diff --git a/data/meson.build b/data/meson.build
index b28891a23d..0520e340be 100644
--- a/data/meson.build
+++ b/data/meson.build
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ endforeach
 install_data([
   'styles/elementary-dark.xml',
   'styles/elementary-light.xml',
+  'styles/elementary-highcontrast-light.xml',
 ], install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'gtksourceview-4' / 'styles')
 
 install_data([
diff --git a/data/styles/elementary-highcontrast-light.xml b/data/styles/elementary-highcontrast-light.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa877eeb17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/styles/elementary-highcontrast-light.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<style-scheme id="elementary-highcontrast-light" _name="elementary High Contrast Light" version="1.0">
+  <author>Elementary Developers</author>
+  <_description>High Contrast color scheme using the elementary color palette</_description>
+
+  <!-- Background Colors Palette -->
+  <color name="bg-0"    value="#abacae"/> <!-- SILVER700-->
+  <color name="bg-1"    value="#d4d4d4"/> <!-- SILVER300-->
+  <color name="bg-2"    value="#fafafa"/> <!-- SILVER100-->
+  <color name="bg-3"    value="#EAEAEA"/> <!-- 50% SILVER300 + 50% WHITE
+  
+   -->
+
+  <!--Foreground Colors Palette -->
+  <color name="fg-0"    value="#000000"/> <!-- BLACK900 -->
+  <color name="fg-1"    value="#1a1a1a"/> <!-- BLACK700 -->
+  <color name="fg-2"    value="#abacae"/> <!-- SILVER500 -->
+
+  <!--Highlight Colors Palette -->
+  <color name="mud"   value="#804b00"/> <!-- LATTE900 -->
+  <color name="latte"   value="#e7c591"/> <!-- LATTE300 -->
+  <color name="yellow"  value="#d48e15"/> <!-- BANANA700 -->
+  <color name="orange"  value="#cc3b02"/> <!-- ORANGE700 -->
+  <color name="pink"    value="#bc245d"/> <!-- BUBBLEGUM700 -->
+  <color name="purple"  value="#452981"/> <!-- GRAPE900 -->
+  <color name="cyan"    value="#007367"/> <!-- MINT900 -->
+  <color name="blue"    value="#0d52bf"/> <!-- BLUEBERRY700 -->
+  <color name="lime"    value="#68b723"/> <!-- LIME500 -->
+  <color name="green"   value="#206b00"/> <!-- LIME900 -->
+  <color name="red"     value="#a10705"/> <!-- STRAWBERRY700 -->
+  <color name="black"   value="#000000"/>
+
+
+  <!-- Global Settings -->
+  <style name="text"                        foreground="fg-0" background="bg-2"/>
+  <style name="selection"                   background="latte"/>
+  <style name="cursor"                      foreground="fg-0"/>
+  <style name="secondary-cursor"            foreground="fg-1"/>
+  <style name="current-line"                background="bg-1"/>
+  <style name="line-numbers"                foreground="fg-1" background="bg-3"/>
+  <style name="background-pattern"          background="bg-3"/>
+  <style name="draw-spaces"                 foreground="fg-2"/>
+
+  <!-- Bracket Matching -->
+  <style name="bracket-match"               foreground="lime" background="bg-2" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="bracket-mismatch"            foreground="red" background="fg-2" bold="true"/>
+
+  <!-- Right Margin -->
+  <style name="right-margin"                foreground="bg-3" background="fg-1"/>
+
+  <!-- Search Matching -->
+  <style name="search-match"                foreground="black" background="yellow"/>
+
+  <!-- Comments -->
+  <style name="def:comment"                 foreground="blue" italic="true"/>
+  <style name="def:shebang"                 foreground="fg-1" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="def:doc-comment-element"     italic="true"/>
+
+  <!-- Constants -->
