The death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
It is with great sadness and sorrow that Kilgraston pupils and staff receive the news of the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Her Majesty has been a beacon of strength and courage since she acceded to the throne in 1952.
Her Majesty has demonstrated a moral compass we as a community strive for and has given her life unstintingly in devoted public service to us all for which we are grateful beyond measure.
To His Majesty King Charles III, and all the Royal Family, we extend our sincerest condolences. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Kilgraston’s boarding team 2022
We would like to introduce Kilgraston’s boarding team for 2022 and wish a very warm welcome to all our new boarders and also to those who are returning. Our boarders have settled back into school, their boarding routines and are enjoying making new friends and participating in a range of activities, from baking and board games, to movie nights, sporting activities and outings.
Supervised Prep has begun in earnest and the girls are eagerly settling down to hard work completing assignments and revising.
Mrs Kerbelker remains as our Boarding Housemistress in Mater. Mrs Kerbelker has over thirty years experience in the education sector and is joined by Mrs Bluett and Mrs Guthrie, both experienced teachers as well as Miss Orlova, who is a qualified vet from Ukraine.
Over in Barat and Swinton Boarding Houses, Miss Carden continues as our Boarding Housemistress, who is another well qualified member of the Boarding Team. She is ably assisted by Mrs MacDonald, our school nurse and our new Boarding Assistant from Germany, Miss Wolff.
Heading up the entire team is Kilgraston Head of Pastoral Care and Boarding, Mrs Mueller.
Boarding is an excellent way to build life skills and prepare for university, we have boarding options available, so please contact us to find out more.
Kilgraston horse-riders compete at Blair Horse Trials
Kilgraston horse-riders competed at Blair Horse Trials. Find out how they got on.
The world-renowned Blair Horse Trials took place at the weekend (25th - 28th August) in the stunning setting of Blair Castle. It is one of the highlights of the British equestrian calendar, if not in Europe and beyond, with tens of thousands of spectators flocking to the event.
A number of Kilgraston pupils took part in this year’s competition across a variety of classes. This included eventing and show-jumping.
Lower Sixth Charlotte and horse Joey competed in the BE100 which took place in the sunshine on Friday. Charlotte and Joey had a super dressage and jumped double clear round a huge track with just a few time penalties which unfortunately left them out of the placings.
Also in Lower Sixth, Daisy and her horse Freddie qualified for the prestigious BE90 Scottish Championships - a huge achievement. No rosette this time but a huge well done to Daisy and Freddie.
Upper Fifth’s Meadow and Gerry jumped a lovely double clear in a very busy 90cm British Showjumping class, just missing out on the placing too.
Lower Sixth’s Flora and Sydney was also competing in the BE90 class and had a strong performance.
Kilgraston was also proud to sponsor the Mountain & Moorland Lead Rein & First Ridden Championship. This was, as always, an extremely popular class judged by Mrs Julia Woods.
Well done to all riders, ponies and horses who took part and in particular to Charlotte, Joey, Daisy, Freddie, Meadow, Gerry, Flora and Sydney. We are already looking forward to next year.
Kilgraston collaboration: Duke of Edinburgh Awards and John Muir programme
Kilgraston is proud of the breadth of clubs & activities we offer to our pupils. It is an opportunity to extend and grow skills, whether these be old or new.
This year our Duke of Edinburgh Awards department will be collaborating with Dr Phillips and his John Muir Award programme.
We will be using the John Muir Discovery Award to support and evidence the Volunteering section of the Bronze level Duke of Edinburgh Award. The students will devise a structured conservation project to complete and in doing so they will gain knowledge and skills from this practical learning that will be useful for all aspects of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The John Muir Award is something that is achievable within a short time frame and this collaboration will increase the participants appreciation of the environments which they will find themselves in during their Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Students will also gain a nationally recognised certificate upon completion of their Discovery Award and again upon completion of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award is open to any student over the age of 14 and enrolment will take place over the coming weeks. For more information on The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award please contact Mrs Herbert at [email protected] or for information on the John Muir Award contact Dr Phillips at [email protected]
Kilgraston Head Girl team plan for 2022
Meet Lexie, Amy and Jeanie, Kilgraston’s Head Girl team for 2022 - 2023. Here Head Girl Lexie, introduces the team and shares their plans for this term:
Jeanie, Amy and I are looking forward to the academic year ahead, we have got many exiting ideas and can’t wait to contribute to all aspects of Kilgraston life.
