Category Archive: News

Junior Years’ Parents’ Afternoon Tea

We warmly welcomed our Junior Years’ Parents on Friday 17th March, for our charity fund-raising afternoon tea. The Junior Years Charity Committee put on a fantastic spread at an afternoon tea for their parents. This was to raise money for our chosen charity Mary’s Meals.

The pupils created bunting and decorations to transform the atrium. The afternoon tea also gave Junior Years pupils the opportunity to show their appreciation to their parents for everything they do. Parents were welcomed by Sofia playing on the violin and were invited to sit down and enjoy a delicious feast.

They were also treated to performances by our award-winning Early Years and Junior Years Choir. As it was St. Patrick’s Day, Ceola and Conall also delighted the guests with some Irish dancing. A lovely afternoon full of chatter and cake.

Kilgraston Hockey Challenge Plate Winners 2023

Kilgraston Hockey Challenge Plate Winners 2023, and read Lower Sixth’s Martha’s match report:

Last Friday (17th March), the Senior Girls Hockey team left Kilgraston at 7:30 in the morning to drive to Peffermill in Edinburgh to play the Scottish Challenge Plate Final against Galashiels Academy. Excitement and nerves built as we edged ever closer to the 10am push back.

We were welcomed and given our changing room where we had our team talk from Miss Patton and Mr Stott before the final motivational comments were passed to amongst each other (not forgetting last minute hair prep)!

The whole team emerged into the Edinburgh sunshine for a nervy warm up on the pitch listening to the build up from the man in the tartan suit on the microphone! About 15 minutes from pushback two Kilgraston mini buses arrived filled with supporters from school. They came laden with posters and were prepared to be in full voice for an hour.
Along with school friends we would like to thank parents and grandparents for coming along too. It was also lovely to see Mrs Davie, Mrs Ferry, Mrs McCormick and Mrs Cran in the stands too.

The whole team lined up and we were each introduced one by one before walking out and going into our final huddle.
“Kilgraston… Cor Unum… OI OI OI!”

The team set up and the whistle blew and we were off! We did not wait long to score. The ball was played down the right to Martha who was in the circle who pushed it into the goal with a final reassuring tap in from Fern. The second goal came from Christabelle Pratt after just seven minutes. Galashiels have played the whole time this season without a goalkeeper and we used this to our advantage. However, despite having a 2-0 lead, Gala regained some control and were soon rewarded with a goal.

Just before half time, the Kilgraston girls got a penalty corner which was hit to our Captain, Lexie MacMillan, who passed it to Martha who pushed it past a number of defenders to find the back of the goal. We still weren’t done, 30 seconds before half time, Martha scored again, hitting the ball from the top of the circle making it 4-1 to Kilgraston going into the second half.

In the second half of the game, Fern got a diagonal pass down the right from Lexie which she dribbled into the circle under pressure from two defenders and fired it into the bottom left of the goal. Due to some violent play from Gala, they were given a green card and forced to sit out for two minutes which was soon followed by another card for Gala which resulted in us being rewarded with a penalty flick. Lexie took the flick and shot a composed ball into the left hand side of the goal to make the final score 6-1.

Despite not playing with a goalkeeper, Galashiels pushed us all very hard and made some dangerous attacking play which was very well defended and cleared by our players at the back. In the build up to the final we have been working hard on our attacking play practicing the forward leads and getting outcomes in the circle and it was great to see our work in action!
It was a brilliant way to end our journey within the Scottish Cup and we are all incredibly proud to bring back the Challenge Plate for Kilgraston!
Thanks also to those who watched the game on Watch.Hockey which is still available to watch back if anyone would like to watch here.

Unfortunately it was one of the last games for some of our U6 players including captain, Lexie Maxmillan, vice captain, Christabelle Pratt and Jeanie Stirling but it was a great way to end their school hockey career and we all wish them the very best for after school.

By Martha (L6)

Watch the Scottish Hockey post match interview below with captain, Lexie, and Martha

Kilgraston Senior Invitational tournament 2023

Following the success of Friday’s Scottish Challenge Plate win, our Senior XI were busy again at the Kilgraston Invitational Senior tournament. We were delighted to invite three Junior players who are part of our Hockey Academy programme in Upper Four and Lower Fifth to gain experience of this annual event and help prepare them for forthcoming Under 16 and Under 14 Midland trials.

Charlotte, Natasha, and Willow did not disappoint, and all played a crucial part in winning the group stage of the tournament. The schedule saw all three finals (5th v 6th, 3rd v 4th and 1st v 2nd) all go to running penalties; testament to the excellent standard of play on display.

Our final against Strathallan school was no exception with the final score one goal apiece after a great goal from Lexie. After three running penalties from Fern, Martha and Lexie which resulted in another (some amazing saves from Goalkeeper Lower Fifth Academy player Melissa S too!) it moved onto sudden death!

Such a close final, but eventually Kilgraston scored a silver medal place. Our opposition teams named Lexie as their player of the match and the player of the day went to Melissa S who has stepped into the 1st XI team halfway through the season following an injury in the squad. Such an exciting group of players who can’t wait until next season!

Well done and thank you to all involved.

Mrs Ferry, Head of PE

Perform in Perth 2023 results

Perform in Perth, the annual festival of music, speech and dance, has taken place at venues around Perthshire. Each year around 2,800 performers take part in the two week festival which runs in March with Kilgraston having a strong presence in a number of classes.

The Junior Years’ pupils worked hard, with some rehearsing with their teachers since Christmas and the effort and dedication have paid off with armfuls of merits, trophies and medals being won. In the first week, our Junior Years participants were excited to take part in the speech classes. Pupils took part in poetry and Bible reading classes last week. They spoke eloquently and added expression, tone and facial expressions when reciting poems. We celebrated great success. Frieda came first with her extremely expressive rendition of ‘Grudges’ by Judith Nicoll, with Ceola in second and Beatrix and Lucy in joint third.

William also came first in his poetry class, followed closely by Stella in second place and Tallulah and Gigi in joint third. In Bible reading, we celebrated further success with Lochie in second place and Minnie in third in the 9-10 year old category.

The younger pupils also read beautifully with Sabria first and Ceola and Luciana joint second. In our final class of the day, Heidi came first with her fantastic performance of ‘Watch Your French’ by Kit Wright with Charlie coming in a close second.

Then it was the turn of the Junior Years choirs. The Junior School Choir, who performed ‘A Whole New World’ and ‘The Bare Necessities’, were First Class winners and won the Perthshire Church Choir Union Shield. The Early Years Choir received a Merit Award for their beautiful versions of ‘Spring Song’ and ‘Flat As A Pancake’.

Across both Senior and Junior Schools a number of individual pupils along with the Ceilidh Band enjoyed success in classes ranging from Gaelic and Scots songs, musical theatre and opera to instruments including violin, viola and recorder.

Upper Four’s Erin won two classes (unaccompanied folk song and accompanied lullaby) and came second in the Disney songbook class. She was also awarded a silver medal for the folk song class. A special mention also to Lower Third’s Florence and Georgiana who won their duo recorder class at Perform in Perth on Monday, and have been practising with Mrs Stewart since the beginning of the year.

A huge well done to everyone who took part. Here are all our results below.

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