74% of our pupils achieved Grade A at National 5 level

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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 School appoints new Head teacher

Kilgraston School’s Board of Trustees and Board of Governors are delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Tanya Davie as the School’s new Head teacher. Mrs Davie will be taking over from Mrs Dorothy MacGinty, who will be retiring at Easter 2022 after seven years in the role.

Mrs Davie is currently the Academic Deputy Head at St Bede’s College in Manchester an independent co-educational day school for 750 pupils aged between 3 and 18.

David Beal, Chairman of the Board of Governors, said: “Mrs Davie will be joining Kilgraston School at an exciting time where we have continuing high intake from both day and boarding pupils and a significant number of enquires for both our co-educational junior school and our all-girls senior school.” Mr Beal continued: “Mrs Davie was the stand-out candidate from an extremely rigorous selection process. Kilgraston’s Senior Leadership Team, Board of Governors and Trustees are all absolutely thrilled about the appointment and very much looking forward to her stepping into the role and carrying forward Mrs MacGinty’s excellent legacy.”

As part of the Senior Leadership Team at St Bede’s, Mrs Davie works closely with the School’s Head teacher and wider staff body to safeguard high-quality teaching and learning throughout the School. Formerly Head of Mathematics and Physical Education at St Bede’s, Mrs Davie has also previously held posts at all-girls schools, including St. Margaret’s School, Edinburgh, and North Manchester High School for Girls. She is also a former Head of Department at The Royal High School, Edinburgh.

Commenting on her appointment, Mrs Davie said: “What I hope to bring to Kilgraston is an energy and enthusiasm to carry on and develop the spirit and success of this incredible school. I am very excited at the prospect of leading the School into its next phase.”

Originally from County Clare, Ireland, Mrs Davie has a close affinity with Scotland, having previously spent eight years teaching in Edinburgh. Commenting on her return north of the border, she said:” I am very much looking forward to moving back to Scotland: it feels like we are moving home.”

During her career, Mrs Davie has had extensive experience of teaching in both the independent and state sectors: “While at The Royal High School in Edinburgh, I was seconded by Strathclyde University to form a team, tasked with the development and implementation of the first PGCE Physical Education course in Scotland.” In addition to this sabbatical, Mrs Davie worked closely with Manchester City Football Academy, heading-up the club’s education provision for their elite performers in the 11 to 16 years age range.

Mrs Davie will be moving to Perthshire together with her husband, Deno. The couple has a daughter in her second year at university in Scotland and a son in his final year of secondary education.

Passionate about providing opportunities for young people to become the best version of themselves, Mrs Davie intends to develop a programme of competence in 21st century skills (collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving) within Kilgraston, “empowering the women of the future workplace to develop an appetite for becoming solution-based innovators, thereby making a positive contribution to society.”

Mrs Davie will begin her new appointment from April 2022.

Mrs Tanya Davie, Head teacher of Kilgraston School from April 2022

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

 

Increased interest in rural boarding schools

The pandemic has seen many people rethink their lifestyle, looking at alternative working arrangements and, where possible, seeking-out more spacious living accommodation.

Education has also been upper-most in the minds of many parents and guardians, rural boarding schools subsequently witnessing a huge spike in interest, especially from those in urban areas.

Writing about the trend in this month’s Independent Schools Magazine, Headteacher Dorothy MacGinty notes that the “domestic boarding market has seen a remarkable upsurge.”

Read the full article (page six, which also features the recent Scotland’s Boarding Schools event) here

Boarding at Kilgraston

Kilgraston has ten all-weather tennis courts and its own on-site Equestrian Centre

25.8.21

 

Sunday Telegraph reports boarding in Britain increasingly popular

International interest in British boarding schools is on the increase with Britain being seen as ‘open for business’ thanks to the UKs successful vaccine roll-out programme.

Head teacher of Kilgraston School, Dorothy MacGinty, is quoted in today’s Sunday Telelgraph newspaper (6.6.21), discussing the trend.

The full Sunday Telegraph article can be read here

Sixth Form boarding at Kilgraston School

 

 

Seeking ‘space’ and ‘fresh air’ - Scottish boarding market sees domestic, post-lockdown, uptick

Dorothy MacGinty, Head teacher of Kilgraston School: “Life at a boarding school is always challenging but, like everywhere else, the last fourteen months have been specifically difficult for myriad reasons. Apart from ensuring pupils were academically and pastorally fulfilled, an independent school is a multi-million pound, international business and, obviously, Covid-19 has thrown-up many additional hurdles to parents from abroad contemplating sending their child to a British boarding school.”

Mrs MacGinty continued: “However, life is always surprising. Interest from the domestic boarding market has seen a remarkable upsurge. Parents (and their daughters) are quoting ‘space’, ‘smaller classes’, ‘fresh air’ and, most interestingly, ‘having a bedroom to escape to and their own personal space’ as the last few months have been so confined. Also fascinating is the move from the English GCSE and A-Level curriculum to our SQA, Highers and National Fives. Parents from down-south are clearly thinking ahead to university places and now seeing the Scottish school timetable as positive move to getting into Scottish universities.”

The full article can be read here: Daily Telegraph

Kilgraston boarders Easter weekend 2021

Kilgraston boarders kicked off their Easter weekend with an energetic zoom Bollywood dancing session organised by Kilgraston’s drama teacher, Miss Smith. It was part of the OnFife Spring Fesitval 2021 and was led by Edinburgh based dance teacher, Tanwi Bhattacharya.

