Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
Plockton is a village in the Lochalsh, Wester Ross area of the Scottish Highlands with a 2020 population of 468.
Mallaig is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".
Sleat is a peninsula and civil parish on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan MacDonald of Sleat. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Slèite, which in turn comes from Old Norse sléttr, which well describes Sleat when considered in the surrounding context of the mainland, Skye and Rùm mountains that dominate the horizon all about Sleat.
Kyle of Lochalsh is a village in the historic county of Ross-shire on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around 55 miles (90 km) west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. A ferry used to connect the two villages until it was replaced by the Skye Bridge, about a mile (2 km) to the west, in 1995.
Lochcarron is a village, community and civil parish in the Wester Ross area of Highland, Scotland. It has a population of 923.
Wester Ross is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to the west of the main watershed of Ross, thus forming the western half of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The southwesternmost part of Ross and Cromarty, Lochalsh, is not considered part of Wester Ross by the local tourist organisation, Visit Wester Ross, but is included within the definition used for the Wester Ross Biosphere Reserve.
Stromeferry is a village, located on the south shore of the west coast sea loch, Loch Carron, in western Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Its name reflects its former role as the location of one of the many coastal ferry services which existed prior to the expansion of the road network in the 20th century.
Inverness Royal Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in the city of Inverness in the Highland area of Scotland.
Portree High School is a state co-educational comprehensive school in Portree, Isle of Skye in Scotland. As of 2020, the school enrols 490 pupils and employs 80 teachers and support staff. The school's catchment area draws from 15 primary schools across Skye and neighbouring Raasay. The school also has a hostel with boarding provisions for a small number of pupils who live in more remote areas of the island.
Lochaber High School is a six-year comprehensive secondary school located in the town of Fort William, Lochaber, in the Highland region of Scotland.
St Leonards is an area of the Scottish new town East Kilbride, in South Lanarkshire.
Cumbernauld Academy was the first comprehensive secondary school in the then 'New Town' of Cumbernauld. It was designed by Scottish architects Gratton & McLean and it opened in 1964 and is a non-denominational, co-educational, secondary school. In 2013, North Lanarkshire Council announced the amalgamation of Cumbernauld High with Abronhill High to become Cumbernauld Academy in a new building to be built on existing CHS grounds.
Stuart McMillan is a Scottish politician serving as Convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Greenock and Inverclyde since 2016, having previously represented the West of Scotland region from 2007 to 2016.
Shirley-Anne Somerville is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the devolved Scottish government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dunfermline since 2016, having previously served as an additional member for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011.
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
Music schools in Scotland are available at several levels. Formal music education begins at 4½ years and can progress as high as postgraduate studies. Education in Scotland is a responsibility of the Scottish Government. Music is regarded as being an integral part of the culture of Scotland.
MV Glenachulish is a ferry operating a summer service between Glenelg, on the Scottish mainland, and Kylerhea, on the Isle of Skye. Built in 1969, she is the last manually operated steel turntable ferry in the world. The route avoids the 36 mile road journey via the Skye Bridge.
Duncraig Castle is a mansion in Lochalsh, in the west of the Scottish Highlands. A category-C listed building, it is situated in the Highland council area, east of the village of Plockton on the south shore of Loch Carron. It was built in 1866 in the Scottish baronial style, to designs by Alexander Ross, for Scottish Member of Parliament and businessman Alexander Matheson. The castle remained in the Matheson family until the 1920s, when it was sold to Sir Daniel Hamilton and his wife Margaret, who owned the neighbouring estate. The Hamiltons intended to use the castle for educational purposes in the local community, but this never came to fruition and following the outbreak of World War II, the castle was used as a naval hospital. By the end of the war, Daniel Hamilton had died, and Margaret bequeathed the castle to the local council, which converted it for use as a home economics college for girls, operating in this capacity until its closure in 1989.
