·¬ÇÑÊÓƵapp

The First Minister announced yesterday (22 March) that ferry travel across Scotland must be for essential travel only. This is to keep everyone safe and avoid the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) to vulnerable rural communities. This restriction applies to those ferries run by the council. From now on all our ferries will be for our island residents, who have an essential need to travel to or from the mainland, and for essential supplies or business. The return of non-residents back to the mainland will also be considered essential travel.

If you have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), or live with someone who does, you’ll have to stay at home. There are lots of things you can do to make sure you reduce the spread of infection.

Police Scotland and the NHS are appealing to members of the public to use emergency telephone numbers appropriately. Police Scotland is receiving a number of 999 and 101 calls from people

We understand there have been reports of doorstep callers claiming to be working for the NHS and stating that they are able to provide a Covid-19 vaccine. Scammers may well try to take advantage of the current situation, whether it is to extort money, or to gain access to your home.

Teaching staff across ·¬ÇÑÊÓƵapp have been working hard to organise a range of home learning resources for pupils, as schools across the country close their doors today (Friday) due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Pupils have been supplied with home learning packs and/or log in details to access remote learning websites to ensure they can continue their classroom activities outside of school as required. The following resources are also available:

·¬ÇÑÊÓƵapp Council's Policy Lead for Education has reassured young people in the area that they will get the credit they deserve for their studies, despite this year's exams being cancelled. Councillor Yvonne MacNeilly's statement comes after the Scottish Government made the annoucement earlier this week that, due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, there will be no academic exams this year.

The Scottish Government has announced a range of support that includes grants and rates relief for businesses in some of the sectors that are likely to be most affected. We, like all local authorities, are working with the Scottish Government on the detail of how this is adminstered. The Covid-19 information page on the Business Gateway website contains resources and  information that may be useful at this time. 

Pupils at Rothesay Joint Campus are top of the class when it comes to numbers, with the school’s primary four and five pupils being crowned ·¬ÇÑÊÓƵapp’s Sumdog champions. Sumdog is Britain’s largest series of maths competitions and sees children battle it out against pupils in other schools to answer a series of questions over five days.

·¬ÇÑÊÓƵapp Council will be opening 10 of its school kitchens from Monday (23 March) to ensure that children who are entitled to free school meals can continue to receive those meals. The following kitchens will be open every weekday between 12 noon and 12.30pm so that a lunch can be collected for anyone entitled to a free school meal: Dunoon Grammar; Rothesay Joint Campus; Oban High; Hermitage Academy; Castlehill Primary; Lochgilphead Joint Campus; Tarbert Academy; Tiree High; Tobermory High; and Islay High.

In these unprecedented times, we would like to reassure you that we are working with our NHS partners to take all and any action we can to help local people and businesses. The council provides a huge range of services that people need every day. To help keep everyone healthy, we are reviewing how we deliver our services and are making changes where needed.