Inspired by Holi – the Hindu festival of colours – Tanwi led us through a series of short routines with some classic Bollywood Dance moves. It was great fun and the Mater boarders got to learn about a new style of dance.

But of course, Easter wouldn’t be complete without an egg hunt and so in the afternoon, Miss. Smith organised an Easter Egg Hunt for the Mater boarders. Each team had six cryptic clues to find which would send them to a location such as the tennis courts (“What a lovely place to eat strawberries and cream!”), the front of school (“I want six pillars outside of my front door”) or the forest (“Red tape? Is there a VIP nearby?”). Once they had reached their location, they then had to look for a plastic wallet with one or two plastic eggs and a clue to their next location.

With all six wallets and clues collected, the teams ran back to Miss Smith to collect their first, second, third, and fourth place prizes – a bag of chocolate eggs of various sizes and their choice of Easter Egg to share amongst the team. So, who was victorious…?

In first place, the Green Team (Ana, Valentine, Montse, Greta, Maria, and Martina) with the Blue Team (Ambika, Maria, Maddie, Maddie, Erin, Anais, and Maia) came an incredibly close second. The Yellow Team (Emma, Lilly, Jemima, Amalia, Antonia, and Clara) was third and last but not least (and with a little bit of help from the Easter Bunny), the Orange Team (Kelly, Esma, Jenny, Maggie, and Meteor).

Afterwards, it was lovely to see the teams enjoying the early Spring sunshine and sharing their winnings!

Boarding activities at Kilgraston

Boarding at Kilgraston offers girls so many advantages such as building up confidence and independence.

In lockdown, Kilgraston boarders have also been able to take advantage of our superb campus and facilities along with enjoying a fun-filled diary of events.

Recently, Miss Smith, Kilgraston’s Drama Teacher, organised an exciting afternoon of competitive Games and here is a round-up of the event below.

After a warm up round of ‘Evolution’, the boarders moved onto an energetic round of Musical Plates (just like Musical Chairs but with paper plates).

It was a close match – Montse and Ambika fought it out in the final round but Ambika just got her foot on the plate first. It was a win for Team KFC.

Then came ‘The Best Game’ – teams had to nominate one person from each team they thought would be the ‘best’ at something. These categories ranged from ‘The Best Crab Walk’ to ‘The Longest Hair’, ‘The Furthest Paper Aeroplane Flown’ to ‘The Tallest Thumb’. It was a close call, but this time, it was another win for Team KFC.

The next round tested boarders’ patience, their creativity, and their precision – The Toilet Paper Mummy Game. Who can create the best Toilet Paper Mummy using one roll of toilet paper and a time limit of (around) five minutes? Team KFC created a very expressive mummy, Team Get Out of My Kitchen a very pretty mummy, but it was the Golden Quad who committed to a patience unravel of the toilet roll to win points for precision and historical accuracy.

Our fifth round was called ‘Bring Me’ involved Miss Smith saying ‘Bring me… something gold’ or ‘Bring me… something that is living but is not human’ or ‘Bring me… something that feels cold’. It was – in the end – Team KFC who successfully finding and bringing the most things.

The final challenge was to design an outfit using only old magazines, some sticky tape, and a couple of pairs of scissors. All three teams did a sterling job, with Team KFC producing an outfit reminiscent of a Gladiator, complete with sword – they won the points for the most inventive outfit; Team Golden Quad produced an outfit that would have made Louis Vuitton’s Bridal Collection jealous – they won the points for the outfit with the most integrity; and Team Get Out of My Kitchen went for a glamorous number that wouldn’t have looked out of place at a Black Tie Gala – they won the most points overall for this challenge.

So, who won this exhilarating afternoon? It was Team KFC with a whopping 28 points! (Team Get Out of My Kitchen were super close behind with 26 points, and Golden Quad came in third with 22 points).

A huge well done and thanks to everyone involved including Miss Smith for organising and all staff.

Boarding activities

Boarding activities at Kilgraston can be fun and fast-paced, offer a chance to unwind or somewhere in-between. Once school is finished, we offer a schedule of events for our boarders with sight-seeing trips around Scotland interspersed with more relaxing activities in-school. So to keep our boarders entertained, we recently organised a Murder Mystery night.

Channelling their inner Sherlock Holmes, our teams had to solve the mystery of what happened to Baroness Arabella Porkingon III, and who should claim her inheritance.

It was a night straight out of an Agatha Christie novel, with each student taking on the role of a colourful character. Each character had a key clue to the mystery, and key information that they had to discover from one another. They had to question each other to discover the information, before contributing what they found out in the final denouement.

A big thank you to all the students who participated, and put so much effort into dressing up as their character. A special mention must be given to our very own Chaplain, Mr Allaker, who made a very dramatic confession when he was revealed to be the villain of the night!

You can find out more about boarding activities and what it’s like to board by listening to Libby’s story, you can watch this here.

Kilgraston’s boarding activities also featured recently in the Daily Telegraph. Following a ballot amongst our boarders, pupils opted to bring back traditional games such as tag and rounders rather than quizzes or film nights. In the article, Mrs MacGinty said: “We were very surprised by the answer. They voted to organise traditional games more commonly found in playgrounds when I was a child. Girls of all ages love them. They’re now laughing together, working as a team, enjoying the competitive nature without match pressure.”

You can read the article by registering at the Daily Telegraph here.