The Camanachd Association are delighted to unveil Dunoon Grammar School as the latest School of Shinty. The announcement comes after positive work between the surrounding shinty clubs, the school and the Association.

The school’s catchment covers several local shinty clubs including Dunoon Camanachd, Strachur, Col Glen and Kyles Athletic. The School of Shinty contract means that there is now a more sustainable pathway for pupils who have played shinty in primary to continue participating in secondary school.

Since initial discussions between the school, clubs and Camanachd Association, Dunoon Grammar School has taken many positive steps to meet the terms of the school of shinty contract. In December all PE staff and Sports Leaders within the school underwent CPD training to allow them to start teaching shinty within the curriculum. They also ran two trial blocks in January and April to ensure that shinty would be a suitable fit for the school which were a success with positive feedback from staff and pupils. Furthermore, the shinty ambassadors at the school have started a lunchtime club with has over 25 regularly attending sessions. Finally, the school hosted 6 aside games against Rothesay Academy after attending a tournament hosted in Rothesay.

The Camanachd Association would like to thank all parties involved in making this possible. A huge thanks has to go to Kelly Wilson (head of P.E), Doreen MacDonald and Jo Finlay (Active Schools) who have given up lots of their time in order to make this happen.

Jo Finlay, Active Schools added “I would like to say a huge thank you to the Camanachd Association for their continued support in helping Dunoon Grammar School become a School of Shinty. It is great to see shinty thriving in the area and with Dunoon Grammar School becoming a School of Shinty this will hopefully have a massive impact on local clubs numbers. Recently the area has lost local football and rugby teams so it is important we keep the sport of shinty sustainable. This is the start of a great pathway for our young people wanting to participate in the sport. A massive thank you to all involved and I look forward to seeing more shinty taking place in the area.”

This will be the second school in Argyll and Bute to become a School of Shinty after Oban with the hope of extending this to more schools in the area the end goal.