New primary school recommended for Tornagrain
Tornagrain is set to add a new primary school to its ever-expanding infrastructure.
The town project between Inverness and Nairn had over 750 new residents as of last year.
A consultation for the new primary school, approved by councillors last year, has now completed.
Highland Council officers have since recommended plans for the new school are given the green light with an optimistic opening date of 2027.
Officers warned the nearby primary in Croy would become overcrowded if the new school does not go ahead.
Is there a need for a school in Tornagrain?
Critics of the new school argued “there’s not enough children [in Tornagrain] to make a new school worth building.”
However, council officers say there are 157 primary school pupils within nearby Croy’s catchment, with 43 already on a waiting list to transfer.
Children in Tornagrain currently have to travel 1.5km along a partially unpaved and unlit path each day to get to school in Croy.
Some members of the public had raised safety concerns around this as part of the consultation on Tornagrain’s new school.
Nearby Croy Primary already at capacity
Croy Primary School’s main building has a capacity of 100 pupils, but total pupils at the school has increased to 119.
As a result a ‘modular’ two-classroom unit has been installed at Croy Primary “to address capacity issues in the short term.”
Highland Council’s own school forecast expects the number of pupils in Cory’s catchment to almost double to 300 by 2038.
What could the new school look like?
The new school will be built “gradually” according to plans.
This means the school will open at half capacity with eight classrooms.
Extensions will be built in four-classroom blocks up to a total of sixteen classrooms.
Designers have yet to draw up detailed plans of the site.
The education committee will be asked to approve the new school and the final decision will pass to the next full highland council meeting.
