History & Future
Plockton School was built in 1858 on behalf of Sir Alexander Matheson, owner of Lochalsh Estate, with later additions in 1889. It has the Matheson coat of arms over the main door. The school's architect was Alexander Ross who also designed many other schools and buildings locally, including Duncraig Castle and Plockton Free Church.
The school was also added to in order to be used as a Senior Secondary for the wider area. Primary classes were held in other buildings in the village. A new secondary school was built in 1964, and this building reverted to a primary school.
Plockton Primary School is now a rare survivor of the traditional Highland village school, itself of a high build quality and conservation status. It has been sensitively modernised and is well landscaped. It is situated in the heart of the village and gives a strong sense of identity, fostering the link of the school with its community.
The school also serves the nearby villages but its catchment area is not large, with Auchtertyre and Kyle schools only seven miles away. The primary school roll has varied considerably in recent years. With a high of over eighty pupils in the late 1990s it is now just over twenty.
Falling school rolls across the West Highlands generally and the housing stock in Plockton steadily moving to holiday homes and tourist accommodation has restricted the availability of homes for families. In 2001 there was a threat to this school building with a proposal to build a brand new school with private sector funding outside the village. However, given that the school was under-capacity, restriction on finance prevented this from going ahead.
A threat to the viability of the school remains due to the low school roll but its roll is now kept higher by having Gaelic medium classes serving Lochalsh which were set up in 1992.
Government legislation urging the retention of small rural schools and the building of a new mixed type housing development at the entrance to Plockton now gives the school a more optimistic future.
Niall Mackinnon, Head Teacher
