Following a visit to Kilgraston from a Tatler ‘spy’ last term, we’re delighted to share the review of our school in Tatler’s prestigious Schools Guide.
From our ‘most gorgeous of settings’, to our ‘great inter-year bonding’, the review praises our sports department (‘really excelling under the watchful eye of double Olympian and hockey supremo Pauline Stott’), our Sacred Heart ethos, and our food (which ‘gets a big thumbs up’).
It’s lovely to see our girls’ academic results and destinations shining through (with a mention for Helen’s Rolls Royce apprenticeship) and, all in all, we couldn’t be happier!
Kilgraston has been selected as one of the ‘Best of the Best’ in The Week Magazine’s prestigious Independent Schools Guide. The guide, which describes itself as finding ‘the schools at the top of their game’ chose Kilgraston as one of the schools ‘best for horsey types’, alongside Stonar School in Wiltshire and Queen Ethelburga’s College, York.
The Week’s guide “trawled through the statistics, league tables and exam results, and consulted a panel of education experts, parents and pupils to find the schools that have the wow factor“.
We’re thrilled to have been recognised in this way following a successful year for Kilgraston’s horsewomen. At the annual Scottish Schools Championships at Gleneagles our team won the 14 and under section, and our equestrian centre recently launched its own pony club, where girls can achieve badges in all aspects of horse and pony care as well as take progressive riding tests.
Sixth form pupils have been set on the pathway to success thanks to the help of a leading chartered psychologist. Katie Banham, who is recognised by BBC Scotland as a female expert on the Psychology of Potential, is working with our senior pupils over a two year period to help them discover their strengths and motivations. The programme is designed to help pupils develop leadership skills, build their resilience and realise their potential, in line with our Sacred Heart goal for the year of ‘personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom’.
Katie said “In my work as a psychologist in organisations, I help business leaders discover and develop the potential that underpins their success. Giving pupils a head start is the most rewarding part of my work, and it’s fantastic to be working with girls at Kilgraston this year”.
Mrs Gail McFadden, Head of Pastoral Care, explained that the programme was intended to help pupils develop a range of skills to complement their formal qualifications: “We’re interested in the whole range of skills our pupils develop over their time at Kilgraston, aiming to support them to develop the qualities - as well as the qualifications - to succeed. We’re delighted to be working with Katie, whose exciting programme has really got the girls thinking about how to make the most of their education”.
We are delighted that our pupils have done so well in their 2014 exam results.
Well done to our 2013-14 Head Girls team of Sarah Anderson, Claire Carey and Amelia Jackson-Hutt, who all achieved straight As in their Higher exams - a collective 15 As!
Our Upper Fifth have achieved outstanding results at Intermediate 2 level. Their A-C pass rate of 98.6% clearly outstrips the national average of 77.9%, and an impressive 82% are at grade A.
In Lower Sixth Higher results have held up well, with 53.7% at grade A compared to 55.5% last year and A-B grades slightly ahead.
At Advanced Higher our A- C grades compare favourably to last year with a 95% pass rate.
There have been some outstanding individual performances with 2 girls achieving straight A grades at Advanced Higher, 6 girls achieving 5 A grades at Higher and 10 achieving straight A grades at Intermediate 2 level.
We wish all our Upper Sixth well as they move on to University courses across Scotland and beyond with places confirmed at Cambridge, Edinburgh and at St Andrews to study courses ranging from Law to International Relations and Design Engineering to Medicine.
Details of our 2014 exam results can be found here.
In 1986, the BBC’s Domesday project asked on million ordinary people to write about their everyday lives. It’s now been digitised, and forms one of the most comprehensive snapshots of a moment in time ever created. People were asked to record what they thought would be of interest in 1,000 years time.
The whole of the UK was divided into 23,000 4x3km areas called Domesday Squares or ‘D-Blocks’.
Schools and community groups surveyed over 108,000 square km of the UK and submitted more than 147,819 pages of text articles and 23,225 amateur photos, cataloguing what it was like to live, work and play in their community.
The entire archive of the Domesday project is fascinating, and well worth exploring - it’s online at www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday. Naturally, though, history is most engaging when it relates to something or someone we know, so it was wonderful to stumble across two entries written by Kilgraston pupils. Much of Kilgraston life will feel very familiar to current pupils, although the uniforms (‘blue nylon overall’) have been updated, and the food (‘a roll and an orange’) is considerably better!
All Kilgraston alumnae are warmly invited to attend the next school reunion, to be held at Kilgraston on the evening of Thursday 18th December.
We do hope you will join us to welcome in the festive season.
More details will follow closer to the event. Meanwhile, please register in advance via our Eventbrite page.
We are delighted to confirm the appointment of a new Principal at Kilgraston. The below letter from Mr Tim Hall, Chair of the Board of Governors, announces the appointment of Mrs Dorothy MacGinty as Kilgraston’s new Principal.
My Board and I have committed to keeping you up-to-date with regards to recruitment of a new Principal for Kilgraston. I am, therefore, delighted to share with you the news that the Board of Trustees, with the support of the Governors, have appointed Mrs Dorothy MacGinty, currently Head of St. Francis’ College in Hertfordshire, as Kilgraston’s new Principal.
