THE Scottish Secretary has rejected an application by Scotland's only

opt-out school to be upgraded to six-year status.

As a result, Dornoch Academy will remain with about 60 first and

second-year pupils for at least another year.

Mrs Jenifer Cameron, the spokesman for the school board, was

disappointed at yesterday's decision by Mr Ian Lang not to upgrade

Scotland's first, and so far sole, opt-out school.

''We had always felt that it was central to all we wanted to achieve

here. Everyone knows we opted out to pursue this line and now to find we

are not able to do it is surprising, to say the least.''

The Scottiish Office refusal of consent refers to the board's

application for upgrading this autumn.

''We have been aware since early April that it was not going to be

possible to have this,'' said Mrs Cameron, ''so from that point of view

it is not a surprise.

''What we were looking for was a response to our request to proceed to

a ballot, which might have put us on course for the next term, and this

might have hopefully led to upgrading within a year. That is what we

were hoping for.''

Mrs Cameron said she was confident -- though she could not speak for

what a future board meeting might decide -- that the pressures for

upgrading would continue with a new board.

The first meeting will be next Monday night ''and clearly they will

have a lot to talk about'', she said.

Academy rector John Garvie, who joined the school in February after

moving from Gairloch High School, said he would not be resigning.

''Preparing pupils for university and seeing pupils right through the

school was very much part of my life and I could not envisage laying

that down. Dornoch Academy has become very much part of my life now,''

he said.

The Sutherland Parents' Action Group, formed by Golspie parents last

October after concern about Dornoch's upgrading plans, has claimed that

local pressure resulted in the decision by Mr Lang not to grant

permission.

The group said: ''We are glad the Secretary has not allowed them to

upgrade. If the upgrade had gone ahead, it would have been to the

detriment of all the children in Sutherland. The opposition was very

strong and we are very pleased the Secretary of State has taken this

into account.''

The action group also noted that the Scottish Office refusal gave no

indication of when upgrade status might be granted.

''We do not want to see them upgraded at all but certainly if they are

going to be upgraded, we do think they should have a lot more experience

than they have now.''

Meanwhile, Highland Regional Council's education committee chairman,

Councillor Val MacIver, said the Scottish Office decision was in line

with a recent education committee discussion of Dornoch's application

for upgrading.

Mrs MacIver said: ''The Secretary of State obviously shares our view

that it is premature in the interests of the education of the children

in the Dornoch area for the parents to have the school upgraded without

any expertise of actually running a secondary school.

''From the education committee's point of view this is an entirely

satisfactory outcome to Dornoch Academy's application to upgrade and it

means that no more resources will be taken from Highland schools to

cover the cost of any such upgrading.''