This is the smallest school I’ve ever visited – Kilchattan Primary School on the Isle of Colonsay.
I worked with the whole school at once – here they are – all
five of them – all different year groups!
At the end of the session, one of the boys asked if I’d like
to see the school hens in the field at the back of the school. They had a
lovely hen house built by the father of one of the girls. I asked whether they
were troubled by foxes and was told there were no foxes on the island –
“except,” said the son of the driver of the refuse lorry, “when one came over
from the mainland on the ferry in my Dad’s lorry.”
Well there’s an idea for a story!
I was over for The
Islands Book Trust conference, celebrating the heritage of Colonsay and Donald
Mackinnon. There was a photo of the old school and an account by Donald
Mackinnon of his school days there in the 1840s and 50s. The school house was low
and whitewashed on the outside; walls blackened by peat inside and two
doorways but no doors. In the winter, to keep out the cold, the doorways were
packed with furze until it all got burnt on the central fire. Then the furze
was replaced with straw until that was eaten by cattle. The pupils wrote on
slate with goose quills. Tables and benches were slabs of stone. Outside they
played shinty.
The day before the
conference started I hired a bike and set off for Balnahard and the beach. I passed
the children in the school bus. They waved and I felt sorry for them; it was
the most glorious day. Here are some sketches: