Kilgraston alumnae news from Ecuador
We are extremely proud of our Kilgraston alumnae and are delighted to share news from Manon Kempermann.
Manon came to Kilgraston for Sixth Form, leaving in June 2022. She is currently working on projects in Ecuador. Here she shares her amazing experience, there is a link at the bottom on the educational project in the indigenous Kichwa community.
Today marks already half of my time in Ecuador and I almost cannot believe how fast the time is going. The last five months have been incredibly enriching and full of wonderful experiences. I am very grateful to be here and to do this voluntary service. I think, if I had just travelled around, I would not have had the opportunity to gain such deep insights into the culture and the life here.
Apart from being now able to speak Spanish fluently, I have learned so much about myself and how privileged I actually grew up. Until now I supported the English teachers and sometimes taught English alone in two different schools in Tena. Seeing how poorly trained the teachers here often are and how less attention is actually paid at students progress really makes me appreciate what a good education I so far received. Many students especially girls have very low perspectives after school. A number of girls at my age already are married and often have a child. At the same time I feel like I achieved to spark some more interest for English in some kids and with some of the university students I live with I practice English on a regular basis and they are making significant progress. My work in the student house is very diverse and I love the cultural exchange with the indigenous students.
Two weeks ago we started a new project in an indigenous community. We want to send one volunteer to teach English in the primary school of the village. The demand is huge, neither of the two teachers speaks English, but it is still in the curriculum. When the students later go to the senior school in the next city, they have almost no chance to catch up with their class mates, who received at least a little bit of English classes. As no one really cares for them in the school, they often drop out of school early. Now we are building a little hut for the volunteer to live in with the parents of the children. I spent the last two weeks in the indigenous village helping to build the hut. The people are really kind and hard working, but most live in poverty and have almost nothing. I hope we can finish building the house soon and start helping in the school.
Many parents have great hopes that our work can at least improve the perspectives for their children’s future a bit. To realise this project we are currently fundraising on Gofundme. I am very grateful that so many of the Kilgraston family have already supported me at my cake sale last year, but it would be amazing if some of the Kilgraston family wants to support this specific project as well. Thank you already for your support.
Apart from my work in the rainforest, I often use the weekends to travel to the Andes and hike up mountains. So far I have summited three mountains over 5000m over sea level and a couple of over 4000m mountains as well. The landscapes often remind me of Scotland with the green and grassy hillsides and the lagoons in between. I often think back to my time at Kilgraston and what a wonderful year it was. You all really have empowered me and showed me my potential. Looking back, it was definitely my best year of school and you have made me so much more confident as a girl loving STEM subjects. Without all your effort I would not have achieved such results. I know decided to apply for bioinformatics at the University of Saarbrücken.
Here you can find our Gofundme for the educational project in the indigenous Kichwa community:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/haus-fur-volontare (The description in English is below the German)
Many regards to all of the Kilgraston family!
Manon
Biology at Kilgraston
Find out what makes Biology at Kilgraston so popular with our Head of Biology, Mrs O’Hear:
Biology the study of life …… how can you possibly not be interested in the study of organisms such as bacteria, naked mole rats and humans.
So if you come over to the science department at Kilgraston today or any other day, you will be greeted by a whole range of topics related to life from ‘Fit and Healthy’ in Upper Fourth where we learn about the individual body systems and the importance of maintaining physical health, social health AND mental health. To the study of Evolution at National 5 where we cover the process involved in the formation of new species (it’s called speciation if your interested).
Then in Higher Human Biology we look at ‘What happens at synapses?’ (the connections between our nerve cells) which actually allows us to think about thinking. At Advanced Higher we move into the wonderful world of ‘Parasitology’.
The study of biology at Kilgraston gives you plenty of opportunities to hone your critical thinking skill, as well as applying all you new knowledge to unfamiliar situations. It also allows you to enhance your creative side with plenty of tasks such as making interactive posters on infectious diseases, producing animations on phagocytosis, presenting on genetic disorders and making 3D models of specialised cells.
