Several contenders for Inverness’s most in-demand school have emerged, according to new figures.
Statistics from Highland Council give a picture of the most sought-after places that city parents are sending their kids.
Inshes and Holm were among the top picks for primary schools, while Millburn Academy was the most popular choice for secondary.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the data.
What is a school placing request?
Firstly, it makes sense to explain what a placing request is and why parents make them.
Every school, primary and secondary, in the region has a catchment area.
If you live within that catchment area and want to go to that school, it’s just a matter of following the usual procedure for enrolling.
But if you want your child to go to a specific school – whether you used to live in the area, they have a friend or sibling already there or it’s just a school with a great reputation – you need to make a placing request.
Last year, across Inverness there were more 150 of these requests made to primary schools.
For the city’s five secondary schools, there were 72.
We’ve crunched the numbers to give you a flavour of what schools in Inverness were the most in-demand last year and across the last decade.
Highland Council will occasionally cap a school’s roll if it is operating over-capacity.
This effectively means it won’t consider admission for any pupils from outside the catchment area that aren’t already there.
This happened at Millburn Academy in 2022-23.
The Press and Journal also recently published data showing that the school is operating at 108% of its capacity.
The Inverness school picture in 2024-25
Holm and Inshes Primary were the two most popular schools for placing requests for the current school year.
Each school received 22 requests.
But several others, including Cradlehall, Dalneigh and Central, weren’t far behind.
Among the city’s five secondary schools, there was a clear winner.
Millburn Academy received 33 placing requests for 2024-25, ahead of the 15 for Charleston Academy.
There were 11 at Inverness Royal Academy, eight at Culloden Academy and five for Inverness High School.
The Inverness school requests picture over the last 10 years
Going back over the data from the last 10 school years, from the 2015-2016 term right through to the current one, gives a fuller picture of what schools attracted the most out-of-area pupils.
There were clear winners in the primary and secondary school categories.
For primaries, Inshes received 279 requests over the 10-year period.
Holm Primary was second with 227.
In 2022-23, the year nearby Ness Castle Primary opened, it received a whopping 72 requests for pupils to attend.
The primary school which received the third-most placing requests was Cradlehall, which had 197.
Crown Primary was fourth with 171, Balloch fifth with 163 and Lochardil sixth with 158.
For Inverness secondary schools, the same trend from 2024-25 was seen across the last decade.
Millburn Academy was far and away the most popular choice.
It racked up 443 placing requests between 2015 and 2024.
Inverness Royal Academy had 203 and Charleston Academy was closed behind with 192.
There were 132 requests for Culloden Academy and Inverness High School saw 62.
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