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4th May 2007

School

Durness primary school, has a busy term before summer holidays With involvement in the Highland Year of Culture Activities involving children working with other adults rather than just teachers, getting out into the local environment and having a range of experiences are all seen by the school as very important to a child’s development.

This is the way the calendar is shaping up so far.

Tuesday 8 May      P1-7 Beach Sports at Balnakeil with Cape Adventure

Monday 14 – Friday 18 May     Cape Wrath Challenge Running Week – various activities – Beach Run P1-7 Thursday 17 May, Orienteering P4-7 Friday 18 May

Wednesday 23 May         P7 Safe Highlander, Lairg

Friday 25 May       P1-7 Storytelling Workshops with Bob Pegg

Monday 28 May    P6/7 Bridge Building

Tuesday 29 May    P7 Choices for Life, Kirkwall

Thursday 31 May P1-7 The Summer Walkers – story and song

Monday/Tuesday 4/5 June         P1-7 Silk Painting

Wednesday/Thursday 6/7 June P7 High School Induction

Thursday 14 June  P1-7 Picnic at Arnaboll

Friday-Sunday 22-24 June         P5-7 Arnaboll Camping

Thursday 28 June End of Term Prize giving and Concert

Still to be fitted in is a couple of session on Celtic Art and various sports events! The first event for everyone is the Beach Sports at Balnakeil which sounds like great fun. The children will be provided with wet suits for the water events and we will have vehicles at the beach for shelter/changing if needed. Apart from the Cape Adventure staff, the school staff will be there too, so there will be plenty supervision.

Last week an out of Eden production from Eden court held an event. The four preschool joined in Jordan Lee Corbett, Dylan Morrison, Ryan Mackay and Nathan Corbett. The programme was about “Big Head” from Planet Omega 3 with projections on to a large screen the children participated in dance in teams to win points to go to Omega 3 but this turned out not to be a good idea! Another recent activity was a visit of primary 1-4 to Kinlochbervie for “Stone Soup” a vegetable growing project with stories and activities. This year’s end of term prize giving is on the 28 June.

Ceannabeinne

Picture Attached

Archaeologists from Glasgow University Archeology Research Division working with safety harness on the promontory at Ceannabeinne surveying a possible medieval monastic site

A community-focused project to identify the visible and accessible archaeological features of Ceannabeinne township and provide information about the biggest well preserved pre clearance farm town in Sutherland has started.  Funded by Heritage Lotteries, Scottish Natural Heritage and Highland Year of Culture Glasgow University Archeology Research Division this week are carrying out programme of survey and trial trenching at the township in order to provide information on the Medieval and post-Medieval occupation of the area.  The survey will involve trial trenching of the possible monastic/hermitage site on the rock stack at Traigh na h'Uamhag, at the coastal edge of Ceannabeine.  To date few (if any) such sites have been examined archaeologically along the northern coast of mainland Scotland, and the results will provide important information on the Medieval ecclesiastical occupation of the region. if it does prove to be a monastic site, this would be an extremely exciting discovery for the northern Highlands in general and for Durness in particular.  Further archeology scheduled for July will provide insights into the nature of life in the township up to its clearance in 1842.  It may also help establish how long the township had been occupied and whether that occupation extended back into the late Medieval period.