So next time you need to know which hormone is required to increase the sugar in your blood then just ask one of the Upper Fifth - it’s glucagon if your wondering.
La chandeleur - Pancake Day 2023
Our Lower Four and Lower Fifth pupils have been celebrating La chandeleur - Pancake Day 2023. Find out more:
Over the past few weeks, we have been celebrating La Chandeleur, Pancake day in our french classes. The Lower Four and Lower Fifth pupils displayed their cooking skills, making French pancakes following Mamita’s ( Mme Dépreux’s grandmother) recipe.
Every year on 2 February it is pancake day… or rather La Chandeleur in France, the day of the crèpe (French for pancake).
The ‘Fête de la Chandeleur’, is also known as Fête de la Lumière (nothing to do with the famous Fête de la Lumière in Lyon) and the jour des crèpes. The celebration dates back to Roman times when it was held to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the baby Jesus.
The name Chandeleur, comes from the Latin candelorum festum, which means festival of candles and in English language is known as Candlemas. There is evidence that Pope Gelasius I (died 496) helped to establish the festival of Candlemas and was said to feed crêpes to the pilgrims who visited his church.
La Chandeleur falls 40 days after Christmas on the 2nd February, and apart from eating lots of pancakes stuffed with all manner of scrumptious fillings, it’s a day for fortune telling and legend! The golden colour of the delicious round crêpe is a reminder of the sun and the approaching spring.
If you wish to have a go at this unique and scrumptious family recipe, try this recipe.
Les crêpes de Mamita
(Mme Dépreux’s grandmother)
Ingredients:
This will make 4 crêpes, enough for 1 person.
100g plain flour
1 egg
25g melted unsalted butter
A pinch of salt
Around 250ml milk
Method:
1. Mix flour and salt together.
2. Beat the egg and add it in to the flour little by little until the mixture becomes thick.
3. Then add the milk slowly and keep whisking. If you think the mixture is too thick then add a little bit more milk.
4. Then add the melted butter and mix well.
Then do your magic and create your perfect crêpe adding any topping you wish.
Kilgraston Headteacher discusses mobile phone restrictions in press
Kilgraston Headteacher, Mrs Davie, has been talking to local newspaper, The Courier, about our long-standing mobile phone policy and the benefits it has had on pupils.
In the article, Mrs Davie reflects: “With a no mobile phone policy in school-time, we are really seeing the benefits of good old-fashioned human interaction. We are a close-knit school, with a strong community spirit and we have found that, for both staff and pupils alike, people are calmer and more confident with this increased human interaction.
“In the absence of phones, we must talk to each other.”
Kilgraston introduced the mobile phone restrictions in 2018 amid concerns that concentration and social skills were being negatively affected and of the ban, Mrs Davie said: “I am proud of the fact that Kilgraston was a trailblazer and carved out a robust policy on mobile phones in schools.
“We are passionate about educating our pupils and ensuring they get the best possible start in life, and to do this, they need to be focused and engaged.
You can read the full article here on the Courier website.
Kilgraston pupils celebrate equestrian successes
Kilgraston pupils celebrated equestrian successes having been selected to compete at some of the top levels. Now, they share their stories of commitment and dedication.
This year, my horse Joey and I were selected to compete for Scotland at the British Eventing International Youth Championships at Bishop Burton College in the BE90 under 18 class. Our selection was due to consistent performance in other Scottish events over the last two years, so it was a massive privilege to be part of the team and I was really excited. The competition was at the start of August, so I had some time to prepare for it. I had to do lots of fitness training with Joey to make sure he wouldn’t tire easily on the difficult cross-country course, I attended some team training at Lindores Equestrian and had lots of dressage lessons in preparation. The team also had to approach sponsors who very generously helped to pay for some of our kit for the competition, which was really exciting.
