Pupil Achievements
Highland Disability Sports Swimming Gala
September 2023
Well done Rory, Anna and Miley! You are amazing!
Caley Thistle Signings for Inverness Royal Academy Pupils
August 2023
Congratulations to Sam Nixon and Calum MacLeod who have signed their first professional contracts with Caley Thistle. Amazing achievement boys!
Inverness Teen playing at the highest level of women’s basketball in Great Britain
July 2023
We are so proud of Zoe Sharpe who is playing for Great Britain at Basketball European Championship. Well done Zoe!
Gaelic Pupils write & perform a song at the Highland Council Staff Recognition Awards
June 2023
A huge well done to some of our Gaelic pupils who wrote and performed a lovely song at the Highland Council Staff Recognition Awards last week along with some of our future pupils from the BSGI
Orienteering League
June 2023
IRA pupils receiving their trophy for the winning high school in the Inverness Schools Orienteering League, congratulations to them all!
Highland Disability Swimming Championships
April 2023
We have a champion swimmer in our midst – Anna [S6]. She took 4 Silvers and a Gold on Saturday 22nd April at the Highland Disability Swimming Championships. Congratulations Anna, we are very proud of your achievements!
U18 Scottish Gymnastics Championships
February 2023
Jack Finnigan, S5 competed at the U18 Scottish Gymnastics Championships this weekend in Perth. This was the first time that anyone from Inverness Gymnastics Club has competed at such a high level, and the aim was to compete 6 routines without error. Jack placed 9th all round on day 1 with his combined total scores on Floor, Pommel Horse, Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars and High Bar. Exceeding expectations, these scores qualified him to 5 apparatus finals on day 2, where he excelled, winning the silver medal in the Floor competition, and becoming Scottish Champion on vault. Well done Jack! Amazing achievement.
Centenary Shield
January 2023
Congratulations to Jamie Carnihan S6 who has made it in to the final squad for the U’18 Scottish Schools International Squad to compete in the Centenary Shield. An amazing achievement!
Junk Couture Competition
January 2023
Orla Ni Eadhra received the award for City Designer of the Year for London at the World Final of the Junk Kouture competition in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday evening.
The World Final of this competition brings together groups of pupils & their designs from the various national competitions from around the globe. The national competitions represent ‘Fashion Capitals’ like Paris, New York, Milan etc. with the UK being represented by London. Receiving the award for City Designer of the Year for London makes Orla the official UK winner for 2022.
Junk Kouture is a huge competition globally – getting to the UK Final was a big achievement, getting to the World Final even bigger – receiving an award in this competition is a hugely significant achievement.
Master Chef 2022
November 2022
A huge congratulations to Thea Still S1 and Samuel Houston S1 for outstanding performances at the Rotary Club’s Master Chef competition. They both blew the judges away…unfortunately there could only be one winner and by one point, Thea Still won the competition overall.
Samuel’s Starter was: Balmoral bites served with a red currant sauce.
Main: Organic Scottish salmon fillet with a lemon thyme butter served with potato dauphinoise, asparagus and roasted vine tomatoes.
Dessert: Raspberry and pomegranate cheesecake.
Thea’s Starter was: Tea Smoked duck salad with a fresh orange dressing.
Main was: Chicken and apricot tagine with Moroccan inspired accompaniments.
Dessert: Vanilla yogurt panacotta with raspberry coulis.
Scottish Disability Sport Swimming Championship
May 2022
Congratulations to Rory Urquhart, who competed in the Scottish Disability Sport Swimming Championship at the weekend, where he won Gold medals in the 25m backstroke and 25m breaststroke.
Well done Rory!
Scottish Swimming National Squad
September 2021
S4 pupil Isla MacDonald has been selected for the Scottish Swimming National Youth Academy for 2021/22. An “A” squad member, Isla has been competing successfully at a local, regional and national level for many years.
Karate Open Championships
September 2021
Congratulations to Thomas Fearns in S2 who won gold and silver in the team event and gold in the individual event at the Cumbrian Karate Open Championships last weekend. Well Done Thomas!
