Alness Academy, ALNESS
Alness Academy is a secondary school for pupils in Alness.
- Attendance
- 81.6%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Alness Academy in detail
School in Scotland
Alness Academy is a local authority school in Scotland. Scottish schools are inspected by Education Scotland rather than Ofsted, and Scotland does not publish school-by-school exam league tables.
Alness Academy offers Gaelic-medium education.
In the 2025 pupil census it had 489 pupils and 11 pupils per teacher.
20% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 57% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 11% speak English as an additional language.
44% of its pupils live in Scotland's most deprived fifth of areas and 6% in the least deprived fifth (SIMD).
Attendance was 81.6% in 2024/25, and 58.3% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as good (A) and their suitability for teaching as good (A); the school was 74% full.
87% of pupils who left in 2024/25 went on to a positive destination - further or higher education, training, work or volunteering, against 95% for its "virtual comparator", a matched group of pupils with similar backgrounds from across Scotland.
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Alness Rail Station, about 570 metres away (roughly a 7-minute walk).
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Alness Academy are Bridgend Primary School (0.6 miles), Coulhill Primary School (0.7 miles) and Obsdale Primary School (1.1 miles). In Scotland, secondary places normally follow the catchment area, and each secondary school has associated primary schools; Highland publishes both.
Bridgend Primary SchoolCoulhill Primary SchoolObsdale Primary School
Sources: Scottish Government school statistics: pupil census, attendance and absence, school estate, leaver destinations (OGL); NaPTAN (Department for Transport)
Key Information
Scottish GovernmentInspection
Schools in Scotland are inspected by Education Scotland, not Ofsted. Find Alness Academy's reports on the inspectorate's website.
About
Alness Academy is a secondary school in Alness, Highland in the north on the Cromarty Firth of Scotland, serving the town of Alness and the villages of Evanton and Ardross. Along with five associated primary schools, it was one of the pilot New Community Schools in the Highlands.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Alness Academy
Getting There
Train Stations
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 1
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 1
- Children hurt
- 0
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 1 road collision in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 1 serious and 0 slight.
No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt.
1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Highland is 0 (the median across 195 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
Alness Academy
Questions parents ask about Alness Academy
What is the catchment area for Alness Academy?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Alness Academy is no exception: children living in its zone are normally given a place there automatically. Families who want a different school make a placing request to Highland. Highland publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to Alness Academy?
If you live in Alness Academy's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and Highland will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to Highland - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near Alness Academy?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 1 road collision in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 1 serious and 0 slight. No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt. 1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Highland is 0 (the median across 195 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Alness Academy?
Alness Academy is at Dalmore, ALNESS, ALNESS, IV17 0UY.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)