The schools will be similar to Irish speaking schools.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the council for the Western Isles in Scotland have recently announced that several of its school will now be taught exclusively through Gaelic. The schools which will be modelled on Irish speaking schools in Ireland and Welsh speaking schools in Wales will exclusively teach through Gaelic for the first few years, adding English as pupils advance through the school. This change to the language to which children learn through is the first time Gaelic has been given the “default” status of being the main language for teaching in some of Scotland’s schools. The hope is that children in the region will speak Gaelic as their first language and English as their second. Both of my children attend a Gaelscoil and I really envy them because my Irish is pretty abysmal and I wish it wasn't. Studies have also shown that children who know two or more languages from a young age generally due better academically than children who only know one language. The council’s director of education Bernard Chisholm announced the change to schools in the Western Isles last week.

"It is truly a free gift and in this increasingly mobile world, it also enables them to acquire other languages much easier. Not only do we want to make this offer available to children in our schools, we want to support as many children and adults as possible to learn the language anywhere they want, through our online e-Sgoil provision. We seek to give every child every advantage we can to ensure when they are in school, and when they leave, they have the widest opportunities possible in the world of work, leisure and learning."

As it stands over half the population of the Western Isles speaks Gaelic but this new change to schools in the area could bump that number even higher.