Argyll & Bute Community Services: News Archive

This page displays an achieve of recent news stories.

Maths and Science Challenge 2012: Cisco and STEMNET are challenging 11 to 16-year-olds to use their maths and science skills to plan a major sporting event in their local area.
The Challenge is to plan a major sporting event that would excite and inspire, transform the local area and showcase local and national talent. For the Challenge entries, students must choose a sport and a venue or location, and work out what resources, facilities and equipment would be needed for the event. They will also need to provide enough evidence to convince a panel of judges that their event is accessible and sustainable, and that it will leave a lasting legacy for their local area.

To find out more information and to register your school Click Here

FIVE ARGYLL AND BUTE SCHOOLS ARE NATIONAL AWARD FINALISTS: Five schools or education professionals from Argyll and Bute have beaten off stiff competition from across Scotland to be selected as a finalist at the Scottish Education Awards 2012.

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Green Energy Trust ‘Eco Editors’ competition: The Green Energy Trust would like to invite secondary schools to take part in inaugural ScottishPower Green Energy Trust ‘Eco Editors’ competition 2012, to encourage pupils to think about environmental issues and green energy projects.

The Green Energy Trust’s Eco Editors contest is an innovative writing and environmental project for pupils which gives eco-conscious schools the opportunity to produce two pages of content for ScottishPower’s ‘Green’ magazine and win £500 to spend on a school environmental project.

You can download the entrance letter here (PDF) and registration form here (PDF) for the Eco Editors competition for Secondary school students launched by the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust.

National Career Guidance Show Scotland: Edinburgh Corn Exchange - Thursday 28th March 2012.
Show open from 10am to 4pm.
FREE ENTRY
The Institute of Careers Guidance in Scotland invites you to also attend an afternoon drinks reception to celebrate the launch of the first National Career Guidance Show Scotland ...more

Education and International Development: an exploration of good practice: A special one day conference looking at what 'good practice' means for education programmes in the developing world and for development education in Scotland.

Friday 27th April 2012
Paterson's Land, Moray House, the University of Edinburgh. 09.30am - 4.45pm

The event is free, to register email global-ed-conf@btconnect.com

The Co-operative Farm to Food Cycle: New Healthy Food Resource
We are delighted to announce the launch of our latest free resource 'The Co-operative Farm to Food Cycle'.
This online interactive tool will take you through the food cycle (including recycling) and show how co-operatives are involved at every link in the chain. From healthy eating through to sustainability, this resource will help develop the enterprising, active citizens that we are striving to produce
There is a handbook available to support teachers who are guiding students through the resource; it contains additional activities and challenges, all of which are linked to CfE, and a comprehensive list of links to websites with further information.

Click Here to download resources

As an additional incentive, every school that accesses this new resource will be automatically included in a draw to host a cookery demonstration to encourage pupils to develop their culinary skills.

Argyll and Bute’s Mary’s Meals Week: Mary's Meals' Week across all our schools will be from 26th -30th March when a donation of 10p will be made from every school meal sold by Catering Services to help feed over 600,000 chronically hungry children in a place of education. Magnus McFarlane-Barrow started Mary‘s Meals from his home in Dalmally in 2002, 200 children in Malawi were provided with a daily meal. Last year almost 600,000 children were fed in 16 different countries. Mary’s Meals‘ vision is for every child to receive a daily meal in a place of education and its HQ is still based in Dalmally.

You can download a poster here (PDF)

You can download more information here (PDF)

Mary’s meals website

National Finals of Scottish schools football competition: Cardross Primary School has emerged victorious after the last match of the West District Final of the Scottish Schools Football Competition on Thursday the 9th February 2012 at Toryglen Stadium in Glasgow. The Argyll and Bute school are now West District Champions.

The team will now go on to compete in the National Finals as one of the top eight teams in Scotland. ..more

Argyll and Bute Primary receives very positive report: One of Argyll and Bute’s largest primary schools has received a very good report from Education Scotland.

Rhu Primary near Helensburgh was praised for every aspect of its provision.

Four of the five areas of education (learners’ experiences, improvements in performance, meeting learning needs and the curriculum) were evaluated as being ‘very good’, with the fifth (improvement through self evaluation) being ‘good’ ...more.

Sunday Mail's Young Scot Awards : On Thursday 26th April 2012 over 500 guests will attend the glittering awards ceremony to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of Scotland's young people in 2011.

* Do you know an unsung hero who deserves to be recognised?
* Do you know someone who works tirelessly to improve their commnunity?
* Or is there a young person in the public eye who inspires you?

