An interview with Mrs McHugh for International Receptionists’ Day
“August 2013 marked the end of the motherhood ‘protective bubble’ which had surrounded my babies and me for seven years. Today, Mummy was going to work!
Kilgraston’s driveway was the start of my new journey; the trees lining the road providing a useful countdown to my grand arrival at the front door.
What could possibly happen, I thought, that life had not already thrown at me? Four years of University teacher training; ranked in the UK’s top ten for kayak slalom; eight years’ in the finance sector and, the one from which I would mainly draw strength, the ability to react, adapt and smile, gained during motherhood.
Hopefully, I am well presented, punctual and have the ability to communicate effectively with staff, pupils, parents and visitors. Knowing the names of almost every pupil in the senior school makes it easier to deal with the day-to-day demands of a busy office environment.
Kilgraston, as with any school, continually presents different situations - from girls sustaining a knock on the hockey field, to unexpected visits from former pupils and the arrival of School Inspectors. There is never a ‘same’ day and I truly love every minute.
Each term brings something new. Summer, for me is the most exciting time with the promise of longer holidays, House competitions and end-of-year talent showcasing concerts. The expectation of exams has gone, replaced with the emotion of saying goodbye. In the air is the hope that we’ll have good weather for both Sports Day and picnics on the front lawn at Speech Day. Summer brings the school together and it is at these times, when it really does become one body.
It’s not always smooth running though. Head of Maths, and Queen of Stats, Mrs Speed, runs an annual Maths Stats Course, where teachers from other schools come to Kilgraston to work through the latest coursework.
By coincidence, one year, on the same day, Kilgraston held Mass, with both events generating several visitors. Within minutes of the scheduled start of the service, a lady arrived. I enquired as to whether she was here for the start of Mass. “Yes indeed,” she responded. Quick as a flash, I scooped her up and travelled at break neck, high-heeled, speed to deliver her safely to the chapel door, which she entered and was not seen again for another hour. She never did make the beginning of Mrs Speed’s Maths Course. In fairness, it does sound awfully like ‘Mass’!
It would be difficult not to be impressed by the grandeur of the entrance to Kilgraston or the recently redesigned elegant, yet informal, waiting area. Mrs MacGinty has influenced many of the spaces within the school and Reception is just one in which her vision is reflected, producing a lovely place to work.
Here, it is easy to shut-out the influences of the wider world and become absorbed in the pupils and staff, who are collectively striving towards a greater future for woman in the world.”
Summer Term, 2019
Choral win for Junior pupils
The annual Perform in Perth Arts Festival drew to a close at the weekend with Kilgraston’s Junior Years Choir winning a much-coveted award. The event, held over a fortnight and based at Perth’s St Leonard’s In-The-Fields Church, saw Kilgraston’s Junior Years Choir awarded the Challenge Shield, from the Perthshire Church Choir Union, for their renditions of The Unicorn and Dragons. This award was in addition to the school’s choir winning The Arthur Bell and Sons Trophy for the best primary school choir in Perform in Perth.
“I’m thrilled for the girls to gain recognition for all their hard work,” said Jason McAuley, Director of Music at Kilgraston.
With thanks to Steve MacDougall of The Courier for the lovely picture of the choir outside the St Leonard’s In-The-Fields Church.
Former pupil Ruth Faherty has been featured in Independent Education Today magazine about her passion for engineering and how her interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects was ignited while at Kilgraston…
“After discovering her passion for STEM at Kilgraston School, Ruth Faherty headed to Oxford University to study engineering. She is about to go into her third year at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and plans to concentrate on civil engineering for the remainder of her degree. Ruth is keen to change the statistics of women in STEM and isn’t afraid to take on big projects in the future…”
Read the full article in Independent Education Today magazine…
Head of Kilgraston, Mrs Dorothy MacGinty, quoted in Sunday Times piece about independent education in Scotland
A letter to parents from the chairman of governors on Tuesday confirmed that Beaconhurst School in Bridge of Allan, a good school and an important local employer for 100 years, has “reluctantly” taken PwC’s advice to enter administration.
The closure, traumatic for pupils and their families and for the 60-plus staff, highlights the fragility of a sector whose contribution to Scotland’s economy, to curricular support for local state schools, to international connectivity, to Scotland’s social capital and to our faltering attainment statistics, are all easily demonstrable.
