolos was run by St Woolos Church as it says in the log books that "the Canon came to collect the pennies" or that a child had not brought his money. The first St Woolos school was opened in St Mary Street, a single storied building that still stands today. Now it is used as a Community Centre. As a school it quickly became too small - there being 3 classes of up to 60 pupils in a hall only divided by a curtain. The classes appeared to be mixed and all ages up to maybe 14. In 1904 the present St Woolos School was opened. The log books date from 1873, the admission registers from 1895.
Register 1 - Boys 1906 - 1908. Many of the admission dates have been omitted. It may have been that the person who entered them assumed them to be all the same dates but couldn't be bothered to 'ditto' them. The entering of the parents’ names is very sloppy. In this register, I have added any re-admission dates to the final 'Remarks' column. Many of the parents are shown by Christian name only. In the 'Remarks' column of the actual register there are dates shown. I do not know what these refer to. There are quite a few anomalies between the child's & parent's surname. Where nothing has been entered, I have shown this as 'BLANK'.
Register 2 - Boys 1908 - 1915. I assume that 'Higher ES' 'HES' or 'H Elem S' is Higher Elementary School. I am sure that there are some errors with some surnames, I have double checked with the index but was the index compiled from the register?. Some admission dates do not seem to be right - I am sure that entries 82 to 92 inclusive should be 1909. I assume that 'MHA' is Music Hall Artist.
Register 3 - Boys 1915 - 1930. The original register is in very poor condition and falling apart. The entries are very confused, parts are written either above or below the line with no way of telling what belongs to where. All of the pages have left their binding, and none of them are numbered. I have made every effort to marry them back together. There discrepancies between some of the pupils and the parents, it is impossible to tell what is correct. In some cases two pupils have been given the same admission number. I have marked some entries with an asterisk. This refers to a note that I have put in the final column. Some entries have been stuck out and/or altered. I have shown these as they may mean a change of circumstances. Many entries have been overwritten and turned into a mess. Any pupil exhibited such appalling handwriting would have received a good leathering!. "Trans" is the Transcriber = me!
Register 4 - Boys 1930 - 1943. Some of the notes are a disgusting, abysmal, scribbled mess. Whoever filled in parts of this register seemed to be too lazy to fill the spaces in full, only giving the leaving date & where the pupil went. Several pupils have the same admission number. Where it says 'Left for Somerton' I assume that it means Somerton, Newport, and not Somerton in Somerset. In some entries the words run into one another - too much trouble to lift the pen at the end of each word? There is an awful lot of confusion with the admission numbers & dates, lots of scribbling out & overwriting. The last 1½ pages are missing from the original register. The final 40 names have been taken from the index. I have searched the school in vain for these pages.
Register 5 - Boys 1943 - 1959. St Woolos took in a large number of evacuees. For many of those returning to London, there are pencilled notes which have become very faded & dificult to read. I think that Stow Hill Modern & Stow Hill central are one and the same. Likewise with Brynglas Modern & Brynglas Central. I assume that 'Im' is 'Immunised'. St Woolos was reorganised as a Junior School 30 Aug 1949, up till then the leaving age was 14. For items marked with *, see the final column. I am unable to asterisk a surname as this would affect any alphabetical sorting, I have moved it into the Christian name box. 'OAS' is Open Air School, and 'ROAS' is Residential Open Air School.
Register 6 - Girls 1913 - 1928. 'HE' is Higher Education. Entries 94 to 105 inclusive have been dittoed from 93 but I'm sure this should be 1913. Again many entries are a confused mess. I assume 'C Sch' is Council School. 'St John BM House' is St John the Baptist Mission House, a girls Home. There were a number of children's Homes, 108 & 140 Stow Hill were but two.
Register 7 - Girls 1928 - 1941. Again several pupils share the same admission number. Various notes & dates have been added without any indication as to what they mean. These are added in the final column. Some pupils appear to have come from more than one previous school. 'NP' is Non Provided. 'National Buildings' appear to have been in Cardiff Rd. There are many notes written in pencil - I doubt if these will show up on a photocopied page.
Register 8 - Girls 1941 - 1959. Again there are various notes with no indication as to what they mean. I have transcribed them as I found them. Some pupils left & were re-admitted many times. I have not tried to sort the dates into any order. Several entries state that the pupil went to a MS - Modern Secondary? or Municipal School?. Several entries state that the pupil went to 'St Julian's' - is this St Julians High School or the then new St Julians Housing Estate?. There are many errors in the years 1946/7, too much effort to even use the ditto symbol. The handwriting for 1950 to 1955 is dreadful, the register is a mess. Many abbreviations have been used with little indication as to what they mean. A few names have numbers after them, again with no indication as to what they mean. Does 'Duffryn Non G' mean Duffryn Non Grammar?