+  <style name="def:constant"                foreground="cyan"/>
+  <style name="def:special-char"            foreground="green"/>
+
+  <!-- Identifiers -->
+  <style name="def:identifier"              foreground="blue" bold="true"/>
+
+  <!-- Statements -->
+  <style name="def:statement"               foreground="orange"/>
+
+  <!-- Types -->
+  <style name="def:type"                    foreground="green" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="def:string"                  foreground="pink"/>
+  <style name="def:keyword"                  foreground="mud" bold="true"/>
+
+  <!-- Markup -->
+  <style name="def:emphasis"                italic="true"/>
+  <style name="def:strong-emphasis"         foreground="orange"/>
+  <style name="def:inline-code"             foreground="blue"/>
+  <style name="def:insertion"               underline="single"/>
+  <style name="def:deletion"                strikethrough="true"/>
+  <style name="def:link-text"               foreground="fg-1"/>
+  <style name="def:link-symbol"             foreground="fg-1" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="def:link-destination"        italic="true" underline="single"/>
+  <style name="def:heading"                 foreground="yellow"/>
+  <style name="def:thematic-break"          foreground="yellow"/>
+  <style name="def:preformatted-section"    foreground="blue"/>
+  <style name="def:list-marker"             foreground="orange"/>
+
+  <!-- Operators -->
+  <style name="def:operator"                foreground="lime" bold="true" />
+
+  <!-- Others -->
+  <style name="def:preprocessor"            foreground="purple"/>
+  <style name="def:error"                   foreground="red" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="def:note"                    foreground="pink" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="def:net-address"             italic="true" underline="single"/>
+
+  <!-- Language specific styles -->
+  <style name="diff:added-line"             foreground="green"/>
+  <style name="diff:removed-line"           foreground="red"/>
+  <style name="diff:changed-line"           foreground="yellow"/>
+  <style name="diff:special-case"           use-style="def:constant"/>
+  <style name="diff:location"               use-style="def:statement"/>
+  <style name="diff:diff-file"              use-style="def:type"/>
+
+  <style name="xml:tags"                    foreground="cyan"  bold="true"/>
+  <style name="xml:attribute-name"          foreground="purple"  bold="true"/>
+  <style name="xml:namespace"               foreground="lime" bold="true"/>
+
+  <style name="js:built-in-constructor"     use-style="def:identifier"/>
+
+  <style name="latex:display-math"          foreground="purple"/>
+  <style name="latex:command"               foreground="green" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="latex:include"               use-style="def:preprocessor"/>
+
+  <style name="sh:variable"                 foreground="purple"/>
+
+  <!-- legacy styles for old lang files -->
+  <style name="Others"                      foreground="green" bold="true"/>
+  <style name="Others 2"                    foreground="cyan"/>
+  <style name="Others 3"                    foreground="purple"/>
+
+</style-scheme>
diff --git a/src/Widgets/HeaderBar.vala b/src/Widgets/HeaderBar.vala
index 55e3ce2f0b..9f95e13686 100644
--- a/src/Widgets/HeaderBar.vala
+++ b/src/Widgets/HeaderBar.vala
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ public class Scratch.HeaderBar : Hdy.HeaderBar {
     public Gtk.ToggleButton sidebar_button { get; private set; }
     public Gtk.ToggleButton terminal_button { get; private set; }
 
-    private const string STYLE_SCHEME_HIGH_CONTRAST = "classic";
+    private const string STYLE_SCHEME_HIGH_CONTRAST = "elementary-highcontrast-light";
     private const string STYLE_SCHEME_LIGHT = "elementary-light";
     private const string STYLE_SCHEME_DARK = "elementary-dark";
 
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ public class Scratch.HeaderBar : Hdy.HeaderBar {
             margin_top = 6,
             margin_bottom = 6
         };
-
         color_box.add (color_button_white);
         color_box.add (color_button_light);
         color_box.add (color_button_dark);
@@ -320,28 +319,52 @@ public class Scratch.HeaderBar : Hdy.HeaderBar {
         });
     }
 
-    private void style_color_button (Gtk.Widget color_button, string style_id) {
-        string background = "#FFF";
-        string foreground = "#333";
+    private void style_color_button (Gtk.ToggleButton color_button, string style_id) {
+        var background = "";
+        var foreground = "";
 
+        Gtk.SourceStyleScheme? scheme = null;
         var sssm = Gtk.SourceStyleSchemeManager.get_default ();
         if (style_id in sssm.scheme_ids) {
-            var scheme = sssm.get_scheme (style_id);
-            color_button.tooltip_text = scheme.name;
+            scheme = sssm.get_scheme (style_id);
+            // We currently ship and hard-code the style schemes so can assume the "text" key
+            // is present but if in future we permit the user to specify their own default
+            // schemes (e.g. through separate settings keys) then this may not be the case.
+            // so do a certain amount of validity checking
+            var text_style = scheme.get_style ("text");
+            var background_pattern_style = scheme.get_style ("background-pattern");
+            if (text_style != null) {
+                if (text_style.background_set) {
+                    background = text_style.background;
+                }
+
+                if (text_style.foreground_set) {
+                    foreground = text_style.foreground;
+                }
+            }
 
-            var background_style = scheme.get_style ("background-pattern");
-            var foreground_style = scheme.get_style ("text");
+            if (background_pattern_style != null) {
+                if (background == "" && background_pattern_style.background_set) {
+                    background = background_pattern_style.background;
+                }
+
+                if (foreground == "" && background_pattern_style.foreground_set) {
+                    foreground = background_pattern_style.foreground;
+                }
+            }
 
-            if (background_style != null && background_style.background_set && !("rgba" in background_style.background)) {
-                background = background_style.background;
+            //Fallback to white and grey  if necessary
+            if (background == "" || background.contains ("rgba")) {
+                background = "";
             }
 
-            if (foreground_style != null && foreground_style.foreground_set) {
-                foreground = foreground_style.foreground;
+            if (foreground == "" || foreground.contains ("rgba")) {
+                foreground = "";
             }
         }
 
-        var style_css = """
+        if (background != "" && foreground != "") {
+            var style_css = """
             .color-button radio {
                 background-color: %s;
                 color: %s;
@@ -350,17 +373,34 @@ public class Scratch.HeaderBar : Hdy.HeaderBar {
             }
         """.printf (background, foreground);
 
-        var css_provider = new Gtk.CssProvider ();
+            var css_provider = new Gtk.CssProvider ();
 
-        try {
-            css_provider.load_from_data (style_css);
-        } catch (Error e) {
-            critical ("Unable to style color button: %s", e.message);
-        }
+            try {
+                css_provider.load_from_data (style_css);
+            } catch (Error e) {
+                critical ("Unable to style color button: %s", e.message);
+            }
 
-        unowned var style_context = color_button.get_style_context ();
-        style_context.add_class (Granite.STYLE_CLASS_COLOR_BUTTON);
-        style_context.add_provider (css_provider, Gtk.STYLE_PROVIDER_PRIORITY_APPLICATION);
+            unowned var style_context = color_button.get_style_context ();
+            style_context.add_class (Granite.STYLE_CLASS_COLOR_BUTTON);
+            style_context.add_provider (css_provider, Gtk.STYLE_PROVIDER_PRIORITY_APPLICATION);
+            color_button.tooltip_text = scheme.name;
+        } else if (scheme != null || background == "" || foreground == "") {
+            //Fallback to standard radio buttons (should not happen)
+            switch (style_id) {
+                case STYLE_SCHEME_LIGHT:
+                    color_button.label = _("Light");
+                    break;
+                case STYLE_SCHEME_DARK:
+                    color_button.label = _("Dark");
+                    break;
+                case STYLE_SCHEME_HIGH_CONTRAST:
+                    color_button.label = _("Contrast");
+                    break;
+                default:
+                    assert_not_reached ();
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     private void on_share_menu_changed () {
diff --git a/src/Widgets/SourceView.vala b/src/Widgets/SourceView.vala
index c09e4ba793..d85e048e23 100644
--- a/src/Widgets/SourceView.vala
+++ b/src/Widgets/SourceView.vala
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ namespace Scratch.Widgets {
                 }
             } else {
                 var scheme = style_scheme_manager.get_scheme (Scratch.settings.get_string ("style-scheme"));
-                source_buffer.style_scheme = scheme ?? style_scheme_manager.get_scheme ("classic");
+                source_buffer.style_scheme = scheme ?? style_scheme_manager.get_scheme ("elementary-highcontrast-light");
             }
 
             git_diff_gutter_renderer.set_style_scheme (source_buffer.style_scheme);