We are helping plan Goals Days, we have already given several speeches, and participated in and organised school activities. Amy and Jeanie have been at the school since Lower Four and I joined in Lower Fifth so we have lots of great Kilgraston memories together and are excited to make many more new ones in this coming year, both individually but also together.
Life at Kilgraston is bustling and busy, as well as being on the Head Girl Team we are all sports captains. I am Senior Hockey captain, Jeanie is Senior Tennis captain and Amy is Senior Netball captain. We are really looking forward to getting to know our LFG’S and new pupils that have joined the school and integrating the Lower Sixth to make it a more collective Sixth Form, it is what Kilgraston is all about.
Looking ahead to the next school year, Jeanie, Amy and I are excited to get to know and work with our new Headteacher, Mrs Davie so we can make it a successful school year for all.
Kilgraston exam results 2022
Pupils at Kilgraston are celebrating their successes today with the release of the Scottish exam results 2022.
At National 5 level, an impressive 70% of Kilgraston pupils achieved a Grade A, against a national average of 40.3% at the same level. There was even more to celebrate with 59% of pupils in this year group obtaining five A’s or above at this level and a quarter of this group achieving nine A’s or more.
In Higher and Advanced Highers from Modern Languages and Music to STEM subjects, pupils performed exceptionally well, showing the breadth of subjects on offer and the robust academic results this can lead to at the Bridge of Earn school.
Kilgraston Headteacher, Mrs Tanya Davie, said: “I am immensely proud of all of our pupils for their hard work and dedication. As a teacher and a Headteacher, I completely understand that the past two years has made for a challenging academic environment for pupils all over Scotland. I am delighted for our pupils and their outstanding results across such an enormous variety of subjects, it is really impressive. I would also like to congratulate all school pupils around Scotland today on their exam results and I hope they are reaping the rewards of their hard work.”
What does the breakdown look like? Compared to a national average of 80.8% achieving Grades A to C at National 5 level, Kilgraston pupils obtained a pass rate of 93% with an impressive 70% achieving Grade As at this level.
In Higher and Advanced Higher levels, over three quarters of pupils achieved a Grade A or B and the results show Kilgraston’s broad breadth of subject strength. In Modern Languages, 100% achieved a Grade A in Advanced Higher French, Advanced Higher Spanish and Higher German. In the Expressive Art subjects, 100% of Higher Music pupils achieved a Grade A, 100% of Higher Drama pupils achieved a Grade A or B and 100% of Advanced Higher pupils achieved a Grade A or B in Art.
It is not only in the humanities subjects Kilgraston pupils wowed, with STEM subjects mirroring these strong results. In Higher Computing, for example, 100% of pupils achieved a Grade A. Across the science subjects of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Kilgraston pupils are smashing gender stereotypes. In physics, a subject in which traditionally girls underperform, 100% of pupils achieved a Grade A or B at Advanced Higher level with 84% achieving Grade A or B at Higher level. Additionally, 80% of pupils achieved a Grade A at Advanced Higher level Chemistry and 81% obtained a Grade A or B in Higher Biology.
Kilgraston Headteacher, Mrs Davie continues: “For some pupils, this year was the first time they sat national exams in a traditional setting, at Higher and Advanced Higher level. We need to understand the impact of COVID and the anxiety for some pupils around exams. At Kilgraston we pride ourselves on our combination of strong pastoral support for our pupils as well as the academic provision we offer and I really am thrilled for our pupils and our staff.”
For Kilgraston Sixth Form leavers, the results mean 96% will be going to their first or second choice of university with over half going on to study STEM subjects including 7% of Kilgraston leavers studying medicine.
Almost half of the leavers are going to prestigious Russell Group universities with 11% going to St Andrews, crowned the top university in the UK by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.
Scottish Hockey - Lexie plays for Scotland Emerging Squad
Kilgraston has strong heritage of pupils playing for Scottish Hockey squads and recently Upper Sixth’s Lexie has been selected to play for the Scotland Emerging squad in the 8-Nations event in Spain.
The team, who have been playing in 35 degree heat, have had mixed results including losses against Belgium, England, Germany and Ireland but celebrated a win against Austria in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
The tournament has seen Lexie and the Emerging squad playing against some of the top teams in Europe in very difficult conditions with players working really hard and giving it their all.
