Junior Years Summer Show 2023 - ‘Annie’
The Junior Years’ pupils have been working hard on the production of ‘Annie Jr.’ We have been performing this week and the experience has been fantastic. The rehearsal process has been busy but amazing. It all started in February with auditions and casting. Soon after that the preparation started with blocking the first scene and creating the choreography for ‘It’s The Hard Knock Life.’ After drama rehearsals we would go to music to perfect our songs and friends would learn their solo parts and learn pitches.
On Tuesday, we started to perform it on stage and each performance has become better and better. The quick costume changes and mic changes have been mastered and everything was perfect. It is a surreal feeling to stand up on stage projecting lines and speaking into a mic doing what we all love.
The Lower Fifth have been a huge help with hair and makeup, and we are very grateful to them. Some of the hair was a bit crazy but it felt like our characters were coming to life. When we take our final bow at the end of the show it is an amazing feeling! They are all cheering for us and our show.
The whole experience has been great and I am going to miss the rehearsals and the nerves before going on stage.
Upper Third would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved who has made this production possible. A special thanks goes to Mrs Murphy and Mr Morley.
Olivia (Upper Third), May 2023
KPA Summer Fair 2023
Kilgraston Sports Hall was recently transformed into a bustling hive of stalls and entertainment for the KPA Summer Fair. With a bouncy castle and the odd bag of sweets or two, attendees meandered amongst the stands. The booths were a mixture of local businesses such as Pop Fox Interiors and pupils own business such as Lower Four’s Connie who made over £150 for the stables with her book sale.
Outside Kilgraston’s Equestrian team and ponies, led by manager, Alasdair Matheson, were kept busy with the queue of excited children looking for a pony ride. Inside, after the paninis had sold out and the crowds were treated to entertainment from Mike’s Magic Show.
Thank you to the Kilgraston staff who helped with the set-up, to all the stall holders and businesses for their support and to the KPA committee.
May 2023
Lawn Tennis Association Competition 2023
The annual Lawn Tennis Association Competition 2023 has taken place and well done Anita, Olivia, Erin, Lucy and Willow on their fantastic tennis. The team won 5-1 against High School of Glasgow, lost 4-3 to MES (match tie break decider!) and lost 5-1 to a strong St Leonard’s team.
The Kilgraston team showed amazing fighting spirit. Olivia had a fantastic win against the MES number 1 player, winning 7-6. Amazing effort girls, super proud of you.
Billy Mcneil, Kilgraston Tennis Academy coach
Kilgraston’s Beekeeping Society
As we celebrate World Bee Day, Kilgraston’s Beekeeping Society had their first hive inspection of the newly installed Kilgraston apiary.
Until now, the hives have been kept sealed to ensure the colonies are settled and warm. Science technician and qualified bee-keeper, Mrs Blackler together with Steve Fulton, former president of the Perthshire Beekeeping Society, instructed the society members on what to look for in the hives and to check for brood (baby bees) and that the queen bee was laying eggs.
In the next session, they will look to identify the Queens and mark them.
Kilgraston STEM Challenge event 2023
This week, we welcomed schools from across Perthshire for the inaugural Kilgraston STEM Challenge event - an exciting new competition to encourage our next generation of STEM professionals.
For the past few weeks and months, teams of four or five P5, P6 and P7 pupils from local schools including Kilgraston have been working hard on their projects. The theme was tied into this year’s British Science Week topic of ‘Connections’ and could be interpreted in any way the team saw fit. This saw team entries span topics from robots and rivers, to bridges and brains, with inspirational and wonderful displays and exhibits by each team.
Our teams enjoyed STEM-filled morning with a visit from Tayside Planetarium and a rocket-building session with Kilgraston’s Science Department.
Visiting judge, Dr Mathers, a STEM lecturer at Perth College UHI, spent time with each team who had to present their entry and discuss their exhibit and how it operated. With such high calibre of entry, after much deliberation, the team from Dunbarney Primary School was crowned this year’s Kilgraston STEM Challenge event winners. Well done to Dunbarney and to all of this year’s competitors, it was wonderful to see and meet so many enthusiastic STEM pupils.
Kilgraston is passionate about supporting young people who know their ambitions and are confident to pursue this. Historically, STEM, has been an area dominated by males, however, each year over half of our pupils go on to study STEM subjects at university. We want to continue this legacy in as many ways as we can and we are already looking forward to next year’s event.
