Kilgraston’s Heads of House - House boards 2020
Kilgraston’s Heads of House have been busy making their House Boards for the year. The House boards are a fun way for the Upper Sixth Form House teams to showcase their artistic side and a friendly competition to see who can be the most colourful and intricate. So what is the thinking behind each of their boards? Our Heads of Houses explain:
Mirah – Head of Arran
“For Arran, we decided to do a space theme. We came up with this idea because we wanted to do something fun and new, and thought space was an accurate representation of the Kilgraston Community. We made each of the year groups different planets as we thought this portrays how each year group functions as a planet but we all come together as a solar system. We included some of our House teachers to recognise how they contribute to the House and support us. We also included the sheep as they are the house mascot.”
Mhairi – Head of Kinnoull
“Kinnoull’s theme for the House board was based on the films ‘Monsters Inc’ and ‘Monsters University’. I wanted to include a dragon in our board as that is our House’s mascot, and I also mainly used the colour purple as that is our House’s colour. All of Upper Sixth and the teachers who are in Kinnoull are separate characters from the movie and relate to the character in some way. For example, Paula is the mum from monsters University as she is very kind.”
Elisa –Head of Inchcolm
“We decided to have ‘Hamilton’ as a theme for our House board this year as children over all the year groups can identify with this movie. The board features a hand-painted and drawn stage from the ‘Hamilton’ musical with the important characters shown on the stage as well as the House team on top of the star. All of us are in love with this theme and Hamilton has been growing in popularity since it was released and we all identify with the characters.”
Georgia – Head of Moncreiffe
“Moncreiffe’s board is all about ‘Despicable Me’. It is a really fun movie that all ages enjoy so we knew it would be one people would stop at when they go past. The Minions, of course, are yellow, which is not only bright and colourful but yellow is also Moncreiffe’s House colour. We tried to match the film characters to teachers so Mrs Speed is Vector as she is a computer wizard and Mrs O’Hear is holding up the moon as she is Moncreiffe’s Head of House and is the heart and soul of Moncreiffe. We also made the Junior Years the purple minions because they are so happy and sometimes really excited.”
You can read more about Kilgraston’s Houses, the roles they each play and why they are so important.
National Teaching Assistant day
It’s National Teaching Assistant day, so here are our wonderful teaching assistants: Mrs Armstrong, Mrs Sidey and Miss Maclean. Together they have worked at Kilgraston for ten years, assisting various classes in our Junior School. Mrs Armstrong said: “It is extremely fulfilling; we watch the pupils grow and flourish from little tots to confident young people and it’s such a rewarding role.”
Thank to you our dedicated teaching assistants. You can meet more of our hard-working staff on our ‘A Chat with…’ series of interviews.
Kilgraston turns 90 years old in 2020
Kilgraston turns 90 years old in 2020, and in honour of this special milestone, alongside our 90th birthday mugs, we have commissioned beautiful commemorative pins which we hope our pupils will keep and cherish.
The pins feature our 90th birthday logo and are enamelled with silver finish.
Since Kilgraston was established in 1930, we have had an interesting history. Many people are not aware that Kilgraston as a school initially started in Edinburgh. However as it grew, so did the need for space. So in 1930, the Kilgraston estate was sold to the International Society of the Sacred Heart, a foundation devoted to the education of children, and the school was established with official opening taking placed on 20th October, the Feast of Mater Admirablis.
From the outset, each child was encouraged to develop talents in many different areas including sport, drama, art and music. The school continues these traditions and visitors can see the impressive display of paintings and sculpture throughout the school.
Here’s to the next 90 years of Kilgraston. Cor Unum.
Kilgraston hosts its annual integration day
Integration day is always colourful and noisy, an annual event and a wonderful chance for everyone to reinforce our year group bonds and get to know each other even better.
Our dedicated Year Heads organised activities for the pupils ranging from baking to debating. For Sixth Form there was a variety of different activities including a lively intellectual debate where Upper Six were victorious in saving Bill Gates from a deflating Hot Air Balloon against Lower Six who represented Jacinda Ardern. Georgia, Mairi, Abigail and Mary should be all commended.
Sixth Form
The Sixth Form also tested their Leadership, Teamwork, Co-ordination and Cerebral capabilities in a circus of activities in Houses with the final result being hotly contested and Arran House winning out. The enjoyed some delicious home baking supplied by Tara and all House Captains and their teams displayed excellent leadership and Teamwork skills and it was an enjoyable day for all.
Upper Fifth jigsaw piece creation
Upper Fifth had a creative jigsaw activity where the girls designed two pieces of jigsaw puzzles: one piece to highlight their individuality and the second piece was to represent Kilgraston.
The aim was to show that we are all individuals but join together to form a community as our different year groups.
Upper Fourth
Upper Fourth enjoyed a wonderful day getting to know each other and build relationships with new pupils as well as refresh old friendships.
They made friendship bracelets in pairs, creating a bond with someone new in our year group, then contributed a bracelet to a number of staff including Mrs MacGinty and Mr Allaker as well as helping decorate their Goals board demonstrating our Community within Upper Fourth.
The girls then moved outside and held our first ever Upper 4 sports event which included house rounders, Tug of War and lots of fun races. After some very close finishes and competitions the overall winners were Inchcolm.
The afternoon saw them bake ‘chewy chocolate chip cookies’ which were delicious and creating fruit kebabs. This was combined with a design element and the winners of this were Kyla and Afton who created an amazing boat out of all the fruit!