Charity fundraising by Dotty
Mrs Saunders, an English teacher at Kilgraston for 26 years is retiring and we will also be saying a fond farewell to her dog, Dotty. But before they left, Dotty and Mrs Saunders organised a sale for Ukraine animals. Here is a round-up of the charity fundraising event:
Dotty came to prominence during Covid as Kilgraston’s therapy dog offering comfort, warmth and physical contact for girls still suffering the after-effects of lockdown and social isolation. In an era when there is growing recognition of the power of animals to heal, Dotty more than played her part. When the time came for her to take her leave of Kilgraston, she wanted to some more good. She organised a sale in Mrs Saunders’ classroom to raise funds for the war-stricken animals of Ukraine. Girls and staff swooped into action and together they raised a handsome £425 which will go to straight to UkraineAnimals.ENG, a charity working in the front line to rescue, treat, feed, comfort and rehome thousands of abandoned and wounded animals, including horses, dogs, cats, farm and zoo animals. She says a huge thank you and good bye to all her friends and supporters at Kilgraston.
Mrs Saunders
Kilgraston Speech Day 2022
Kilgraston’s Speech Day 2022 was celebrated this year amidst sunshine and thunderstorms, smiles and tears.
It was the busiest Speech Day in many years as parents and families flocked to celebrated the successes of pupils, and well done to all of you for the many merits, cups and ribbons distributed.
This year’s Speech Day was the first to be experienced by Kilgraston’s Headteacher, Mrs Davie, who congratulated the pupils and in particular the 2022 leavers for their impressive results with 67% going on to prestigious Russell Group universities and with a 100% Oxbridge success.
Our guest speaker this year was Hannah Ovens, who has been mentoring Kilgraston’s Young Enterprise teams for the past three years. Hannah gave an inspiring speech detailing her own non-traditional route to success which was driven by hard work and boundless enthusiasm. Pupils were hanging on her every word as she talked to them about beating 38,000 candidates to become NCR CEO for 24 hours. Hannah imparted four must-dos to succeed, these are:
- Believe in yourselves.
- Never give us because hard work pays off.
- Make sure you have a great support system.
- Say yes to all opportunities because one yes can change the path you are on.
Kilgraston’s outgoing Head Girl, Maria also gave a moving Speech. Maria, who has been at Kilgraston for 15 years, spoke directly to her Upper Sixth peers, encouraging them on as “we stand on the precipice of the next stage of our lives as the uncontested authors of their lives”. We all look forward to reading the next chapter from all our leavers so stay in touch, sign up as an alumnae and we wish you all the very best of luck.
Mr Murch is retiring
The end of this term sees the popular teacher, Mr Murch, retire. Kilgraston’s Director of Music, Mr Morley writes about his huge contribution and influence at Kilgraston:
Gordon Murch who leaves us this week may have only spent a relatively short five years at Kilgraston but it would be fair to say in that time he has made a huge impression on all those he has taught as well as on his colleagues. Having spent a long and successful career as a Head of Music in Aberfeldy, Mr Murch might have been expected to take his foot off the pedal and enjoy a more relaxed few years at Kilgraston. But he has thrown himself fully and enthusiastically into life at Kilgraston from teaching music in the junior school to the ceilidh band, teaching percussion as well as providing piano accompaniments for exams, assemblies and most recently in the Junior School production of Matilda. Aside from all this however what stands out is the warmth with which everyone who has contact with him speaks about him.
I have only known Mr Murch for a relatively short time but have come to appreciate his support, advice and experience within the Music Department and I know this is shared by all his colleagues in the school. What stands out even more though is how his pupils speak about him and some of them have been in touch and I can think of no better way to pay tribute to Mr Murch than by quoting what some of them have said.
“Mr Murch is such a sweet man and we used to exchange our favourite old music together, he introduced me to a lot of songs that I still listen to now! I’m so sad he’s leaving.”
“Mr Murch is inspirational, supportive and a perfectionist, and I am grateful to him for this. He will spend time with each individual pupil to make sure their piece reaches its full potential along with the student.”
“Mr Murch is the person who helped me overcome my nerves before performing and I will always remember and live by his words of “just enjoy the music”. He is one of the most genuine, kind, and patient teachers I have ever had the pleasure of being taught by.”
Thank you Mr Murch, we wish you all the best and stay in touch!