As you might expect in a town with a long ecclesiastical history, Tain has been an important education centre for many centuries. There are references, for example to an 'old' schoolhouse adjacent to the collegiate Church of St. Duthus in the late sixteenth century.

Tain Royal Academy owes its origins to a meeting in Richardson's Coffee House in London on June 6th 1800 when a number of 'noblemen and gentlemen' resolved to establish an Academy in their home area. The school opened in 1813 with four staff. Tain Royal Academy was a fee paying school run by directors until the 1918 Education Act when it was taken over by Ross and Cromarty County Council.

A new school was opened in 1969 with an extension added in 1978 as the school roll rose to 840. Since then economic circumstances have changed locally and the school is adapting to a reduced roll but determind to maintain the excellence which has always been the hallmark of Tain Royal Academy.
 
Tain Royal Academy’s associated primary schools are: Craighill, Edderton, Gledfield, Hill of Fearn, Hilton of Cadboll, Inver, Knockbreck, and Tarbat Old Primary.