New Session Heralds the Opening of 3 New Primary Schools

Three new schools will open their doors this week as 34,750 Highland nursery primary and secondary pupils begin the new school session.

Scotland's first purpose built Gaelic Medium School opens on Tuesday (14 August) at Slackbuie, near Inverness Royal Academy. The £4 million Bun-goil Ghaidhlig Inbhir Nis will be a focal point for Gaelic learning in the Inverness area, being available for a wide range of Gaelic-related events and performances. It will open with 100 pupils and 45 nursery pupils.

Also opening on Tueday is the nearby Inshes Primary School, Inverness. The £6.6 million school is the first new primary school to be built for a generation to accommodate a new community. Inshes will welcome 301 pupils from more than 20 schools, including 100 from Drakies.

And on Thursday, a new £4.7 million primary school opens at Cawdor. To mark the occasion, pupils will be led by a piper from the old school to the new school, which will feature hugely enhanced provision, including six classrooms, a nursery room and a multi purpose hall.

The schools are among 11 being built by Alpha Schools (Highland) Ltd, a consortium of Morrison PLC and Noble Fund Managers, in a second education PPP scheme, valued at £134 million.

Resolis and Culbokie primary schools opened in April of this year.

Next year; Portree High and Dingwall Academy will open in May; Kinlochleven Primary and Kinlochleven High School and Drummond School, Inverness, will open in June; and Millburn Academy, Inverness, will open in September.

Hugh Fraser, Director of Education Culture and Sport, said he was delighted with the opening of the three new schools.

He said: "We are delighted that these schools are coming on stream on time. It demonstrates our commitment to providing our communities with modern schools which are available to everyone in the community to use."

Meanwhile, a total of 129 probationer teachers start work in schools across the Highlands this week when pupils return to school following their summer break.

63 probationers have been allocated to secondary schools and 66 to primary schools ~ 19 in Caithness, 9 in Sutherland, 41 in Inverness, 23 in Ross and Cromarty, 12 in Nairn, 7 in Skye and Lochalsh, 15 in Lochaber, and 3 in Badenoch and Strathspey.

Three of the primary probationers will be teaching in Gaelic Medium schools, and two secondary probationers have been allocated to teach Gaelic in high schools.

Councillor Bren Gormley, Vice Chairman of the Council's Education, Culture and Sport Committee welcomed the probationer teachers at their induction day on Friday 10 August. He said: "I am delighted to welcome our new probationary teachers to Highland. This is a very exciting time in education and we have a real opportunity to make a difference to the lives of young people in the Highlands.

"I hope that all of our probationer teachers will have a positive experience on our schools and I wish them all the very best at the start of their career in this very important profession."

The probationer induction day is the first of four in-service training days throughout the year specifically allocated to probationer teacher induction and training.