Balivanich School Time Capsule

A glimpse through time with Alasdair MacGillivray

When the contents of the Balivanich School time capsule were exposed to the light of day on 30th September 2022 before the gathered school community and former pupils and staff, I thought that it might be a good time to look back (from the security of retirement!) at the first twenty-five years of the ‘new’ (now ‘old) Balivanich Primary School by the sea.

When we were completing our teacher Training in Aberdeen in the mid-1960s, a saying often heard around the training college was: “While a week, or even a day, can be a very long time in politics, twenty years can be a very short time in the life of a school!” These wise words of caution were obviously given to try and temper our enthusiasm, and probably over-enthusiasm; the suggestion being that a school was akin to a giant oil tanker. If you wish to institute major changes, you need to make very minor adjustments to the course you are steering at a very early stage: major change is for the long haul. The political comment has certainly come home to roost over the last few days and weeks. I think that, though, even in those distant years, school buildings were built to last, but static schools preserved in aspic were on the way out! The new constant from now on would be CHANGE.

Balivanich Primary school was physically opened in April 1972 and officially opened in September 1972. It is believed to have been the only solely primary school built by Inverness County Council in its island areas. I would think that the first twenty-five years in the life of the school witnessed more changes to the school – and probably in the school – than any other period in its relatively short operational life.

The time capsule assembled in 1997 was to mark the anniversary of the first twenty-five years of the ‘new’ school beside the sea. It contained items which we thought would be of interest to pupils in 2022 – a snapshot of school and community life in the late 1990s. How many items one can remember is quite a taxing exercise! A programme of events and activites was drawn up for the whole of 1997 school year- the time capsule is the last of these.

I wonder how many pupils thought that it would be their own children who would be opening the boxes with them. How many members of staff thought that it would be their children or grandchildren who would be assisting in the ‘big reveal’ in September 2022? I must confess that I saw the year 2022 from that 1997 viewpoint as a grey blob in the distant future; it seemed so very far away, and possibly someone of my age daren’t think that they might actually witness its opening!

Balivanich Primary School set out on its path to fuller more modern ICT provision in a very slow and hesitant way: the school was nearly three years old before the local authority thought it would be a good idea to install a telephone; my predecessor had to visit the telephone kiosk in Columba Place if he wished to make urgent telephone calls. This was many years before the introduction of that wonderful institution The School Secretary. The Director of Education had a well-prepared and well-rehearsed defence against requests for additional school expenditure such as this during his regular visits to the school.

Year 1: You can’t have a secretary because you don’t have a typewriter; Year 2: You can’t have a typewriter because you don’t have a secretary. Repeat annually as required!

In 1975 we had a black and white television set to be timetabled for the whole school of about 140 pupils; we had a master radio in the headteacher’s office, piped to all the classrooms, and we had a rather wonderful cassette tape recorder (a really modern invention at the time!) we had won for submitting an entry and winning, to a national slide-tape competition. With the introduction of computers in the early- to mid- eighties our ICT steps began to gallop, so much so that after considerable begging, bargaining and fund-raising, it is safe to say that all within our school were reasonably computer literate and proficient by 1997, when the time capsule was being assembled.
What were the main challenges during these twenty-five years from 1972 to 1997 can be summed up (like the best sermon) with three ‘Ts’: Tides, Tempests and Turnover!

Tides. This part of Aird/ Balivanich was well known for tidal incursions long before the school was built, so it was inevitable that the high tides would continue to visit us, especially if backed up by strong north-westerlies. I’m sure that the good folk of Balivanich and Aird would have warned Inverness County Council of this risk. The school was barely two years old when the tide came in to a depth of 15 cm throughout the building: we had permanent tide marks on all the new furniture to commemorate this event. I can recall the tide lapping at the front door on at least seven occasions and coming into the school at least three times. Canute only had a kingdom to worry about, we had the safety of up to two hundred precious pupils and fifteen very valued members of staff to guard! It was the sea that finally defeated the school as a viable centre for education.

Tempests. During a visit from an executive from CLASP Buildings (the makers of this type of prefabricated structure, very popular with local authorities in the 60s and 70s) the fellow expressed the view that our location was probably the most exposed of any of their buildings throughout the world. I think he was pleasantly surprised that it was still standing, which wasn’t overly-reassuring! (…and 50 years later it’s still standing). It’s not surprising we had a constant battle with the elements. In addition, the flat roof, covered with tar and stone chippings to absorb the sun’s heat(?), ensured that our large armour plate glass windows were constantly being smashed under an avalanche of stones (twenty on one occasion), which also stripped the paintwork off staff cars from time to time. Where the tar cracked, the rain found its way to the classrooms and store cupboards below.

Turnover. As most of our pupils were children of service families (Army and RAF) there was a constant coming and going of pupils throughout the year: it wasn’t exceptional to enrol as many as 80, 90 or more new pupils during one school session and to see just as many leave us during that year – all at different times, after attendances of a few days up to two years on average.

Just before the end of our twenty-five years under the microscope, all this sadly came to a sudden and very abrupt end.In the mid-1990s just in the space of two years, 90 pupils left us not to be replaced, reflecting the developments at the Range and RAF Benbecula. No more would we look forward to drawing some of our pupils from all over the world.

In spite of (or because of) all of the above, I think it fair to say that we all loved working in Balivanich Primary School during 1972 to 1997, and beyond. There is a theory which maintains that the more challenging the conditions within the workplace, the more the staff work and pull together. Many visitors to the school often complimented us on the feeling of welcome, harmony, warmth, care and co-operation, they experienced on entering the school buildings.

The overarching feeling for us throughout these twenty-five years was: what a joy and privilege to share, even in a small way, in the development of all the pupils who passed through our school. We think most of them found it a very positive and happy experience.

Perhaps twenty – even twenty-five – years, is indeed a very short time in the life of a school?