This contribution has not stopped Scottish officialdom and compliant bodies like the SVCO from seeking to undermine independent schooling, although plenty of their personnel use it, for good reasons.
A significant part of the Scottish Government’s support base considers spending on education – as distinct from say, four-by-fours or Florida holidays - to be ideologically undesirable, or even “obscene”, as one Scottish Parliament petitioner put it.
This ill-will was made official last August in the guise of the Barclay Review of non-domestic tax rates, which recommended that independent schools should no longer be eligible for an 80% charitable rates discount, despite their conforming to the letter and spirit of what OSCR considers charitable purposes entail.
The Review’s only justification for proposing a five-fold increase in schools’ rates bill was a facile comparison with the rates “paid” by state schools under their control, a wholly notional figure that makes no difference to how local authority heads adminster their schools.
Barclay’s unsubstantiated assertion that tax breaks for fee-paying schools are “unfair” is suspiciously ideological for a review led by an ex-RBS banker. Especially so as the increased extractions, although burdensome to hard-pressed schools, are mere rounding errors within the Scottish budget.
Documents released under FoI in January suggest that the proposal, currently “under consultation”, was shoehorned into the “independent” Review against the advice of the Scottish Government’s own legal experts, who cautioned that it amounted to an inequitable “2-tier system for charities” that was “difficult to justify”.
In an email dated 8 June, 2017 one official from the Charity Law and Volunteering team advised: “It is worth bearing in mind that independent schools have already been the subject of s a specific thematic review by OSCR and have either (re-met) the charity test or have made the adjustments required to allow them to do so. In other words their charitable status has already been the subject of greater scrutiny than that of other charities. Removing rates relief would mean that, despite this we were creating a class of charities who receive less favourable treatment than others.”
However much independent schools clearly feature in the demonology of some Scottish politicians, even they must face the reality that there are pockets of Scotland where their contribution to local economies would be hard to replace were more schools to follow Beaconhurst into history.
Dorothy MacGinty, headmistress at Kilgraston School near Perth, is one of those increasingly prepared to challenge what she sees as an officially-endorsed “threat” to independent schools and to draw attention to its, presumably unintended, “serious implications” for local economies. She has highlighted the fact that Perth & Kinross Council area’s 10 independent boarding and day schools one of the biggest direct and independent employers and visitor attractors, but schools like Kilgraston provide significant support, in terms of the teaching of music, art, drama and other subjects to local state schools, also loan of facilities, all of which, along with the provision of career-essential exam subjects lacking at the higher end of the state system. All of this is threatened by the political whim of the Barclay Review.
Along with other Perthshire schools, Kilgraston is commissioning new research this autumn to update previous research by Abertay University that detailed the “extreme importance” of the sector and its 850 jobs, especially to rural areas where schools generated nearly a quarter of all employment.
While hiding behind Barclay, the Scottish Government also prepared to shuffle responsibility for the sector’s health to local government. A leaked letter from Derek Mackay to John Swinney, writing in May on behalf of an anxious school in his constituency, suggests that the school apply to their hard-pressed local council to reduce business rates under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, 2015.
It is odd, but characteristic, that this “not my problem, pal” solution should only be proposed in private correspondence rather than public debate, but no odder than Scottish ministers’ failure to engage in any substantive way with the sector itself before attacking it.
Active and passive aggression towards the Scottish independent school sector seems to fit the immediate needs of political messaging, but its supporters may find it detracts from the interim economy-boosting goal on which their ultimate goal depends.
Emily & Scotland win gold
Today our Upper 6 leaver Emily Dark won GOLD with Scotland U18 Girls’ at the EuroHockey Championship II in Rakovnik.
Taking on Austria in the semi-final Scotland won 2 - 1 in a very close and competitive game and today Scotland played Russia with Scotland winning 2 - 1 again to lift the trophy.
An amazing achievement for Emily and the team and we pass on our congratulations.
Easter Hockey Internationals
Kilgraston pupils have been selected for matches against Wales in Glasgow over the Easter weekend. Emily Dark will represent Scotland u18s and Ellie Stott and Corrie Hay will play for Scotland u16s.
This is a great achievement by the girls and the games against Wales will add to their international experience.
Former pupil, Katie Robertson, is in Australia with the Scottish Senior Women’s Team preparing for the Commonwealth Games which start in early April.
