麻豆社

One random postcode and a story you probably haven't heard before.

Today, the random postcode generator sends producer Polly Weston further than she鈥檚 ever been before, to IV21 2. It's remote and beautiful but the number of children has been in decline. Why? And what does it mean?

Fisherman Ian McWhinney's ancestors have lived in this postcode, and in this very same house, for hundreds of years. The house sits alone on an island in Badachro bay, called Dry Island - also known as the Independent Kingdom of Islonia. It's named after Ian's two daughters, Isla and Iona, aged 15 and 17 (their younger brother Finlay, 9, "was born too late" according to Isla). But in Ian's lifetime there's been a change in the number of young people here.

鈥淭here used to be two schools in this bay, now I鈥檓 responsible for 75% of the children in this area鈥� there鈥檚 four children and I鈥檝e got three of them鈥�

Polly catches the school bus with Isla to her high school, where the school roll has dropped below a hundred aged 11 - 18. The number of teachers is calculated according to the number of students, so for small rural schools it means tough decisions about the curriculum. Remote lessons have become a part of life - with children sitting in small groups or alone on video calls with teachers elsewhere. Acting head Stuart Caddell is constantly aware of how many children are coming through from catchment primaries. Two of the catchment primaries have been mothballed in recent years, with fewer than five students.

But there are rumours of a remarkable baby boom in one catchment primary - down the road in Shieldaig. What鈥檚 going on down there? And how on earth is the headteacher of Shieldaig Primary School going to fit all the kids on the stage for this year鈥檚 Christmas performance?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
Mixed by Ilse Lademann
Editor: Chris Ledgard

With thanks to Gairloch High School, Shieldaig Primary School, the C for Craic band and The Blas Festival.