There are 15 awards, from sports to entertainment, unsung hero and volunteering.
Simply go to the Nominate Now page and make your nomination for the young person, aged 11 - 26, you think has really made a difference to people's lives this year.
The final 3 people in each category will get a VIP invitation to attend the awards ceremony at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel on Thursday 26th April 2012

Scottish Education Awards 2012: The Scottish Education Awards 2012 have officially launched and once again the event promises to be a highlight of the Scottish education calendar. The glittering award ceremony will take place on Tuesday 12 June 2012 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow.

Nominations for this year's awards are now open. ...more

Join Safer Internet Day 2012!: Safer Internet Day (SID) will take place on Tuesday 7 February 2012 with a theme of ‘Connecting generations and educating each other’, and the slogan "Discover the digital World together…safely!"

As part of the Insafe Back 2 School campaign we invite you to find out more by downloading our Safer Internet Day 2012 leaflet with facts (printable / 4-page view / 6-page view) on the theme and suggested activities. ...more

Campbeltown Grammar School ‘Try before you buy’ area unveiled: It was back to school this morning for Argyll and Bute Councillor Rory Colville. The former pupil was helping unveil a new ‘Try before you buy’ area on the top of the south block of Campbeltown Grammar School. Its part of a national trial project Argyll and Bute Council has been involved in with government funded body Architecture and Design Scotland.

Three classrooms have been joined up to include a flexible open plan space, an amphitheatre for teaching with a white board, coffee shop style study booths and plenty of tables and chairs for working in groups, on laptops and more importantly for revision purposes. It also features a ‘chill-out’ area. The new space is well suited to teaching the Curriculum for Excellence...more.

Argyll and Bute education team secures armed services grant: Argyll and Bute Council has secured a £147,000 grant towards supporting schools which educate children of armed forces parents.

The grant comes from the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Support Fund for State Schools with Service Children.

The money will be used to help Service children – who have often moved schools several times by the time they come to Argyll and Bute – to improve their self-confidence and integrate more quickly into their new communities...more.

Google Science Fair 2012: Get your students involved.
The Google Science Fair challenges students aged 13-18 to carry out a scientific investigation into a real-world problem or issue that interests them. The competition asks them to carry the investigation forward through rigorous experiment, recording and conclusions.
Students compete with peers in their age group from all over the world to win scholarships, internships and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
The 2012 Google Science Fair is a unique opportunity for young people to engage with the scientific community at large. To find out more and to register.. ...more

Make IT happy: UK Wide technology competition for pupils aged 9 to 11

The theme for this year's competition is Make IT Healthy. Schools are challenged to show us how they use IT to contribute to a healthier life for students, the school community and even for those in the wider community.
Twelve winning schools from across the UK will be awarded £1,200 each, and from these entries 3 overall winners will be chosen to receive additional cash prizes. All winners will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in June 2012 at the Houses of Parliament.
The competition will close on Sunday April 8, and the Awards Ceremony will take place on Tuesday June 19.
To find out more click.. ...more

Social Enterprise Virtual Coffee Morning: Wednesday 18th Janurary from 11:00 - 11:30

HISEZ and the Social Enterprise Academy have decided to kick off the new year with a virtual coffee morning. The topic will be 'Engaging Young people in Social Enterprise.'
It will be a chance to chat with other people in the Social Enterprise sector, make contact with someone new and raise an issue that you would like to talk about with other people.

Sign up and you will be sent a link to a virtual room where you can log in using either your facebook, twitter or linkedin accounts. It's very easy and very straight forward. It will be a great way to let people know about your online presence as well. All you need to join in is a social media account, a cup of tea or coffee and some cake! ...more

Argyll and Bute education stars sought for national awards: Local people across Argyll and Bute are being called on to help find the area’s brightest education stars.

Nominations are being invited for the Scottish Education Awards 2012, which celebrate hard work and innovation in Scottish classrooms.

The awards are open to all publicly funded schools, including secondary, primary, nursery and special schools. There are also categories to recognise and reward the dedication of teachers, head-teachers and support staff across Scotland...more.

Industrial action: A large number of our schools will be closed on Wednesday 30th November due to industrial action. For a full list, please see the schools information page. ...more

Choices for Life: Choices for Life Online is coming to your school on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 November 2011. The new two-day web event is set to deliver a packed programme of entertainment and information to pupils in Primary 7 through to S6 on substance misuse issues and making positive lifestyle decisions.

The programme, which is funded by the Scottish Government has been developed by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency in collaboration with a number of partners, and will help schools deliver second, third and fourth level substance misuse experiences and outcomes within health and wellbeing.

Appearances will include music from The Wanted, Carrie Mac, Finding Albert, Little Eye, Pearl and The Puppets, boy band GMD 3, Emeli Sande and real life stories aimed at the specific age groups. Drama from PACE media productions group and positive role models.

For more information click on to GLOW and sign up! ...more

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