Glen Urquhart High School in Drumnadrochit has become the first school in the Inverness and Nairn area to receive the prestigious 'blue' Investors in People (IiP) plaque.

Although the school received IiP status only a matter of months after beginning the process, the award - which recognises a business or organisation's commitment to staff development and inclusion - highlights a longer term effort on behalf of the school's management to improve staff involvement and team spirit.

According to head-teacher Eddie Broadley their efforts to involve people in the day to day running of the school have extended from clerical and janitorial staff through to teachers - with each being involved in scheduled fortnightly meetings to ensure consultation and input on new issues and changes.

He said: "We've been delighted to have our good work recognised in this way - IiP is an endorsement of what we'd been trying to do anyway to develop the involvement and commitment of all our staff. While the pupils haven't been directly involved I'm sure it's not too fanciful to say that a happy staff team will lead to happier pupils and, hopefully better results!"

Glen Urquhart High School, with a roll of 180 pupils, has been a consistently good performer in exam results tables, and now both staff and pupils are looking forward to moving into a new purpose-built school building at the beginning of the next session.

The IiP programme is administered in the area by Inverness and Nairn Enterprise (INE), chief executive Bill Sylvester said: "Becoming the first school in the area to reach the IiP status is something everyone in Glen Urquhart High School can be proud of - it's a strong endorsement of the professional approach being adopted by all the staff. I think it also demonstrates the versatility of the IiP programme. Often people assume IiP is a 'business only' programme which couldn't be further from the truth - a whole range of organisations stand to gain from applying its methods."