Kilgraston Young Musician Of The Year 2023
Kilgraston Young Musician Of The Year showcases the tremendous musical talent we have in school and last week saw the culmination of the 2023 competition with parents, families and staff attending the event.
More than 50 pupils submitted performances for the heats stage of the competition in various different categories with the shortlist going through to play in the final concerts for both Junior School and Senior School.
After opening performances by last year’s winners, Caitlin and Emma, the serious business of the competition began with all finalists performing brilliantly, making for some very difficult decisions. We were very lucky to welcome Mr Matthew Beetschen as our guest adjudicator for the evening who had the unenviable job of deciding the winners from the superb talent on display and we are very grateful for his expertise and wise words to the performers.
Congratulations to all our finalists and to the overall winners in Junior School, Sophie, and Senior School winner, Lower Sixth’s Anne.
Kilgraston attends multilingual debate
The Higher Spanish and Higher and Advanced Higher French pupils were able to attend the Heriot-Watt Multilingual Debate for 2023. This year’s motion was ‘This house believes that social media is the best vehicle for free speech’. The debate was open to a wide variety of schools and attendants.
As we entered the auditorium, we were impressed by the elaborate set-up. The debate began with an opening vote of 59% for the motion and 41% against. During the debate, we were able to tune into any of the translated languages. There were several translated languages in the debate: French, Spanish, German, Chinese and British Sign Language. The students had the chance to listen to any of the languages on offer- I personally tuned into the French translation often. The ideas within the debate itself were thought-provoking, and the interpreters were confident and articulate in their translations. The debate then moved onto an audience question and answer session, with audience interaction and input in multiple languages. The debate closed with a final vote, and in an interesting change of mind from the first vote, the final result was 43% for and 57% against.
This was an impressive and educational experience, and was a great time for all the Modern Languages pupils.
Eilidh, Upper Sixth, Modern Languages Prefect.
Kilgraston Junior Years Mr Men project
Kilgraston Junior Years is bustling with learning and enthusiasm. In our Reception and Lower First class, it is amazing what you can learn through a topic about Mr. Men and Little Miss! In PHSE, the children talked about emotions and feelings.
All the different 2D and 3D shapes were covered in Maths. English lessons included Antonyms ( Mr Happy and Mr. Grumpy) and Synonyms (Little Miss Tiny and Mr. Small). The children made up their own Mr. Men and Little Miss characters and wrote and illustrated their own books.
The Assembly the class presented to the school, parents and grandparents was wonderfully colourful, showing confidence and a real sense of fun.
Beekeeping at Kilgraston
Kilgraston has over 50 different clubs and activities and our latest is: Beekeeping at Kilgraston.
We have four colourful hives, forming Kilgraston’s first Apiary, located in a purpose-built alcove behind the Science Centre. Every precaution has been taken to keep all pupils and staff safe.
Over the coming months, the Beekeeping Society will be getting kitted out with beekeeping suits, smokers and special tools to look after the bees. We will also be making frames to sit in the beehive supers. The supers sit on top of the brood boxes. When the bees start collecting pollen and nectar, they will make honey in the supers. We have planted a range of wild flowers and other flowering plants in the beds behind the Science Centre and we will be looking to see which types of flowers our bees like the best. The pupils will also be working towards completing their Junior Beekeeping certificate.
This entire project has been made possible by the fund-raising support of the Kilgraston Parents Association (KPA). Look out for further updates on our bees.
Kilgraston YES team 2023 win regional final
Kilgraston YES team 2023 win regional final - find out more:
On Thursday 23rd March – the Young Enterprise Team (MIKA) and fellow supporters from the sixth form travelled to Forbes of Kingennie Country Resort in Dundee to compete in the Tayside Young Enterprise Regional Finals Competition.
Prior to this we had been interviewed by a panel of judges and submitted a company report to the judges. On the evening we had to present our company journey to a room full of competing teams, supporters and local businesses. MIKA put forward Kate, Rebecca, Jessica and Flora, all Lower Sixth to present and afterwards Jessica, Upper Sixth, took questions from the audience.
MIKA came home with 5 out of the 9 awards on offer during the evening.
We won:
• Best Interview
• Best Company Report
• Best Link Teacher – Mrs Docherty
• Most inspirational journey – Sara, Lower Sixth
• Company of the year
We are delighted to have won the Tayside Regional Final Competition and look forward to competing at Scottish Nationals at Hampden Park on 31st May.
Flora, Lower Sixth