ORKNEY is the best place in Britain to raise children with low school class sizes and little road traffic, a survey has found.
Children in the Orkney Islands enjoy the best quality of life of any local area district, followed by the Shetland Islands and the Western Isles, according to the Bank of Scotland report.
It placed Orkney in the top spot based on the average primary school class size of 18 pupils, higher spending per pupil at secondary school and the fact they live in an area of low population density with little road traffic.
Children there are also likely to be surrounded by adults who are in employment and who rate their own personal well-being as very high, the Children's Quality of Life Survey revealed.
But just 56 per cent of households have access to fast broadband in the area – below the national average of 86 per cent.
Both Shetland and the Western Isles scored highly on the education factors, human geography and how adults rate their personal well-being.
The Western Isles have an average of 69 vehicles per square kilometre – compared to the national average of 9,459 – while schools on the Shetland Islands spend more than double the national average per pupil.
Orkney, the Shetland Islands and Western Isles have consistently topped polls regarding the highest levels of life satisfaction, self-worth and happiness among residents in recent years.
Those living there also score well for low levels of anxiety compared with other parts of the UK.
Steven Heddle, who is the convener at Orkney Islands Council, was born and brought up in Kirkwall. He and his wife Donna made a conscious decision to raise their son Njal, 18, in Orkney.
"My son was born in Edinburgh and we moved back to Orkney because we felt it would be a good place to bring him up rather than get stuck in the postcode lottery of schools in Edinburgh," said Mr Heddle.
"I enjoyed my own childhood in Orkney. It is still possible here to have the childhood for your children that you had yourself."
Among the many lures, said Mr Heddle, is easy access to the great outdoors, freedom to cycle and a range of community groups and societies for youngsters across the islands.
"Orkney is a safe place and has a community spirit where people do genuinely look out for each other," he said. "As a child you can go fish off the end of a pier or learn how to sail.
"We have recently spent money on building a new secondary school in Kirkwall and a new primary school in Stromness, the second largest town in Orkney."
The fourth spot in Scotland went to Aberdeenshire which was rated 20th across Britain.
East Dunbartonshire was the 15th in the table north of the border, with children living there achieving the second best exam results in Scotland while pupils in 11th ranked East Renfrewshire were close behind.
Nitesh Patel, economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "The north of Scotland has always done well when we've looked at quality of life indexes, so it is no surprise that Orkney, the Shetland Islands and Western Isles are the top three in the 2015 Bank of Scotland Children's Quality of Life Index across both Scotland and Great Britain.
"Children in these areas benefit from low primary school class sizes, low pupil to teacher ratio in secondary schools, excellent exam results and some of the highest school spend per pupil."
Other local authority areas making up the top 20 in Scotland in the index included Stirling, Aberdeen, Perth and Kinross, the Highlands, West Lothian, East Lothian and Fife.
The Scottish Borders, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Moray, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire and Angus completed the list.
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