Insight Into Ballikinrain Residential School

The head of a residential school for boys said he hoped a new insight into the establishment would help dispel the myths surrounding it. Chris McNaught’s comments came after TV cameras were allowed into Ballikinrain, in Stirlingshire, for the first time.

Scotland has almost 1,000 children in such schools – removed from their homes for their own protection or because they are out of control.

Life at Ballikinrain has been portrayed in a new BBC Scotland documentary.

The residential school, near Balfron, caters for 30 boys from the age of eight upwards, many of whom have been kicked out of mainstream education.

They have been sent to Ballikinrain in the hope that their lives can be turned around and Mr McNaught said the school’s aim much of the time was to let children be children.

“Many of the young people that come here have had difficult starts in life – difficulties such as a mum or dad with alcohol or drug dependency problems or mental health problems,” he said.

“They’ve had to look after mum when she’s not been well and perhaps protect their younger brothers from a violent partner.”

The three-part TV series, The Boys of Ballikinrain, was two years in the making for company Saltire Film and TV Productions.

The school, housed in a Baronial castle, has in the past been a private home, a hotel and a girls’ school.

It was bought in 1967 by the Church of Scotland, which has been running it as a residential school ever since.

Mr McNaught said he had to think long and hard before letting the cameras in, but added: “I believe it is important that the public is made more aware of the work of residential schools.

“There are a lot of myths out there but not much in the way of true understanding.”

The Boys of Ballikinrain starts on BBC Two Scotland at 2100 GMT on 19 February.