News search

Argyll and Bute Council is committed to ensuring that vulnerable young people are getting the most out of their education.  This was the clear message at a meeting of the council’s Community Services Committee today, when members were updated on the progress that has been made since a principal teacher was appointed specifically for young people in care, and those in need of extra support or protection.

Argyll and Bute Council is one of eight local authorities across the North and West of Scotland that are working together to ensure that children and young people are given the best educational opportunities. Known as the Northern Alliance, the partnership is a Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC) set up to secure excellence and equity in education.

Teams of young entrepreneurs from sixteen schools across Scotland, including Lochgilphead High School, travelled to Edinburgh to take part in the final of a competition to discover the next generation of enterprising young people. The competition is one of the biggest highlights of the year for Young Enterprise Scotland. Area heats took place throughout the year to identify winning teams from across the Scottish regions who set up and ran their own business.

Colgrain Primary School has officially launched its new nurture room. ‘The Oasis’ is a purposefully designed and resourced environment, created to support children when they are experiencing some emotional or social challenges in their lives. The school’s vision is to enable all children to reach their full potential, and be the best they can be, and the creation of the nurture room helps to achieve this.

Parents are being invited to have their say on their child’s school by taking part in Argyll and Bute Council’s Parental Involvement and Engagement Census. The census only takes around five minutes  to complete and will enable parents to help shape local planning and decision making, as well as shaping national education priorities. The census is available on the council website, whilst hard copies are available from your child’s school.

A total of 75 projects across Argyll and Bute will receive funding from the council’s Supporting Communities Fund after councillors approved their applications for support. Each of the four Local Area Committees have approved funding for successful applicants in their local areas, with a total of £108,500 being allocated.

Improvement in customer care by the council’s Roads and Amenity service has decreased the number of times residents have had to phone or contact the council via the website or social media. Members of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee heard on Thursday 6 June that a positive approach to getting things right, first time, over the past two years is steadily making improvements.

For the first time, in 2018, an entire feature film was shot in Argyll and Bute, bringing in a crew of 200 for a total of six weeks. This was just one of 40 productions filmed in Argyll and Bute from January 2018 to January 2019, bringing in an estimated spend of £1,088,500 to the local economy. In total, over the year, there were 124 enquiries from companies looking for suitable locations in which to film or photograph.

Two teams of pupils from Dunoon Grammar School are calling for help from members of the public after making it through to the Apps for Good UK final for the third year running. The youngsters beat of stiff competition from over 25,000 young people to be shortlisted for the people’s choice award after creating two unique mobile apps. However, in order to win, they need members of the public to vote for them.

Today (Wednesday 5 June)  marked the official opening of Oban’s new £36 million high school. Although pupils and staff moved into their new school last year, the old school building still had to be demolished and ground works still had to be carried out to create an external social space, a new bus drop off area and additional car parking.