Most schools have borne a number of names during their history and this can lead to confusion.  In every case this website uses the earliest known name as a primary reference.  In practice, this usually means the name used in either 1904 or 1914.

The SBL normally named their schools after the road in which they stood and this name was included in a plaque on the wall, many of which survive. To ease tracing using search tools, other names by which the school is now known or has been known in the past are included in the database. These lists are not exhaustive.

The postal address given is the modern postal address of the site. Where the school has completely disappeared the postcode is that of the nearest existing building.

Dating schools precisely can be a little awkward. The normal practice was for the school to start in iron buildings. These normally remained for two years. If all went well, a new school would be planned during the first year and then constructed during the second year. On this website, the "date of opening" given in the LCC list (Education Particulars for the Year 1914-1915) has been used as the date of opening, even though this may be about one year before the date on the wall plaque.

Dating is further complicated by alteration and extension. Schools, like hospitals, are working institutions and tend to sprawl and alter as the years pass. Much alteration and addition occurred before 1914. Often an early school by Robson has had halls added by Bailey in the later nineteenth century. Major changes were noted in the primary source records and are repeated here. There are frequently other, later changes: from a whole new inter-war wing down to a prefab in the playground. Later Bailey schools were planned in totality and then sometimes built in phases. This can make it difficult to distinguish between phases of construction in complete schools. There are many incomplete schools where Bailey planned another wing which was never constructed.