On the 2nd of August, nine other team members and I made the trip down to Yorkshire. The first day was a trot up which meant I had to show Joey to the vets and judges so that they could decide he was fit and healthy enough to compete. The whole team passed the trot up and so we were onto the next phase - dressage. This competition was a very high pressure environment with lots of spectators and other competitors in one place, with the added pressure of representing your country and being part of a team, which definitely made it more difficult. Partly because of this, my dressage test wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped, with a score of 33.5 but I knew that these thing weren’t always won on the dressage scores and each score was so close to the next, that any kind of mistake in the next phases could cost you a top spot.
The cross country followed the dressage, which I was very excited about, but also more nervous for this than I had been before. I had walked the course with two of the Scottish BE coaches, who had really helped us all with the technical combinations on the course, so each rider knew exactly what they were doing. The first 17 jumps on the course were fantastic for me and Joey, he was flying over every jump and we were ahead of the optimum time, which was a good place to be. I could really feel all of my hard work paying off because of how confident he felt on the course.
The second last jump was probably the trickiest on the course for us. It was a very skinny brush jump, followed by a green log jump. Unfortunately, I rode Joey too fast to the skinny jump, and he saw an opportunity to slip out the side, giving us 20 penalties. When I re-presented Joey to the jump, I didn’t position him quite well enough, and the same thing happened a further two times, causing us to be eliminated from the competition. I was very upset that I had stopped myself from completing the competition, especially as this is the first time I have been eliminated from a competiton and it was one that I had looked forward to for a long time and had been so proud to be taking part in.
The following day was showjumping. Joey and I weren’t competing, but fortunately all of my teammates were so I cheered them all on, and they did a great job. Some of the team were disappointed with their results, and some were pleased with what they had achieved, but it just shows how much the pressure can affect people and I have come away from the experience knowing that next time I have a stop on the cross country, I won’t panic. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I’m really glad that I went. I made loads of friends, I watched some incredible riding and I really enjoyed the riding that I did.
Thank you so much to my family, all the coaches and instructors, everyone involved in the organising of the event at Bishop Burton, all of our sponsors, my fantastic teammates, and thank you, of course, to Joey. (Also a big thank you to the tyre fitter who fixed our blow out on the way home at 2am on the M74!!)
Charlotte, Lower Sixth
I was delighted to have been selected to join the Scotland u18 team. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to get selected because a few of the qualifying classes run through when we have exams in April and May. From sewing Scotland flags onto my kit, to then going round a huge cross country and show-jumping course, I loved every second of it. There was pressure to not let the team or your pony down during the week after all the training we went through to get there.
Thankfully all the horses passed the vet check and trot up and everyone managed to preform a good dressage test. Then on cross country day, the majority of us went clear and unfortunately Freddie and I had two refusals at the second last fence which dropped us way down the placings. However, the next day was show-jumping and Freddie and I were first to go and it was definitely the highlight of my week, getting a clear round, as well as most the team which left Scotland in eight place.
Daisy, Lower Sixth
Scottish Prep Schools Ski Championships 2023
Our Junior ski team travelled to Glenshee for the Scottish Prep Schools Ski Championships 2023 – although on arrival you would be forgiven for thinking we had been transported to the Alps – blue skies, cold snow and not a breath of wind, definitely not typical Scottish conditions!
After an inspection of the perfectly prepared 24-gate course, our teams gathered excitedly at the start, to wait for their first runs. All our racers put down clean runs first time, which built lots of confidence to really attack the course for their second runs – with some noticeably faster and more aggressive skiing, which definitely paid off.
The Kilgraston team finished fifth place overall with silver medals for Darcy, Minnie and Jessica in the female team category, and individual bronze medals for Freya in both the U11 and overall female event. Fantastic skiing from all our racers, and a day we won’t forget for a long time.
Mrs Holliday
Kilgraston Christmas Concert 2022
On Friday 2nd December, the whole school community gathered in the spectacular setting of the Perth Concert Hall for our annual Christmas Concert.
The audience were wowed by performances in music, dance and drama based on Christmas cards each portraying a different theme from Disney to a Scottish Christmas. Kilgraston must be almost unique in having every pupil in the school on stage performing which gives the concert a genuine whole school community ethos. Pupils and staff had been busy rehearsing all term and four days of intensive rehearsals in the run up to the concert itself were a fantastic build up to the night itself.
Mr Morley and Mrs Murphy with the technical help of Mr Pryke were delighted with the concert itself and despite many pupils battling with coughs and colds gave their all on the stage. Mrs Murphy said of the concert, “”I was so happy we got to showcase all the talents of Kilgraston - from the visual artists to the Highland dancers, from the lyrical trio to the comedy sketches. I loved putting together the programme and I genuinely hope it reflected the very special place Kilgraston is and all the magic that Christmas offers us” while Laura in Lower 6th who is our Music Captain and took a leading role in the concert made reference to the excitement felt by pupils each year, “I look forward to the Christmas concert every year. The whole school rehearsing and performing together makes it really special to be a part of.”
But it was not only the pupils on the stage who were buzzing after the concert, it was lovely to receive so much behind the scenes support from staff, with one teacher commenting, “I am so, so proud to teach at Kilgraston when as a school we are represented by such an amazing display of talent, teamwork and a ‘can do’ attitude”. As the strains of songs that have been heard sung in corridors and on buses since late September start to fade away it is already time to start planning ahead for next year, do put the date in your diaries, Friday 8th December 2023!
Kilgraston equestrian teams win
Kilgraston’s equestrian teams were out in force at the weekend at a team show jumping competition organised by Strathallan at Howe, Fife.
We had 14 horse and rider combinations taking part over 3 classes from 70cm - 1m.
A team of Upper Fifth’s Melissa, Upper Four Melissa and Ishbel rode three fantastic double clears to win the 70cm and with Upper Fifth’s Melissa and her pony Rover also taking the trophy for first individual. A second team of Upper Sixth’s Jessica, Upper Fourth’s Olivia and Upper Fifth’s Melissa on her second pony took team fourth.
In the 85cm it was another huge class and this time is was Upper Sixth’s Kiki, Upper Sixth’s Faith, Upper Sixth’s Jess and Upper Fifth’s Lucy taking the trophy and sashes for another team win! Upper Fifth’s Meadow, Upper Fourth’s Olivia and Upper Fifth’s Melissa made up another Kilgraston team to scoop fourth place.
The last class of the day was 1m where we had sadly run out of luck and Upper Fifth’s Meadow and Lucy and Upper Sixth Kiki had a few unlucky poles between them to come fifth overall.
Brilliant results overall and well done to all horses and riders.
Find out more about Kilgraston equestrian.
Junior Years Harvest Festival 2022
Each year our Junior Years Harvest Festival offers a time to reflect and encourage charity amongst our younger pupils. Ms Cooper, our Deputy Head of Junior Years, reflects on this year’s service:
As the colours start to change, we celebrate the seasons with our Harvest Assembly and are very grateful for your non-perishable food donations. A huge ‘thank you’ to the Junior Years pupils and staff for their efforts in preparing this special assembly – it’s a great pleasure to welcome parents into school again to share in this together.
Following the service all proceeds were taken to C.A.T.H. (Churches Action for The Homeless) and your generosity will bring great relief to many people less fortunate. The Junior Years Head Girl Team accompanied Trish in taking your donations directly to the charity, which is a heart-warming experience.
Boarding trip to The Enchanted Forest
On Sunday 2 October Kilgraston visited the Enchanted Forest and were treated to the most dazzling visuals and innovative design, all choreographed against a musical score that accompanied the pupils as they made their way around the stunning autumn woodland of Faskally Wood.
Niamh in Lower Sixth described the Enchanted Forest “as entering the grandest sensory room” which it certainly was in its ability to create the most unique experience.
This year’s theme ‘Together’ was certainly apt for our Sacred Heart Goal for this year of Social Awareness. Walking together around the event, leaving our own subtle imprint on the forest with its motion tracking projections, we came out a tiny bit closer, to each other, and to everything around.
A fantastic trip that set all our imaginations alight.
Want to find out more about what it is like to be a boarder at Kilgraston?