Kilgraston’s Headteacher says “Business as usual”
Kilgraston’s Headteacher, Mrs Davie, recently spoke to local paper, Perthshire Advertiser about the strong future of Kilgraston with the investment by Achieve Education.
You can read the article here.
Photo via Perthshire Advertiser
Kilgraston’s Headteacher on STV
Kilgraston’s Headteacher, Tanya Davie, appeared on STV’s flagship news programme to discuss the impressive fundraising efforts and investment deal by Achieve Education.
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.
SQA CfE discussed by Kilgraston’s Deputy Head
The Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence - introduced in 2010 - is under scrutiny from several quarters.
Overseen by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), the curriculum’s content and structure is currently being widely reassessed.
Commenting on the situation, on page six of the Independent Schools Magazine, April edition, Kilgraston’s Deputy Head, Carol Ann Lund, says: “We should not be surprised that a curriculum, years in the making and implemented for over a decade - has now passed its sell-by date.”
Kilgraston’s Equestrian Centre discussed in outdoor learning magazine feature
Renowned national magazine, Independent School Parent, has featured Kilgraston School in its Spring 2022 Prep edition.
Increasingly, the narrative to take learning beyond the classroom is gathering traction, no less in the piece, entitled “Let’s go outside,” detailing schools with an approach that “inspires confidence, instils engagement and supports mental health.”
Kilgraston’s on-site Equestrian Centre and benefits thereof are discussed online on pages 24/25/26.
Copies of the magazine are available at main reception.
7 February 2022
Profile of Kilgraston School’s Head teacher, Dorothy MacGinty
This month’s Independent Schools Magazine has profiled Kilgraston School’s very own Mrs MacGinty (p24-26).
Not withholding any punches, questions probe the School’s mobile phone policy, environmental learning, hybrid exam systems and inspiration to enter the profession (her mum) with the mantra: “Children have one chance at education and it needs to be as good as it possibly can be.”
Of course, retirement is on the horizon, with golf high on the priority list: “I thought when I came back to Scotland seven years ago, I would have the opportunity to play some of the country’s magnificent courses and my handicap would reduce - how wrong I was. Leading a boarding school - as all boarding Heads will know - doesn’t allow for four hours’ on the course at the weekend!”
We wish Mrs MacGinty every success on the fairway; the full profile, together with announcement of in-coming Head teacher, Tanya Davie (p46), being available here.
20 January 2022
Kilgraston School’s STEAM success highlighted by international magazine
Making sure girls learn to love Physics at school is very close to Kilgraston’s heart: “It’s all about engaging pupils early in their learning journey,” says Head teacher, Dorothy MacGinty, in the autumn term edition of The BSA Guide to UK Boarding Schools.
Featured on the front cover of the international magazine, the article looks at why an all-girls senior school is the ideal environment for tackling a subject more traditionally studied by boys: “Girls feel free to let their natural curiosity reign,” writes MacGinty, “where every question is encouraged.”
Each year, nearly two-thirds of Kilgraston School leavers pursue STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) subjects at undergraduate level.
“The enthusiasm is definitely there,” states the Head teacher, “but we must continue to deliver the subject in a life-engaging manner.”
Read the full article (front + p124/5) here
6.10.21
Making Kilgraston’s environmental concerns front page news
Scotland will host the global Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) - when leaders from around the world gather to discuss environmental pressures and solutions - during the first fortnight of November 2021.
However, environmental awareness already preoccupies life at Kilgraston School, the pupils’ impressive ‘Save the Planet’ mural awarded front cover space in this month’s Independent Schools Magazine (front,p3&8).
27.9.21
Moving through the ranks - plotting progress from Prep to Senior
Life at senior school can seem a long way away, for both pupil and parent, when you’re just setting foot on the educational journey.
But time passes quickly, the preparation for teenage years beginning from the first moments of the earliest Junior Years. This careful transition, and the dedicated behind-the-scenes players and planners who make it all possible, is discussed in this term’s School House Magazine’s piece, ‘Prepped and ready to go’ on page 50.
Within the article, Headteacher of Kilgraston School, Dorothy MacGinty, notes that pupils nearing Senior School age are ready to spread their wings with “long spells at home during lockdowns having been detrimental to them.”
Additional boarding uptake towards the end of Junior School years is cited as frequent preparation for ‘big school,’ “a 24/7 learning experience,” together with the encouragement of increased responsibility and independence.
It’s all in the groundwork.
The article can be read in full here
Coping with Covid- TES reports Kilgraston School’s approach
Pupils returned to Kilgraston School’s Autumn Term, 2021, having lived with Covid 19 for a year and a half.
Noticing how this experience manifested itself in the youngsters’ approach to the pandemic, Headteacher Dorothy MacGinty has written about the old adage of a ‘problem shared is a problem halved’ in newspaper, TES.
“The seriousness of the disease is still very much emphasised,” she notes, “but with the reassurance that there is less likelihood of hospitalisation.”
Continuing, Mrs MacGinty comments: “So many more girls have the shared experience of knowing someone who has had Covid – or perhaps even having experienced it themselves – that they now have their own story to tell and discuss; the common bond (facing the enemy, if you like) is a lot less frightening. With the help of the school’s mental health ambassadors, discussion of guilt or concern is commonplace and encouraged both in and out of the classroom.”
The full Times Educational Supplement article can be read here
6.9.21