Mrs MacGinty has been Headmistress of St. Francis’ College - an independent school for 450 girls aged 3 to 18 - since 2009. In her role as Headmistress, she has significantly increased the school roll, has refurbished and expanded the boarding houses, and has championed excellence and professional development across the departments. Formerly a Head of Biology, Head of Games, Boarding Housemistress and Deputy Head, Mrs MacGinty brings a wealth of experience in providing a world-class education for pupils and in inspiring the entire school community. Mrs MacGinty chairs the Girls’ School Association’s Professional Development Committee, where she influences girls’ education at a national level. Mrs MacGinty is married to Frank, with three children - two adult sons and a daughter, Beth, who will join Kilgraston’s Fifth form this September. Mrs MacGinty is looking forward to returning to her native Scotland, and will formally take up the role of Principal in April 2015. Until April, Mrs Lund will continue in her role as Acting Principal, supported by the Board and Senior Team.
I look forward to welcoming Mrs MacGinty to Kilgraston, and to working with her to lead the school forward.
Mr Tim Hall
Chair of the Board of Governors
Kilgraston
At the end of last term, our Upper Fourth girls held a big fundraising event for the four charities that they had selected in their YPI - Youth Philanthropy Initiative - project. They managed to raise almost £750 which will be divided equally between the four charities, Dreamz4U, CHAS, Glenfarg RDA, Perth Autism.
Funded and managed in Scotland by the Wood Family Trust, and supported by the Gannochy Trust, Scottish Hydro and Bank of Scotland, The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative aims to engage young people in social change and empower them to participate in the growing of compassionate communities. The initiative fit beautifully with this year’s Sacred Heart goal of ‘Social Awareness that Impels to Action’, and our U4 girls have certainly exemplified the Sacred Heart goals in their passionate support for their chosen charities.
As U4 Moncreiffe wrote in their letter to the beneficiary charities:
We started the day by having a home-clothes day, and nearly everyone in the senior school participated – giving us £1 per person. At break time there were two bake sales which were very popular and one at lunchtime. At lunchtime we had a sponge-throwing event. We had a line of teachers and people threw sponges at them. It was a terrific event and the girls (in Moncreiffe) even poured a bucket of water over one of the teachers! Besides the sponge-throwing event there was face painting, which turned out to be a great success as well. Each charity will receive £185 and we hope this will at least be able to help you a little bit. We had great fun raising this money and hopefully we will be able to raise some for you in the future.
Well done to U4, all the girls who participated, and our teachers who braved the sponge-throwing!
Anne Marie Losty, teacher and Housemistress at Kilgraston, has been awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (literally: ‘for the Church and the Pontiff’), by the Pope.
The honour, which consists of a gold medal inscribed in Latin and an official scroll, is the highest medal that the Pope can award to a layperson. Established in 1888, it is given to a Catholic who has shown distinguished service to the Church and to the papacy.
Miss Losty was presented with the award on behalf of the Pontiff by the Right Reverend Stephen Robson, Bishop of Dunkeld, at Kilgraston’s annual presentation of ribbons and prizes.
As Head of Science, chemistry teacher, and house mistress, Miss Losty, who retires this year, has had a profound influence on many girls, and more broadly across the entire Kilgraston school community.
Mr Tim Hall, Chair of Kilgraston’s Board of Governors, paid tribute to Miss Losty as ‘a tireless advocate and example of the Sacred Heart Goals in action’.
Miss Losty has devoted over 36 years of her teaching career to Kilgraston. Her legacy is a new science building, a strong house system and an extensive intellectual and cultural programme.
Kilgraston Deputy Head Girl Evie Lindsay is heading for Namibia for a three-week action-packed trek across deserts, bush and canyons and all the way to the famous Skeleton Coast.
Camping in the wild African desert, she’ll get the chance to see much of Namibia’s big game up close including desert elephants, black rhino, giraffes and mountain zebra.
The only kit she can take must fit in the rucksack she’ll be carrying on her back during the three weeks.
The trip is arranged by the British Exploring Society who enthused Evie when they gave a talk at Kilgraston.
She’s been getting in training for the adventure by undertaking a Duke of Edinburgh expedition.
She explained: “I was especially interested in the trip because of its focus on science. I’m going to University to study biochemistry in the autumn so I’m looking forward to applying my science studies in the real world.
“For me, highlights will be tracking elephants, researching cave paintings, gathering scientific data on the geology of the country and searching for a new species of reptile that’s only been found in skeleton form so far.”
One implication of the trip is that she’s going to be completely out of contact with the outside world in the deserts of Namibia…and her exam results come out while she’s away!
Evie said: “Mum is going to open them when they arrive in the post but I won’t hear the results until I meet her at the airport when I get back. That’s going to be a tense time!”
When she returns she’s been invited to write an article for The Lord Mayor’s Anniversary Trust, one of her sponsors.
The trip has cost over £3000, much of which she found through fundraising. Evie got a grant of £400 from the Lord Mayor of London’s Anniversary Trust plus support from Perth camera shop JRS Photo Hardware in Scott Street, Hendersons opticians in Perth who provided prescription sunglasses, Elite Office Furniture, Bisley Storage and Sedus Seating (UK).
“I would like to thank most sincerely everyone who has supported me and made this amazing adventure possible - especially my parents who have been so encouraging and put me in touch with people and organisations for funding.
