Public pick four names for new Fife school, and it includes one in honour of a suffragette

Councillors on the South and West Fife area committee agreed to the proposals a being put forward in a second consultation to name the new South and West High School in Rosyth. The four names on the shortlist are Caledonia, Rosyth, Forth and a fourth suggestion of Janet McCallum in honour of a Scottish trade unionist and working-class suffragette from Inverkeithing.

The new school will be a replacement for Inverkeithing High School, and because it won’t be situated in the town, it needs a new name. A second question will also ask the public if they prefer the title of academy or high school.

The council broke ground in July 2024, and the new school will be ready in August with the capacity to accommodate 1,735 pupils over three floors. Choosing a name is all part of the process, and the public will get to vote for their favourite option during phase two of the public consultation process- which is now live on Fife Council’s website and runs until March 28.

The committee previously signed off on stage one consultation plans in December allowing the public to vote on ideas and make their own suggestions to name the new school. It got 3,528 responses, which committee convener David Barrat (SNP for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay) said was an “extreme success”.

“[We] received thousands of responses and hundreds of name suggestions,” he said. “It does make our job as a committee quite difficult to try and whittle that down to just three.”

Caledonia came out as the forerunner with more than 1,000 votes. The other two shortlisted names got about 700 votes each. Names with bridge or bridge-related themes narrowly missed out on the cut.

When it came to a vote, Caledonia, Rosyth, Forth and Janet McCallum won 5-5 with Cllr Barratt casting the deciding vote.

“Naming anything, especially a school is quite an emotive subject and we know there will be a lot of different opinions in the community,” he said. “We want to hear from all voices in the local community so please go online and make your suggestion.”

Cllr Barratt paid particular tribute to an “enthusiastic” group of young high school students who “passionately” submitted the name Janet McCallum for consideration. Councillor Sarah Neal (SNP for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay) also said they not only put it forward, but also invited local councillors to come to their school and learn more about working class suffragette and trade unionist.