assembly Archives | Kilgraston School

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.

Our capacity to adapt - lessons learnt

The challenges of COVID and lockdowns has taught us much about change and our capacity to adapt and this was the focus of assembly by Kilgraston’s Head of Boarding and Pastoral Care, Mrs Sonja Mueller.

“A lot has changed over the past year,” said Mrs Mueller, “and it’s important to look at how we handle change and strategies we can use to help us.”

Pupils may some questions surrounding the return to school following the latest lockdown. The pastoral team at Kilgraston is always available to pupils for any questions they have may, and Mrs Mueller said now is the opportunity to reflect on change without fear.

Here are tips from Mrs Mueller’s assembly:

Don’t change everything at once
Find information and answers
Recognise the risks
Predict the benefits

You can find out more about the excellent Pastoral Care at Kilgraston here.

Lessons in how to be a good leader

What are the qualities of being a good leader? This was the topic of an assembly by Sacred Heart Ambassador Ann Miller.

Ann, who usually visits the school in person to hold sessions with Kilgraston pupils, discussed how throughout life we have to learn to deal with a variety of people and how we can all learn to work together can make something a success rather than a failure.

Ann, who recorded the assembly from San Francisco, said: “When I joined your assembly last September I talked about some of the qualities we need in these challenging times: resilience, flexibility and awareness of others. Now, I’d like to say a few things about working with others, particularly those who are difficult to work with.

“What is the first thing we need to know before we can lead others? The answer is that we need to know ourselves. The next thing is we need to know is how we come across to others: do others see us as we see ourselves?”

Sacred Heart Goals are one of the cornerstones of Kilgraston and Ann discussed how these and specifically the Goal of community is the perfect partner to working as a team, working collectively.

Ann then looked at some of the top qualities of being a good leader. These included:

Taking responsibility
Treating people with respect.
The importance of being calm.
Listening and being a good listener.
Not giving up.
Having fun.

Thank you to Ann for an insightful and interesting assembly.

You can read more about some of our other recent assemblies here.

Kilgraston supports Show The Love campaign

Kilgraston is showing our support of the national Show The Love campaign by encouraging our pupils, parents and staff to send green hearts to their politicians.

The Show The Love campaign is organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to climate change. It aims to promote people’s involvement in building a cleaner and greener world and this year, it is asking everyone to send a green heart to their elected Member of Parliament to show their love of our planet.

Kilgraston has an on-going commitment to protecting the planet and Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty, held an assembly focussing on the Show The Love campaign.

In her assembly, Mrs MacGinty showed the video below from the Climate Collation which aims to inspire us to all work together.

Also taking part in the assembly were some of our Upper First pupils who discussed the ways we can help stop climate change, showed us their pictures on the subject and Minnie specifically highlighted the importance of bees to our world.

Kilgraston School assembly on…Lego

Aside from top construction and creative skills, what else can Lego teach us? According the Kilgraston’s Head of Geography, Dr Phillips, a great deal.

Showing us his extraordinary ‘Stranger Things’ Lego set (pictured), in this week’s school assembly, Dr Phillips discussed the lessons we could and should all learn from the construction toy firm. Looking back on the history of the company – an interesting angle for our Young Enterprise teams – we learnt that out of 1,000,000 pieces only 18 are unusable, that initially Lego was only made in primary colours to avoid it being used to make army trucks and the like, and that Lego can be used for years before it wears out.

Dr Phillips pointed out aside from the fun and creativity Lego gives us three top tips we could all learn and live by:
1. Setting the highest of standards for ourselves.
2. Planning for the future.
3. Prioritising creativity over conflict.

Thank you Dr Phillips for another captivating assembly. You can read about more of the thought-provoking assemblies here and watch some here.

Kilgraston virtual assemblies - January 2021

Kilgraston’s assemblies are traditionally thought-provoking, and inspiring, and this week’s virtual assemblies are continuing this custom.

In Monday’s assembly, Kilgraston’s Deputy Head, Mrs Lund, asked us what might be the connection between a number of objects including an oyster, a NASA Scientist and an American Vice President.

The answer, Mrs Lund explained, was a pearl: the oyster produces a pearl, an item worn eventually by American mathematician, Kathryn Johnson, whose maths helped NASA astronauts land on the moon, and a pearl necklace is today the signature item of the American Vice President, Kamala Harris. A pearl is a small item and Mrs Lund’s message was not to underestimate the difference you can make as an individual, no matter how small.

Someone who began her campaigning small in years but certainly not in stature is activist, Greta Thunberg, and in Wednesday’s assembly, Head of Geography, Dr Phillips, discussed climate change and how Greta has inspired and motivated a generation of environmentalists. Dr Phillips shared some staggering data of the rise in CO2 in the past century, underlining the human impact on the planet.

Assemblies at Kilgraston can be given by staff and indeed pupils and you can enjoy more of these here.

School assembly - Mrs Bluett discusses the importance of manners

School assemblies give Kilgraston staff and our pupils the chance to show knowledge or even passion about a specific subject.

Recently, our Sixth Form lecture series has covered a wide variety of subjects including European Day of Languages and Protest Poetry and now Head of Latin and Classics, Mrs Bluett looked at the topic of manners.

You can watch her superb assembly here.

assemblies autumn term 2020

Welcome to Kilgraston School’s assemblies autumn term 2020. Each week, we will be sharing with you our assemblies so please have a watch via the list below and do come back each week and find out what our Headmistress, Mrs MacGinty, and our other staff are sharing with you.

Please click the links below to watch: