Kilgraston School appoints new Head teacher
Kilgraston School’s Board of Trustees and Board of Governors are delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Tanya Davie as the School’s new Head teacher. Mrs Davie will be taking over from Mrs Dorothy MacGinty, who will be retiring at Easter 2022 after seven years in the role.
Mrs Davie is currently the Academic Deputy Head at St Bede’s College in Manchester an independent co-educational day school for 750 pupils aged between 3 and 18.
David Beal, Chairman of the Board of Governors, said: “Mrs Davie will be joining Kilgraston School at an exciting time where we have continuing high intake from both day and boarding pupils and a significant number of enquires for both our co-educational junior school and our all-girls senior school.” Mr Beal continued: “Mrs Davie was the stand-out candidate from an extremely rigorous selection process. Kilgraston’s Senior Leadership Team, Board of Governors and Trustees are all absolutely thrilled about the appointment and very much looking forward to her stepping into the role and carrying forward Mrs MacGinty’s excellent legacy.”
As part of the Senior Leadership Team at St Bede’s, Mrs Davie works closely with the School’s Head teacher and wider staff body to safeguard high-quality teaching and learning throughout the School. Formerly Head of Mathematics and Physical Education at St Bede’s, Mrs Davie has also previously held posts at all-girls schools, including St. Margaret’s School, Edinburgh, and North Manchester High School for Girls. She is also a former Head of Department at The Royal High School, Edinburgh.
Commenting on her appointment, Mrs Davie said: “What I hope to bring to Kilgraston is an energy and enthusiasm to carry on and develop the spirit and success of this incredible school. I am very excited at the prospect of leading the School into its next phase.”
Originally from County Clare, Ireland, Mrs Davie has a close affinity with Scotland, having previously spent eight years teaching in Edinburgh. Commenting on her return north of the border, she said:” I am very much looking forward to moving back to Scotland: it feels like we are moving home.”
During her career, Mrs Davie has had extensive experience of teaching in both the independent and state sectors: “While at The Royal High School in Edinburgh, I was seconded by Strathclyde University to form a team, tasked with the development and implementation of the first PGCE Physical Education course in Scotland.” In addition to this sabbatical, Mrs Davie worked closely with Manchester City Football Academy, heading-up the club’s education provision for their elite performers in the 11 to 16 years age range.
Mrs Davie will be moving to Perthshire together with her husband, Deno. The couple has a daughter in her second year at university in Scotland and a son in his final year of secondary education.
Passionate about providing opportunities for young people to become the best version of themselves, Mrs Davie intends to develop a programme of competence in 21st century skills (collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving) within Kilgraston, “empowering the women of the future workplace to develop an appetite for becoming solution-based innovators, thereby making a positive contribution to society.”
Mrs Davie will begin her new appointment from April 2022.
Mrs Tanya Davie, Head teacher of Kilgraston School from April 2022
St Cecilia’s Concert 2021
Kilgraston’s St Cecilia’s Concert 2021 took place this week with musicians from a variety of different year groups taking part.
This event is a Kilgraston tradition, as we celebrate St. Cecilia, the patron of music and musicians. It takes place on November 22, and this year, as with the concert in 2021, we recorded the concert so that we can all still enjoying the outstanding talents of Kilgraston pupils.
So, welcome to the St. Cecilia’s Concert, we hope you enjoy it:
Duke of Edinburgh training sessions
Pupils taking part in this year’s Bronze Duke of Edinburgh had a training session recently in school grounds to prepare them for their day walk over the weekend. The girls took part in some team building games and then learned how to use the gas stoves safely. Mrs Herbert, Duke of Edinburgh coordinator, demonstrated various nutritious meals from different cuisines that can easily be cooked outdoors such as Indian, Mexican, Thai, Mediterranean. They then cooked their own three course lunch on the stoves. We also learned how choose a campsite and how to put up and take down a tent. This was a first for many of the girls!
Then at the weekend, three teams headed out on the same walk, via different routes taking in Castle Law Hillfort, and Forgandenny, in total they each walked just under ten kilometres and took around six hours and mostly in the sunshine. Our focus for the walk was to pay attention to the different plant/animal/bird/insect life evidenced along the way. We found many examples of edibles along the way such as Rowan, Gorse, Crab Apple and Wood Sorrel. We also found some lovely examples of Scots Pine and deer ! Birds of Prey & Ravens spotted over Castle Law too.
Kilgraston pupils have a long tradition of undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh awards across the three different levels, it is just one of the many extracurricular activities Kilgraston offers its pupils.
Sixth Form at Kilgraston- Scotties re-opening
The Sixth Form at Kilgraston has loads of benefits including our own spacious common room called Scotties and on Monday this was re-opened by Kilgraston’s Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty. Thanks to Upper Sixth’s India who is a deputy head girl and Mrs Mackie for their time and effort with the re-vamp.
India oversaw the design and the area has been re-painted and re-furnished with new sofas, soft furnishings and a piano too. Scotties was first opened a number of years ago for Irene Scott a former boarding mistress.
Scotties is a social space used by members of Sixth Form to enjoy a game of pool or have a movie night. We look forward to making many new memories in our new social area!
Upper Sixth Isla, Marketing Prefect.
Kilgraston assembly - what a wonderful world!
Mr Allaker, our Chaplain, held an inspiring and insightful Kilgraston assembly this week, encouraging us all to start our week on a positive note, and to remember all the things in this wonderful world, in which we all live.
Kilgraston is a Laudato Si’ School, which holds its foundations in an encyclical letter written by Pope Frances. At its heart it highlights the importance of looking after our planet and each other.
As COP26 closed, and the dust settles on what was and was not agreed, in his assembly this week, Mr Allaker asked us to reflect on all the many amazing and memorable things in the universe, from mountains and oceans to planets and animals. But what about each other?
Mr Allaker urged us all to keep love at the forefront of our week and to remember, what a wonderful world this truly is.
Thank you Mr Allaker for a compelling assembly. You can find out more about our assemblies here.
COP26 week two activities
It’s week two of Kilgraston’s COP26 inspired events and as world leaders made a barrage of pledges, staff and pupils signed up to our own Tree of Promises. Headed up by Mrs Saunders, promises to the planet were gathered and displayed on a tree in the glass square. We have all been encouraged to commit our own pledges to pen and paper, adding it to the tree this week and in months or years from now, we will review how we have managed to keep to these promises and the impact it has had. Examples of promises include:
-I will buy less out of season food from different overseas countries.
-Buy clothing from sustainable brands or second hand.
-I will lift share
One of the most difficult-to-replace sources of single-use plastic waste is cling film. So as part of COP26 Activities Fortnight, the Eco-Committee and Dr Phillips held a beeswax wrap workshop to show one way in which you can make your own reusable alternative out of beeswax.
Sacred Heart ambassador, Ann Miller, also caught up with the eco committee via Zoom to discuss their progress and there was also a display of ‘Seaspiracy’ in the Geography rooms.
A special mention to Lower Sixth’s Manon for her outstanding Sixth Form lecture last week related to cop26 and our need to look at food for the future.
Find out more about last week’s events here.
International Evening 2021
Staff and pupils at Kilgraston enjoyed International Evening 2021; an evening of International Food, information and entertainment.
Representatives from France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Poland, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Syria, Mauritius, Wales and Mexico decorated tables in the Theatre with items from their homelands and we learned about their legends, traditions, history, national and regional dishes and tourist sights to see. The audience’s knowledge was tested in a series of quizzes and we all enjoyed dancing the Macarena at the end of the evening, ably led by our Spanish students.
After missing out due to Covid last year, it was a wonderful way to celebrate our diversity at Kilgraston, and a welcome opportunity for staff and students to spend some fun time together.
You can find out more about international admissions here.
Kilgraston COP26 activities
During the two weeks of COP26, the senior school Eco-Committee is running a series of activities that are intended to be fun, and to encourage as many as people to take part, but that are also intended to be educational and to make people think. These activities have ranged from a scavenger-hunt style quiz around the school buildings, collecting food waste at lunchtime, and launching a ‘Future Visions’ art and writing competition, with more to come next week.
Ruby Forbes, the Eco Prefect, said: “As part of the Eco-Committee, I was keen for us to take the opportunity of COP26 being held in a Scottish city to start activities all throughout the school, to try and help our school community gain greater awareness of our climate crisis and what steps we have the power to take to try and solve it. The activities have been really successful so far, and we’re really looking forward to what we’ve got planned for next week.”
Look out for more COP26 eco-events next week including representatives from Kilgraston attending the COP26 mass. In the meantime, read this article more information on other eco committee activities.
Lessons in finance at Kilgraston Junior School
Proving it is never too early to start planning for their financial future, pupils in our Junior School received lessons in finance.
Pupils from Upper First, Lower Second, Upper Second and Lower and Upper Third got to grips with fun finance thanks to the super skills from Mr Andrew Stewart from AS Wealth Management and Ms Louise Laing from The Mortgage Finance Store.
Over the sessions, pupils looked at how trade works, analysed world economies, discussed personal finance and how to plan for the future.
The year groups then took part in a competition where they traded as different countries to get the largest amount of resources, and to ultimately run the world.
Thanks you to Andrew and Louise for these fascinating lessons in finance.
Our Junior School offers families outstanding wraparound care - so no extra breakfast club or after school club costs.
All pupils have fresh and nutritious lunches made in school every day.
Specialist teachers in art, music, science, modern languages and sport starting in our Junior School.
Access to our outstanding facilities including indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, AstroTurf and equestrian centre – the only school in Scotland to have one on-site.
Contact us to arrange your taster - [email protected]
Kilgraston’s strong performance at Scottish Girls’ School Association Swimming Gala
It was with huge amounts of excitement and a great deal of training and preparation that Kilgraston pupils hit the water recently at the Scottish Girls’ School Association Swimming Gala.
The event was hosted by Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh, and took place at Stewart’s Melville College Swimming Pool with Kilgraston joining Fernhill, St. George’s, MES, and St. Margaret’s in the competition.
Kilgraston swimmers had some superb performances with Lower Four’s Millie winning the S1 50m Freestyle. Other results included:
Second place for Upper Third’s Lara in the S1 50m Breaststroke
Second for Lower Four’s Edith in the S1 50m Backcrawl
Second place for Upper Four’s Kirsten in the S2 50m Freestyle
Third place for Upper Four’s Poppy in the S2 50m Backcrawl
Third place for Upper Fifth’s Rebecca in the S3/S4 50m Backcrawl
Third place for Upper Sixth’s India in the Senior 50m Backcrawl
Third place for Lower Fifth’s Martina in the S3/S4 50m Breaststroke
Third place for Lower Sixth’s Jeanie in the Senior 50m Breaststroke
Third place for Lower Four’s Maia in the S1 50m Butterfly
Third place for Upper Four Kirsten in the S2 50m Butterfly
Third place for Lower Sixth’s Millie in the Senior 50m Freestyle
Third place for Upper Fifth’s Rebecca in the S3/S4 50m Butterfly
Fourth place for Lower Fifth’s Carlotta in the S2 50m Breaststroke
Fourth place for Upper Fifth’s Maddie in the Senior 50m Butterfly
Fourth for Lower Fifth’s Isla in the S3/S4 50m Freestyle
The team also put in strong performances in the relay events with the following results:
Second in the S1 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay
Second in the Senior 4 x 50m Medley Relay
Third in the S2 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay
Third in the S3/S4 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay
Third in the S1- Senior Canon Relay (Freestyle 8 x 25m)
Congratulations to all our swimmers for their strong performances, and thanks to Mary Erskine for hosting. We are looking forward to the next event.