Katie said: ‘We cannot wait to get the games underway, there is a positive vibe within the squad and the excitement for the games out here in Australia is great. Our competition starts on the 5th April against New Zealand with the first of four group games. We will also play group games against Canada, Ghana and Australia with crossover games depending on where we finish in our group. It is fantastic to be part of such a huge event and we can’t wait to get started!’
Senior Achievement Assembly
KPA Christmas Raffle
The KPA are holding a festive goody filled raffle during the first two weeks of December, tickets will be launched at the annual Christmas Concert and will be available to buy right through till Thursday 15th December with the draw being held during the Junior Years Nativity Service with the winners names available soon after. Tickets not purchased at the concert can be bought from any KPA member and both senior and junior reception. If you would like to sell some tickets on our behalf we would be very appreciative, just email [email protected] for further details. All tickets and monies to be handed in to Reception by 10am on Thursday 15th December 2016.
The prizes that we have very kindly had donated to be included in the raffle are:
- Photography Session with a 20” Wall Portrait by Alistair Kerr Photography
- Overnight Stay for 2 with Breakfast Included at Gleneagles Hotel
- Lunch for Two with Fizz at Parklands Hotel, Perth
- Inspire Catering to Cook Dinner for Four at Your Home: Please note that there will be restrictions on dates for using this prize
- Christmas Free Range Bronze 5-6kg Turkey, Donated by Brewsters Poultry: can be delivered if you live within a reasonable distance of Brewsters or collected during the week before Christmas
- Afternoon Treat for Two at Willows Coffee Shop & Restaurant, Perth
- Festive Box of Fine Smoked Foods from Brewsters of Newburgh: this contains a selection of sliced smoked chicken breast, sliced smoked duck breast, sliced smoked Cajun pork, rose cured smoked beef, smoked Scottish cheddar, smoked Scottish black pudding, a jar of blossom honey and of heather honey.
- Copperfields Voucher
- Cut & Blowdry at The Cutting Room, Perth
For further information, please email [email protected]
Outstanding Exam Results
At Advanced Higher the number of examinations being awarded an A grade was an extraordinary 65.5%, the A-B pass rate was an impressive 90.5% and the overall A-C pass rate was 98.5% against 81.7% nationally.
The Higher results were strong with girls achieving target grades across all subjects. The overall pass rate A-C this year is 92% against a national average of 77% with 46% of our pupils achieving an A grade.
Our Upper Fifth have achieved commendable results at National 5 level. Their A-C pass rate of 95% clearly outstrips the national average of 79.4% and impressively more than one third of the girls achieved at least 7 A grades.
There have been some outstanding individual performances with our Head Girl Team achieving a suit of straight A’s at Advanced Higher and close on their heels are next year’s Head girl Team, each achieving 5 A’s at Higher: well done!
Mrs MacGinty said: “We wish all our Upper Sixth well as they move on to University courses across the United Kingdom and beyond with places confirmed at Oxford, Imperial College, Durham, St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh and Glasgow to study courses ranging from Engineering to French and Medicine to Equine Studies. I am particularly proud of one Upper Sixth girl who has won a place to study music at the prestigious National Conservatoire of Wales (with scholarship).
“These results continue not only to strengthen the academic profile of Kilgraston but also celebrate the wide range of disciplines our girls go on to study”.
Kilgraston Speech Day 2016
On Saturday 25th June, the Kilgraston community came together for their annual Speech Day and Prize Giving ceremony to celebrate the end of the academic year and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of every Kilgraston girl.
Parents and families travelled from across the world for this momentous occasion and enjoyed a day of celebrations with strawberries, champagne and homemade picnics on the lawn!
This year, Kilgraston was delighted to welcome Mrs Ann G Miller as guest of honour who gave an inspirational speech at both the Prep and Senior ceremonies and presented over 150 prizes, ribbons and trophies. Speeches from the Chair of Governors, Tim Hall, Headmistress, Dorothy MacGinty and Head of Junior Years, Andrew Stewart followed. After an extremely busy year, Head Girl, Iona Godfrey-Faussett gave an emotional farewell speech to the Senior School highlighting the recent school achievements and her many happy memories of her time at Kilgraston.
Mrs MacGinty said, “What a glorious day we had. It has been wonderful to welcome members of the whole community to this day of celebration and giving thanks. Governors, parents, staff and girls gathered for what must be the highlight of the year.”