Register 9 - Mixed 1895 - 1904. All entries in all the register run across a double page. In this register the pages are badly out of line and it obvious the compiler was getting into a tangle. I am unable to determine what is or is not on its correct line. Again there are lots of errors with the admission numbers. In one section it appears that 10 consecutive pupils came from a private school - unlikely. The compiler makes no difference between the 'J' & 'I' so it could refer to Junior (School) or Infants (School). There are quite a few entries interlined but no indication as to which line they belong to.
Register 10 - Mixed 1903 - 1904. Register 9 has been ruled across and this small register included. Admission numbers start at No 1. As this could be confusing, I decided to make a separate 'Register'
Register 11 - Mixed 1904 - 1911. Again there is no difference between the 'J' & 'I', There the usual errors in the admission numbers
Register 12 - Mixed 1911 - 1925. The usual errors with admission numbers. I assume that the compiler's eyes dropped as he or she has put boys going from the Infants to the Girls School & vice versa. It is possible that this may have happened in some of the other columns. I feel that some addresses and some parents names could be wrong. Some pupils seem to have 2 surnames. There is much overwriting. Many cross reference numbers don't tie up. Some of the entries are written in a terrible hand.
Register 13 - Mixed 1914 - 1915 Special Class. This seems to have taken pupils from various schools for very short periods.
Register 14 - Mixed 1925 - 1940. Very poor & hasty handwriting. Un-crossed 't' looks like 'l' &c. Errors with the admission numbers. The compiler had a problem with writing the dates & getting events into their correct columns. There are a number of cases where 2 consecutive pupils have the same birthday, address or guardian
Register 15 - Mixed 1950 - 1954. There are many personal details in this register. I considered that it would be out of order to show them in this transcript. In this case I have left a blank space. Again the handwriting is poor.
Register 16 - Mixed 1940 - 1960. The admission numbers jump from 4099 to 5000. Again there are some personal details and again I decided not to show them. Some of the re-admission dates are marked 'On this register' - I don't know what this means. In the margin alongside some of the admission numbers is ie A1, A2 &c, again I have no idea what this means. Again large parts of the register has been kept in a very poor hand, little more than scribble. I have had to use a John's & a Kelly's Street Directory to decipher some names.
Some of the other Newport schools &c that occur in these registers plus other items
Clytha School
Alexandra Rd School
Eveswell School
Maindee School
Marshes Rd School
Durham Rd School
Belle Vue School
Spring Gardens School
Somerton School
Crindau School
St Mary's Roman Catholic School
St Michael's Roman Catholic School
Powell's Place School
Tredegar Wharf School
Newport High School
Pagefield College (private, 24 Gold Tops)
Technical College, Clarence Place
Church Rd School
Corporation Rd School
Maesglas School
Holy Cross Roman Catholic School
Brynglas School
Malpas Church in Wales School
Malpas Court School
Malpas Park Estate School
Father Hill Roman Catholic School
Hatherleigh School
Fairoak School
Gaer School
St Julians High School
Gwent College, The Gaer
Christchurch School
Stow Hill Central (Stow Hill Secondary Modern School)
Milton School
Miss Trudgeon's Private School
St John's High School (Public Prep School, Risca Rd)
Drayton High School, Risca Rd (Private school) Nant Coch (Rougemont)
MSS = Municipal Secondary School
NSS = Newport Secondary School
108 Stow Hill - mixed Children's Home
St John the Baptist Girls Home, Risca Rd (destroyed by fire in the 1940's)
Wooloston House, has been many things, seems to have been flats at one time.
Grey Trees, Caerau Rd/Crescent. Boys Home
Malpas Camp. US Army Nissen huts, used as temporary accommodation after the war.
Cambria House Receiving Home, Children's Home, 140 Stow Hill
Ardington House, Cardiff Rd
Pill - area of Newport between the town & docks.
YMCA, Commercial St
Fire Station, Dock St
Tre Ap Gwilym, Risca Rd
Enville House, Fields Rd
Ringworm - a fungal skin infection marked by ring shaped reddened, scaly patches.
Many thanks to Dave Woolven for his time and skill transcribing many of the schools' records.