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.
Pancake Day at Kilgraston
Every year, Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is seen as a highlight in the calendar for everyone to indulge and enjoy a treat before the beginning of Lent.
To follow our key focus on charity this school year, each year group has been assigned a charity to research and raise funds for throughout the school session. The Upper Sixth rose to this opportunity and decided to represent and support three different charity organisations.
In October, the Upper Sixth raised money for the Head Girl Team charity, CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) with a ‘Sponge the Upper Sixth and Staff’ event followed by a ‘Santa Dash’ in December for another Upper Sixth charity, Cardiomyopathy UK. On Pancake Day, for our third and final charity, Pancreatic Cancer UK, we used this special occasion to sell pancakes at break time for senior pupils and staff with a range of sweet toppings. The most important element of this fundraiser for us all was to spread awareness and show respect to our cause for their admirable work and research.
Pancreatic Cancer UK is an extremely admirable charity; one that is very close to the hearts of many individuals at Kilgraston. In running this fundraiser, we aimed to show our solidarity to those affected by this illness and help raise funds for extended research and aid. Prior to the event, we unanimously agreed that we’d be happy with any donations made yet we were delighted to see that we had managed to raise a staggering total of exactly £300!
On behalf of the Upper Sixth, a massive thank you to everyone who donated to Pancreatic Cancer UK and helped us reach our target!
Maria E, Head Girl
Enterprise skills in Juniors
Lower Third recently sharpened their enterprise skills and raised over £600 in the process – an outstanding achievement for a class project by eleven pupils.
The class held fairs where the sold items including hand-made jewellery, arts and crafts. With the two enterprise sessions, the class made £672.10, and donated it to charity, Alzheimer Scotland. Fiona Matthews, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia advisor for Perthshire, thanked the pupils for their donation and said:
“It is very much appreciated and will enable the organisation to continue to support people living with dementia and their families in the area.”
The donation will help the charity in a number of ways, including continuing to fund:
- the expansion of local Dementia Resource Centres and Community Groups that keep people free from isolation and connected to their community
- the charity’s 24-Hour Freephone Helpline (0808 808 3000) which operates 365 days per year providing information and support to anyone concerned about or living with dementia.
- And the charity’s network of local Dementia Advisors who provide vital support to people with dementia and their families throughout their time living with dementia.
Congratulations to all of Lower Third and class teacher, Ms Alison McPhee for their incredible work with this important charity.
You can read more about Kilgraston’s other fundraising and charity work here and find out more about we are educating our next generation of business leaders.
Kilgraston Junior School fundraising for Captain Tom
The weekend saw celebrations to mark fundraising hero Captain Sir Tom Moore on what would have been his 101st birthday - and Kilgraston Junior School took part with a variety of different fundraising events
Lead by the British Army veteran’s family, and supported by charities such as the NSPCC, events were inspired by Captain Tom’s original campaign. For Kilgraston Junior School, the fundraising for this event included running around The Grange one hundred times, walking one hundred steps together around the Atrium, making 100 cakes, brownies and cookies and much more. The pupils raised a worthy £101 for charity in the process.
Captain Sir Tom started his fundraising campaign in 2020 in the midst of the COVID pandemic, when he was 99 years old, aiming to complete one hundred lengths of his garden. He was hoping to raise £1000 for the NHS Charities Together. The campaign resulted in nearly £33 million being raised for NHS charities, with donations coming in from around the world. Captain Tom was knighted by the Queen in a special outdoors ceremony at Windsor Castle on 17 July 2020.
What an inspiration, and Captain Sir Tom’s legacy lives on. Well done to everyone in Kilgraston Junior School for their fundraising efforts.
Fundraising by Kilgraston pupil
We are so proud of the latest fundraising by Kilgraston pupil, Lower Third’s Delilah.
She recently endured a night in sub zero temperatures, sleeping in a homemade igloo, and raised £1500 for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) in the process.
Deliliah’s adventures were reported in local newspaper, The Courier, where her mum Rosie said:
“She said it was the best night’s sleep she has ever had. I had to wake her up at 8.45am, two hours later than usual.
“I think there was a wind chill of -15 degrees C, but she says she was really cosy.
“We checked on her during the night. Staying on a farm, she’s camped out lots before.”
You can still help Delilah with her fundraising, her JustGiving page remains open and we hope she will continue to raise funds for her very worthy cause. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/delilahsigloo
Image: Kenny Smith
Kilgraston’s charity work continues
Kilgraston’s charity work is continuing and our most recent event was this year’s ‘Dress Up Day’.
This event, which raised over £270 for charity, was a great success, with the whole school dressing up as someone who inspired them, all the way from Marie Curie to The Incredibles.
The money raised will go to the charity Social Bite, a charity fighting homelessness and, due to the governments ‘UK Aid Match’, Kilgraston also raised money for ‘Mary’s Meals’ a charity that aids starving children in developing countries.
Kilgraston’s charity and community prefect, Katie Nicholson said “I thinks it’s amazing that Kilgraston is continuing efforts to provide support to those in need and bring our community together.”
The ‘Dress Up Day’ is the latest fundraising by Kilgraston and recently the school raised £277 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Charity fundraising and charity ideas
Charity fundraising plays an important part to life at Kilgraston so we recently took part in the world’s biggest coffee morning, Macmillan Coffee Morning 2020. It sees people all over the UK host their own coffee morning, raising money for the charity which provides support and care for people living with cancer.
Of course, with COVID, this year’s event was slightly different. However it didn’t stop our charity fundraising efforts with the school raising £277.38 so a huge thank you to everyone who donated. A special thank you to Kilgraston’s catering team, Inspire, who donated hot chocolate and delicious cupcakes.
The event was organised by Kilgraston’s Community and Charity prefect, Upper Sixth’s, Katie who said: “Charity is a big part of Kilgraston and thanks to the help of many of my peers, Inspire Catering and everyone’s generous donations I believe Macmillan Coffee Morning was a huge success.
“Macmillan Cancer support is crucial during these times and I’m so happy that we were able to bring our Kilgraston community together for such a good cause.”
It is this year’s first charity fundraising event but it is an important subject to Katie and she hopes to have many more brilliant money-raising events.
Katie said: “Charity and Community has always been very important to me because it not only does it make a difference in our local community, but also worldwide.
“I’m really looking forward to being able to try and organise as many charity events as possible this year; fundraisers such as sponsored cycles and walks, bake sales and Home Clothes Days, not only do these help those in need but also brings our Kilgraston community together.
“I am working alongside Mr Allaker to once again be holding ‘SCIAF’ fundraisers later this term, such as the ‘Real Gifts’ at Christmas, which in previous years has been a massive success. ‘SCIAF’ is the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, they work in 26 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America to help some of the poorest people in the world, regardless of religion, work their way out of poverty.
“The Kilgraston boarders are also participating in this years World Porridge day in October, an international fundraiser for Mary’s Meals to aid starving children in developing countries.
“In the local community our trips to Moncrieffe Care Home will be unfortunately be unable to go ahead this year, however the Junior School pupils are making some lovely cards which I’m sure will be greatly appreciated by all of the residents and staff. The annual Junior Years Harvest Festival will hopefully be able to go ahead again this year, where all of the food donations are given go to a local homeless shelter but also helps the junior girls to gain an increased value in the community.”
You can read more about Kilgraston’s charity fundraising and how important it is to the school here.