Praise for Highland Council
WE haven’t been heaping much praise on Highland Council or their members lately but well done to councillors for approving £400,000 funding for a new Additional Support Needs unit in the strath.
The move will save the local authority money in the longer run because of the current cost of transportation to and from Drummond School in Inverness, and residential stays outwith the region for some children.
The timing of the project means that the facility can be purpose-built as it is being incorporated into the plans for the new £2.67 million classroom block at Kingussie High School.
Most importantly of all, local children with special needs who currently enjoy an excellent provision of education in the Rainbow Class at Aviemore Primary School can continue their learning here in the strath.
As many as 11 children with ASN are expected to be using the new facility at the secondary school by 2014-2015.
That means they will no longer be segregated from their peers.
Neither will they have to make the long trek there and back on the infamous A9 Inverness-Perth road to the Highland capital in all kinds of weather.
And this new provision could also finally put an end to the heartache for some parents and their sons or daughters who are separated if their children’s educational needs cannot be met in the Highlands.
WHAT an advert Saturday’s thrilling Camanachd Cup Final between the two Badenoch giants was for the sport.
The so called amateurs of shinty put some of the sporting world’s more illustrious stars to shame particularly those in football.
None more so that when it comes to fair play and play-acting despite the high stakes and the bitter rivalry between the two sides.
How refreshing to see players only hit the ground when they were genuinely injured.
Goodness knows how long some of the SPL and English Premier League stars would have been rolling around for if they had taken a blow like that dealt to man of the match Norman Campbell by his own keeper.
All we want to know from Norman is which headache lasted longest – the blow or his hangover from the victory celebrations?
