Investment announced for two new schools in Highland

The Highland Council has welcomed today’s announcement from the Scottish Government that funding bids for two new schools to replace Broadford Primary and Nairn Academy have been successful.

These are the latest schools to be awarded funding as part of Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s £1 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, developed in conjunction with COSLA, which announced the successful bid for Tain Campus in Phase 1 in September 2019.

The Highland Council is committed to delivering world class, digitally enabled, sustainable schools, at the heart of communities, in partnership with the Scottish Government.

The Highland Council has 203 schools and Broadford Primary and Nairn Academy are on a list of agreed priorities for replacement or refurbishment.

Chair of the Care, Education Committee Cllr John Finlayson added: “This announcement is a major breakthrough for our school estate. I very much look forward to seeing work on the ground start to create new sustainable learning environments in both Nairn and Skye. We have done well in the first two phases of a school improvement programme which will I hope will in future result in many more communities feeling the benefit of funding from our partnership with the Scottish Government.

“As a Skye councillor who has been heavily involved in the Broadford bid and has also been working with the community, council officers and our MSP Kate Forbes, to get to where we are today, I am of course delighted that the badly needed new school for Broadford, is now nearer to becoming a reality.”

Chair of the Eilean a' Cheò (Skye and Raasay) Committee, Cllr John Gordon added: “The new Broadford Community Campus with a learning hub and community facilities is an ambitious project which will support the development of community-based learning and adult lifelong learning and enable the innovative development of Gaelic immersion within a community and school setting. The new school investment will also complement and enhance the wider social and economic investment in the area.”

Chair of the Nairn Committee, and former teacher Cllr Tom Heggie welcomed the news of funding for a new Nairn Academy saying: “This is a really tremendous and long awaited day for everyone in Nairn. The existing school is desperately in need of replacement. It is typical of the poor construction and design of buildings of its era and no amount of improvement could ever bring the building up to the standard which our young people and our teaching staff deserve.

“A new school will present opportunities for not only a greatly enhanced educational environment but also for improved community facilities. I am delighted that the hard work in putting together this bid has been successful and that we can all look forward to a top class environment for our young people to learn in.”

Council Leader Margaret Davidson said: “This is fantastic news for communities in Nairn and Skye and represents our ambition and a huge investment in both of these areas. It is a day for celebration to announce the building of not one, but two new schools in Highland.”