News / Island life good for kids
A NEW Bank of Scotland report has added further evidence that Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are the best places to bring up children in Scotland.
The latest ‘Children’s Quality of Life’ survey, published on Monday, placed Orkney in top spot based on low primary school class size, high school spending per pupil and the fact they live in an area of low population density and little traffic.
Shetland came second followed by the western isles. Both of these areas score high on the education factors, human geography and how adults rate their personal wellbeing.
Shetland performs strongly on the lowest pupil to teacher ratio of 8.6; the highest average school spend per pupil of £10,821 and over nine out ten secondary school pupils achieve five awards at SCQF 4 or better.
The Western Isles has the lowest average primary school class size of 17.4 in Britain.
The survey comes just days after politicians and council officials from the three island local authorities met with education secretary Angela Constance in Orkney to discuss the high cost of education in the isles.
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