Nicolson Institute
The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, is the largest school in the Western Isles, Scotland.The Nicolson is the only six-year secondary school in Lewis. With the Sir E. Scott School in Harris, they provide education up to Advanced Higher level.The student population is around 1000. The school has Gaelic speaking pupils, although these are in the minority. There are five houses, named after five significant former rectors: Addison, Forbes, Gibson, Macrae and Sutherland. Addison only contains pupils who claim to be fluent in Gaelic.A new Nicolson Institute has been built on the same road which the old one is on. The old school comprised several different buildings, all built between 1904 (Matheson Hall) and the Main Building (1957) as well as a few other building that were demolished in the 1960s. The Main building was extended many times and a canteen was built in a second neighbouring building in the 1980s.New SchoolIn June 2010, the first part of the new school project started with the Springfield South was demolished, (these subjects were housed in temporary portocabins at the back of the school). The project took 2 years and the new school opened on Thursday 16th August 2012 to staff & pupils. The old main building was then demolished to become the new bus park. The technical (Springfield North) and former Religious studies department (Matheson Hall) were retained,