ICT FC Academy Graduates
June 2021
Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are delighted to announce that Academy graduates Robbie Thompson and Alasdair Riddle have signed their first professional contracts with the club.
Robbie Thompson
Alasdair Riddle
Click here for the full story.
VR Goggle Design Competition
March 2021
Well done to Katie Hamilton S2, winner of a competition to design VR goggles to make them more fun and appealing for patients to use. Click here to see more about her winning design.
National Storytelling Week
February 2021
A huge congratulations to James Luke, an S3 Slioch pupil, on his recent win in a short story competition. James placed first in the 11-15 category with a superb piece of writing inspired by a previous trip to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. As part of National Storytelling Week NYMR asked young writers to submit a story that had to be under 2000 words, in the theme of either, a magical children’s story or a ghostly tale, set on the NYMR and taking inspiration from a selection of images linked to the railway. James’ piece is an excellent example of how a writer can use setting to create a rich atmosphere and draw the reader into the story. Here is a short section from the story:
“Time seemed to slow down now, as he stepped onto the semi-lit platform, illuminated by his late father’s Station Master lantern, which filled the riveting silence and darkness with a steady illumination, and the constant drip, drip, drip of the paraffin. The platform and all of its buildings stood before him, frozen in time in the perfect tranquility of the night, giving Albert the all too familiar feeling of stealing the perfect peace of the station, and all of its beauty. The train tracks illuminated the night like steely knives in the darkness, casting a blinding shine around the station, reflecting off the signal box, and all of the windows at the ticket office. His lantern cast its eerily glow into the dark tunnel where the roaring trains would burst from, exploding out with steam billowing from their chimneys.”
The rest of James’ story can be read here https://www.nymr.co.uk/…/short-story-writing…
A huge well done to James from the English department and all at Inverness Royal Academy!
Shinty Club Player of the Year
November 2020
Congratulations to Skye Mackintosh (S3) on being voted the IRA Shinty Club’s Player of the Year 2020!
S1 Pupil Appears on Blue Peter
November 2020
Please see our very own Joe Steele who appeared on Thursday’s Blue Peter (B.B.C.) Well done Joe!
Piece written by S4 pupil featured in Inverness Courier
June 2020
Tomorrow’s Inverness Courier will feature a photo and story about this essay by Leoni Ward-Walton. This piece is her very engaged and passionate response to the current race protests and underlying causes in the US.
Leoni is in new S4 starting National 5 English; appreciation to Jo Blair and SfL staff who have worked with Leoni to great effect in recent times.
Maggie Blyth Competition
May 2020
In the early days of lockdown, the Maggie Blyth Boutique in Inverness ran an online competition via their Facebook page to design a Summer and a Winter outfit.
This competition was offered as a wee task for our pupils on their Google Classrooms.
Many of our pupils took up the challenge, producing some really interesting images and ideas; so much so that the Art department arranged with Maggie to run a separate competition within our school, parallel to her main competition.
We would like to say well done to everyone who produced work for that task and competition.
Maggie’s Top Picks from each Year Group category were: Seamas Lowe (S1), Yasmin Newlands (S2), Olivia Grant (S3), Anders Oliver (S4) & Emma King (S5/6)
The overall winner from the Top Picks is Seamas Lowe, who produced a menswear design which, in Maggie’s words is ‘outstanding’ – a special congratulations to Seamas!
Young Enterprise Highland and Moray
May 2020
Young Enterprise Highland and Moray announced 10 awards yesterday on their Facebook.
IRA Sustain came out on top winning Best Company Report, Innovation Award, Marketing and Communications Award and Best Company 2020! We could not be more pleased with this outcome. The hard work and drive of our pupils was definitely recognised by the judges.
The team showed dedication and worked really well together to allow them to achieve this result. Thank you to all the staff that supported their business venture and gave them feedback along the way. A special mention of thanks to our Business Advisor, Angela Hamilton.
IRA Sustain team consists of: Brooke Steele, Louise Gordon, Sharlene Fraser, Sam Stubbs, Calum Daun, Grant Nixon and Abbie Boyce.