Mrs MacGinty and some of our Junior pupils testing the bridge designs
Before the integration day, the Juniors enjoyed their JASS day which is the Junior version of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
JASS develops the whole individual by offering recognition in four key areas – regular physical activity (Get Active, Stay Active), exploring a personal interest (My Interests), working for the good of the community or the environment (Me and My World) and completing an outdoor activity or challenge (Adventure) and is designed so that participants move through the levels with increasing commitment, learning, and challenge.
The Day started with a House Challenge. This saw the children competing by decorating mascots and the House Displays in the atrium before moving on to problem solving with a spaghetti bridge STEM/engineering challenge. The Juniors worked in House Teams to design the best bridge, which could support 4 bags of sugar and all 4 bridges did! Tidying up was an even bigger challenge.
In the afternoon the children all enjoyed outdoor teaching and learning in the afternoon within class groups. Some solved a scavenger hunt, some built dens and others worked cooperatively in active Maths or Topic lessons.
Lower Fifth on Integration Day
Find out more about some of the other important dates in Kilgraston’s calendar such as our annual Goals Day.
Tatler Schools Guide 2021
The prestigious Tatler Schools Guide 2021 has been published and Kilgraston is thrilled once again to be included.
Kilgraston’s Headmistress, Mrs Dorothy MacGinty, comments: “We are absolutely delighted to once again be featured in the Tatler Schools Guide. Kilgraston is extremely fortunate to have outstanding staff, all of whom work exceptionally hard, so this is recognition of the efforts of the entire team and Kilgraston community. Well done to everyone.”
Tatler produces its annual Schools Guide every October and includes those it considers to be the top prep and public schools in the UK.
The Schools Guide, which accompanies the October edition of Tatler, is currently in the shops (September and early October 2020).
Meet our Head Girl teams
Each year, our Junior and Senior Schools have Head Girl teams voted for by the pupils and staff of Kilgraston. This year in the Senior School, Head Girl Emily is supported by her deputies Libby and Issie. Emily said: “This is my tenth year at Kilgraston and my main goals are to get to know everyone and make sure everyone feels the strong sense of community between the students and staff. Between the three of us we have a few main goals to focus on this year, one of these is concentrating on the Sacred Heart Goal of Intellect and finding out what that means personally for each student. We believe it is about more than just exam results but also about being aware of global issues. We would also like to really focus on the 90th birthday of the school and we are keen to learn more about the history of the school together. Finally, we know these are challenging times and we would like to have a positive year as adapting to changes will not be easy however we can overcome and face them as school community, as year groups and with strong friendships.”
In the Junior School, Head Girl Willow, is joined by Lucy, Ishbel and Edith as her Deputies. Willow said: “I am honoured to be the Head Girl of the Junior Years this year, and the Juniors Head Girl team has lots of exciting plans we are looking forward to implementing.”
The team has come up with several ideas including a money-raising sausage sizzle for a charity. They are also planning to continue Kilgraston’s sustainability drive with an inter house competition which would see each house designing a costume out of recycled materials, with the School voting on their favourite. The team is also looking at putting a suggestions box into school so everyone can put forward their ideas for activities for the Junior School.
assemblies autumn term 2020
Welcome to Kilgraston School’s assemblies autumn term 2020. Each week, we will be sharing with you our assemblies so please have a watch via the list below and do come back each week and find out what our Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty, and our other staff are sharing with you.
Please click the links below to watch:
You can view our assemblies from summer term 2020 here
Kilgraston’s Gold Duke of Edinburgh team
Kilgraston’s Gold Duke of Edinburgh team made a significant impact in our local community. The group, who undertook a variety of volunteer work, carried out almost 1000 hours of volunteer work. The social value of this work has been worked out but the official Duke of Edinburgh organisation as being the equivalent to £4219,50 of work.
Mrs MacGinty said: “The girls who took part in this year’s Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award ought to be immensely proud of themselves. Not only have they contributed a significant amount to our local community with their volunteering efforts, but they undertook their final external trip under some incredibly difficult conditions. Talk about character building, well done girls.”
The group also spend 818 hours developing skills and 818 hours taking part in physical activity: brilliant effort all round girls.
Kilgraston pupils have had a strong commitment and focus of the various Duke of Edinburgh awards with a number of them even receiving their awards at Buckingham Palace.
Kilgraston pupils return for Autumn term 2020
Following lockdown, Kilgraston pupils have now returned for their autumn term 2020 so it has been a busy and memorable week for us all. We are delighted to welcome everyone back to our beautiful countryside campus and are so excited about the new school year.
It’s been wonderful to hear all the corridors full of happy chatter and the systems we have put in place to protect our families and staff are working well.
It has been a particularly memorable week for our Junior School as we welcomed boys into various classes and it’s been lovely to see them in their new uniforms.
Kilgraston’s Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty, said: “We have always had so many requests from existing parents about sending their sons here as well as the girls. So when COVID threw up the potential issue for our teaching staff returning to school when it appeared their sons’ schools were not returning, it sped up the decision. It’s wonderful to see the boys here and enjoying the same first class education as our girls in the Junior School.”
Welcome back everyone, we’re delighted to be back in school.
I love boarding at Kilgraston - Libby’s story
Boarding at Kilgraston is a fantastic way broaden and enhance a new dimension to Kilgraston education experience. It plays a vital role in maintaining the energy and heart of the School. Girls experience a whole new world of social and cultural opportunities. Don’t just take our word for it, listen to what Libby has to say about boarding.
You can find out about more advantages of boarding in this article.