News

All LiveArgyll facilities will close at 5pm tonight (Wednesday 18 March) until further notice. This difficult decision has been taken in accordance with government advice and means that all planned programmes by LiveArgyll have also been suspended, and all events cancelled. For further information visit: liveargyll.co.uk/coronavirus-update/  

Pupils at Luing Primary School have been learning about how to create a sustainable future through the United Nations Global Goals. The Global Goalsaddress the global challenges everyone faces, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. To coincide with this project,Dave Alsop from Seed for Life went along to the school to talk to the children about the vital work the charity does to help people in Malawi.

We are asking for the public’s views on four possible options to create a new walking, cycling and scooter path, linking Lochgilphead Front Green and the Crinan Canal. The public consultation, run by Argyll and Bute Council, will run from Monday 23 March to Sunday 5 April. You will be able to view the different options, and complete the consultation, online at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/corran-path.

A group of pupils from Dunoon Grammar School beat off stiff competition from across the country to win the Apps for Good Scotland event for the fourth year in a row.  Apps for Good is an education scheme that is empowering young people to change the world with technology. The competition challenges pupils to work in teams to develop an enterprising technology product that will help to solve issues they care about. 

Pupils at Dunoon Grammar will be hosting a ‘Pop-up Mall’ next week to celebrate the end of their ‘Tenner Challenge’. The Tenner Challenge is a UK wide initiative where pupils receive £10 each and are tasked with making as much profit as possible. S2 pupils at Dunoon Grammar have been taking part in the scheme over the last few weeks and will be selling their products/services at a Pop-up Mall in the school forum on Friday 20 March. The event will take place from 10.45am until 11.45am and members of the public are welcome to attend.

Councillor Aileen Morton, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, welcomed the announcement in today's UK Budget that civil service jobs are coming to Scotland. Councillor Morton said: “This is good news but could be great news if the UK and Scottish Government commit to a proportion of these jobs coming to the West of Scotland where the population is falling.

Pupils at Clachan Primary are celebrating after the school received its seventh Eco-Schools Green Flag.  Run by Keep Scotland Beautiful, Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world and encourages young people to take steps to ensure we look after our environment. Clachan Primary signed up to the scheme 16 years ago and since then it has gone from strength to strength, with the school introducing a number of initiatives to become more eco-friendly.

A number of shopfronts in Campbeltown look set to benefit from a makeover as a result of funding from Argyll and Bute Council’s Shopfront Improvement Scheme.  More than 20 shops in the town centre have been awarded grants from the scheme to enable them to make external improvements, with work having recently started at McLean Place in Main Street - one of the first properties to benefit. 

Argyll and Bute Council is leading the way when it comes to phasing in 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), with 76% of settings now delivering the additional hours. A total of 70 childcare settings and 14 childminders in the area are already offering 1140 hours and, as a result of the expansion work that has been done to date, 74.3 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) posts have been created.

Easdale Primary School’s Pre-5 unit has received a glowing report from the Care Inspectorate. Inspectors found that staff provided the children with warm, nurturing and responsive care that supported their wellbeing and development, and praised the way in which they had developed trusted, loving relationships with the children. The children who attend the unit were found to be confident about expressing their thoughts, views and feelings, and making choices and decisions about what they wanted to do throughout the day.