Plan for isles' first Gaelic secondary school

The Scottish government has offered to fund a feasibility study into establishing the Western Isles' first Gaelic language secondary school.

There is a Gaelic secondary in Glasgow and subjects are taught in the language in other high schools.

Western Isles Council - Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - has asked councillors to approve its plan for a study at a meeting next week.

In a report, the comhairle's education chief officer Donald MacLeod said a secondary school in Stornoway, Lewis, could build on 40 years of GME, including in primary schools.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes confirmed the Scottish government had offered its support.

She said: "Promoting the use of Gaelic in areas where it is traditionally spoken is vital to keeping the language alive in daily life.

"We are ready to provide funding to the council to undertake a feasibility study to establish a Gaelic secondary school in Stornoway."

According the latest census, the number of people using Gaelic has increased across Scotland.

It found that 2.5% of people aged three and over had some skills in Gaelic in 2022, an increase of about 50% on the figures for 2011 and 2001.

In the Western Isles, the census recorded 57.2% had some Gaelic skills even if they were not speaking the language.

This was far higher than in neighbouring areas - in the Highland council area 8.1% had some Gaelic skills while in Argyll and Bute the figure was 6.2%.

In all other council areas it was below 3%.

Report by Local Democracy Reporting Service.