Moray Firth School was an independent school located at Gollanfield, between Inverness and

Nairn Nairn (; gd, Inbhir Narann) is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the tradi ...

, Scotland. It was open 2002–2010 and during that period was the only independent school in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

council area.

Establishment

Plans for the new school were published in January 1998. The building was previously occupied by the Petty East School that was closed by Highland Council due to falling rolls. Moray Firth School was opened, in September 2002, by Anni Cole-Hamilton, who was also its principal. When it opened it offered classes from primary one to secondary one, with the capacity to take 80 pupils.

The school

The school had taught children aged 5 to 18 years. It featured that each pupil had their own individual learning plan. At the time of closure it had pupils aged 5 to 14 with plans to add a sixth form, and was the only independent school in the Highlands.

Events

The school, which had charitable status, was embroiled in a controversy in February 2008 when its website advertised a course on how to repair guns and maintain weapons. The advert was part of a package from

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

. Richard Dawkins visited the school in April 2009 and was quizzed on his views on evolution. The Inverness-based Truly Terrible Orchestra was originally located at the school.

Proposed relocation and closure

The Principal announced in February 2009 that she was seeking a greenfield site in Inverness to allow the school to continue with its expansion plan and to make the school more accessible to children. The school closed in September 2010 in preparation for a move to the Inverness Campus. These plans were abandoned in February 2011 and at the time the school website stated that the school "remains in abeyance".

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 2002 Educational institutions disestablished in 2010 2002 establishments in Scotland 2010 disestablishments in Scotland Defunct schools in Highland (council area) Defunct independent schools in Scotland