Childcare and Education
February 2008
5.1 Pre-School Education
Playgroup/Mothers and Toddlers:
A playgroup is held four mornings a week from 9.30am to 13.30pm. At the present time there are 15 children in the group, looked after by 2 members of staff.
Child Minders:
There are two registered child minders in the community.
5.2 Primary Education
The community has one Primary School, which has been in use since 1912. At the end of the 1970's, there were 104 children attending the school. The school currently has a healthy school roll of 53 children, divided into 3 classes and one Head Teacher. 47 of these children attend the school from Strachur, St Catherines, Strathlachlan and Glenbranter. The others attend from Cairndow, since the closure of its local primary school in the 1970s.
Table 8: Strachur Primary School
| Schools | Number of pupils | Number of teachers | Number of other employees |
| Strachur Primary School | 53 | 5 | 5 |
Table 9: Breakdown of Strachur District Primary School Roll
| YEAR |
NO.
|
YEAR |
NO.
|
YEAR |
NO.
|
YEAR |
NO.
|
| 1975 |
94
|
1976 |
94
|
1977 |
104
|
1978 |
103
|
| 1979 |
102
|
1980 |
102
|
1981 |
81
|
1982 |
73
|
| 1983 |
69
|
1984 |
60
|
1985 |
61
|
1986 |
68
|
| 1987 |
73
|
1988 |
87
|
1989 |
84
|
1990 |
77
|
| 1991 |
71
|
1992 |
56
|
1993 |
55
|
1994 |
51
|
| 1995 |
62
|
1996 |
61
|
1997 |
67
|
1998 |
66
|
| 1999 |
71
|
2000 |
81
|
2001 |
66
|
2002 |
60
|
| 2003 |
63
|
2004 |
57
|
2005 |
56
|
2006 |
59
|
| 2007 |
53
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source:Strachur Primary School 2007
5.3 Secondary Education
Children from the Strachur district travel daily to Dunoon Grammar School (up to 30 miles away) by bus. Currently, over 80 children travel from Strachur and District to and from Dunoon Grammar school each day. The school bus each morning and afternoon also serves as a service bus, with fee paying passengers on board. There have been instances reported when the after-school bus leaving Dunoon has been full, and some children have had to wait up to 2 hours for the next bus to take them home.
5.4 Further Education, Training and Adult Education
The main sources of Further Education are Glasgow, Strathclyde and Paisley Universities and a number of colleges which provide courses for apprentices. All require travel across the Clyde Estuary
Strategic Issues
Out of school care is lacking in the district - other than two child-minders in the village
Currently a healthy primary school roll, but reducing at a worrying rate.
School transport to Dunoon Grammar insufficient for current and predicted demand.
Lack of public transport services inhibits participation in after school activities at the Grammar School.