Dornoch Academy, SUTHERLAND
Dornoch Academy is a secondary school for pupils in Sutherland.
- Attendance
- 87.9%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Dornoch Academy in detail
School in Scotland
Dornoch 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.
Dornoch Academy offers Gaelic-medium education.
In the 2025 pupil census it had 229 pupils and 11.1 pupils per teacher.
7% of pupils are registered for free school meals, 50% of pupils have an additional support need recorded and 2% speak English as an additional language.
Attendance was 87.9% in 2024/25, and 40.1% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as poor (C) and their suitability for teaching as poor (C); the school was 61% full.
100% of pupils who left in 2022/23 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
There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Dornoch Academy.
2 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Academy (opposite), 60 metres away.
Sources: Scottish Government school statistics: pupil census, attendance and absence, school estate, leaver destinations (OGL); NaPTAN (Department for Transport)
Key Information
Scottish GovernmentInspection
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Dornoch Academy in May 2023.
- 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessmentgood
- 3.2 Raising attainment and achievementgood
HMIE grades on a six-point scale: unsatisfactory, weak, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent.
Source: HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland), Open Government Licence.
About
Dornoch Academy is a state secondary school situated in the small town of Dornoch in Sutherland in northern Scotland.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
At a Glance
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Dornoch Academy
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
No injury road collisions were reported to the police within 500 m of the school's mapped location in 2021 to 2025.
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
Dornoch Academy
Questions parents ask about Dornoch Academy
When was Dornoch Academy last inspected?
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Dornoch Academy in May 2023. Inspectors evaluated learning, teaching and assessment as good and raising attainment and achievement as good, on a six-point scale from unsatisfactory to excellent.
What is the catchment area for Dornoch Academy?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Dornoch 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 Dornoch Academy?
If you live in Dornoch 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 Dornoch Academy?
No injury road collisions were reported to the police within 500 m of the school's mapped location in 2021 to 2025. The typical figure for schools in Highland is 0 (the median across 195 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Dornoch Academy?
Dornoch Academy is at Evelix Road, Dornoch, SUTHERLAND, SUTHERLAND, IV25 3HR.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)