The notes below were written by Dave Woolven after he completed his transcription of the registers in the early 2000s.
Notes on St Marys School Admission Registers
1896 – 1906
This register is labelled 'Girls' but the school becomes mixed in 1900.
There are many anomalies between the register and the index. There are 961 entries but only 930 names in the index
Some pupils are entered twice with slightly different details; some pupils left school before they started!
There is a Lupini in the register (Entry 213) but not in the index; likewise Kelleher (397). Also there are 2 entries for 437 & 443.
There are probably more errors that I have not spotted.
1905 – 1912
It is difficult to differentiate between a very curly '2' and a '3'.
There are two entries numbered 125 & two others numbered 542.
A number of streets in Baneswell are 'Saint' ie St Edward St but the 'Saint has been omitted.
Many addresses are wrongly spelt.
Some addresses are only partly give the address ie 'Baneswell' - this could be Baneswell Rd or Baneswell Square.
There has been a lot of overwriting.
There could be a number of incidences of multiple occupancy.
Some addresses have been dittoed - I cannot tell if this means the same house or just the same street.
Some pupils were re-admitted - they may not appear twice in the index.
I have transcribed as per the register.
There are 1031 entries in the register but only 973 names in the index in the register
1912 – 1920
Curly '2' & '3' look alike, also 'n' & 'u' & 'e' & 'c'.
Much overwriting.
Some addresses have been dittoed - I cannot tell if it is the same house or just the same street.
Ringworm - a highly contagious fungal infection.
Many addresses do not say if it was a street, road, terrace &c - there were many Courts, Buildings ie Shaftesbury.
Higher Elementary School - this could be Newport High School - the registers have already been transcribed.
There were a number of Belgian evacuees.
A new clerk took over in 1915, rather a sloppy hand.
Many houses had multiple families in them.
Many streets do not appear in the Kelly's Newport Directory of 20 years later.
There are 1206 entries in the register but only 1037 names in the index including repeated names.
1920 – 1931
Handwriting varies from neat to a meaningless scribble, some entries are little more than a wiggly line.
Much overwriting, which is then dittoed - unable to tell what is being dittoed, the original or correction.
One or two pupils were admitted before they were born!!
1931 – 1949
The index includes the names of guardians if other than the pupil's name.
This register was kept in hands that ranged from neat to scribble, some entries little more than a wiggly line.
Nazareth House was a Children's Home in Cardiff.
1916 – 1947 (Infants)
This register is - to put it mildly - a shambles, numbering is all over the place.. I have used my own numbering in the transcript. The index in the actual register is the same. The numbering in my index refers to the Line Number - not the admission number.
The spelling of some pupils names are different to their parents (ie - mis-spelt).
With many dates, the year has been rendered as a blob, this 'blob' has then been dittoed (").
In many cases I cannot tell if it is '11' or "; is it a very curly 7 or 9.
Many entries have errors which have then been corrected, but the error has not been deleted, making it impossibe to determine which is which.
It seems that some pupils left the school before they were admitted.
The clerk seems to have had a problem forming numerals.
If the researcher thinks that something is wrong, then it possibly is, the original register needs consulting.
White Lion court was in Mill St.
Many thanks to Dave Woolven for his time and skill transcribing many of the schools' records.