School Year

The past year has been a busy one for the school. All sorts of comings and goings have made it seem hectic at times, but nevertheless enjoyable.

At the beginning of June we had a Bring and Buy Sale to raise some funds for a planned school trip. The sale made £254.26 which went towards taking pupils of P5, 6 & 7 to Edinburgh and Oban for four days.

Our trip went very well but I'll leave the telling to the children in the following items.

Just before the end of term the teachers and pupils of Ulva Primary School on Mull paid us a visit. They came for the day and Major and the Hon. Mrs Bristol very kindly showed us round Breachachadh Castle. It's not often we get the chance to meet pupils and staff from other schools, so it made for a special day which, I hope, we all enjoyed.

The end of term service and prizegiving was conducted by Andrew Greaves. A special presentation was made to lan Anderson who left us for the bright lights of Oban High School.

Before the end of term we counted the money in our Barnardo's collection box. There turned out to be £38 which is a record for a small school. We all contribute a little each week which mounts up, Barnardos thought this worthy of a mention in their national magazine.

The start of the new school year saw four new pupils in Pl, Sara Oliphant, lan Fraser, Robin Lunghi and Tom Greaves. Recently, Julia and Robbie Payne joined us, taking the roll up to 14, higher than it's been for a long time. Additions to the staff were also prominent this year, Marjorie Kennedy became a permanent member of the teaching staff, coming for two part days a week. Linda English was appointed school cleaner and Elda Lunghi temporarily replaced Alison McVey as clerical assistant/auxiliary while Alison took time off to have her baby.

The Summer holidays were eventful this year. Work finally started on a SCHOOL HOUSE! A lot of alterations and repairs were done to the school itself, which made the next term a very disrupted one, but it's all been worth it. Now all the school needs is a new roof!! (I can't help wondering if it might not have been quicker to build a new school)

One of the most momentous changes in Scottish education for a long time has been the setting up of School Boards. After a poor initial response, our board has been formed and has held its first meeting. We hope that it will lead to even greater co-operation between parents and the school.

At the beginning of October my brother-in-law, Jim Sinclair visited us to take some pictures of the children for the Daily Record World Map Promotion. The photograph appeared in the Daily Record two days later. (I've a sneaking suspicion that the motive behind the visit was to be the first to see the new house!)

During October Philippa Greaves, Heather MacIntyre and Jessica Bell took part in "Readathon 89" to raise money for the Malcolm Sergeant Cancer Fund for Children. This involved being sponsored to read a set number of books in a week. Between the three of them they collected £73.05, a super effort!!

On Wednesday 20th, December our Nativity Play and Carol Service took place. The children put a lot of effort into learning their songs and giving a very polished performance. A collection for the Save the Children Ethiopia Disaster Fund raised £45.

After a very successful year we look forward to the next twelve months. We are in the process of planning the next school trip. We very much look forward to the kind of support we have had in the past for all our ventures.

CRUACHAN POWER STATION

Jessica Bell

On Friday we all went to Cruachan Power Station. I thought it was quite boring because all that happened was you got into this little bus that took about 10 to 15 minutes to get down to the bottom of the mountain. Then you get out and go up these steps to a little balcony. A nice lady told us about Cruachan Power Station and how it was built. Then we were allowed to look over the balcony to where all the generators were. We left and got back to the bus and it took us back to where we left.

We went swimming later and in the evening we went to the pictures to see a film called The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The film was really funny

INVERARAY CASTLE

Heather MacIntyre

Thursday morning we went to Inveraray Castle. It was very big. The first room we went in was the dining room. On the table there was a wine holder that was shaped like a ship and there were big chandeliers. Then we went into the next room. It had lots of tapestry on the walls; it had funny furniture in it. There was a circular giltwood palm tree table. My favourite room was upstairs. It was haunted. The bed was a four-poster bed. We went to Inveraray Jail.

We went into the court room first which was fun. Then we went to the old jail. There were some empty rooms but upstairs there was a lady in with a baby. The lady was singing to the baby. In the next room there were men playing cards and laughing. There was a lunatic in a room by himself. He was screaming all the time.


The Sealife Centre

Philipa Greaves

When we went on our school trip we went to the Sealife Centre. I enjoyed our meal. I had salad and cake. After that we went inside and saw all kinds of fish. There were flat fish and I even saw a fish on the steps. My favourite bits were the touch pool and the seals. The seals looked so playful. I took lots of photos of them because they wee getting fed. At the touch pool we saw crabs and starfish and lots of other sea creatures. Last of all we went to get postcards. I got one of a seal. We wrote them and went to post them.

Later that day we went to the swimming pool. That was great fun. Honey and her friend came with us. We were in the swimming pool for about an hour. Then we went back to the hostel. Oh, I forgot to tell you, we went to Oban High School. We got shown right round the school. I think I will get in a bit of a muddle when I go. It was a great day.


The Snow Queen

Julia Payne

One day a snow queen came to Coll. It was a lady queen. She came in her sledge. Reindeers pulled it. The sledge was white and it was beautiful with sparkling jewels. The snow queen had a fur coat made of polar bear’s wool. She made flowers die. She set homes on fire. She did horrible things. She even put the school on fire. She put spells on people who would not serve her. She made us cold. She would not stop. They tried to stop her but she only put spells on them. 100 died. That’s how there were only a few left. Some couldn’t suffer very well. She ate ate all our food. I didn’t like it. Rocks crumbled. Some animals died. On her way to Coll she had dropped some crystals. They were lovely crystals and it was lucky she did because the poor people needed some to buy6 things. The people of Col were still fighting with the mean old witch queen. She thought it was fun. It was fun fighting and then CRASH BANG CRASH, the Snow Queen fell in a big big muddy hole and she had no food and drink and so she died and the people of Coll repaired Coll and they were rich.

The End.