Kilgraston Junior Years’ show - ‘Aladdin’
Magical Moments: Kilgraston Junior Years’ Show - ‘Aladdin’
The lights dimmed, the curtains opened, and Kilgraston’s Junior Years transported us to the enchanting world of Agrabah with their spectacular production of Aladdin. Over three unforgettable days, our talented young performers captivated audiences with their incredible acting, singing, and dancing.
From the moment the marketplace opened the show, the stage came alive with vibrant costumes, a clever set design, energetic performances and an inventive flying magic carpet. Each pupil brought their character to life with such enthusiasm and skill, making the story of ‘Aladdin; and his magical adventures truly unforgettable.
The excitement began on Wednesday when we had the pleasure of welcoming P5 pupils from Dunbarney Primary School to enjoy the show. It was heart-warming to extend our hospitality to a neighbouring school and see our young performers shine in front of a new audience. The sense of community and mutual support was palpable, adding an extra layer of joy to the event.
The production was a true testament to the hard work and dedication of our pupils and staff. From the stunning choreography to the flawless chorus numbers, every aspect of the show was a reflection of the creativity and commitment that defines Kilgraston. Special thanks to the teachers and parents who supported the pupils every step of the way.
As the final curtain fell, the applause and cheers echoed through the hall, marking the end of a successful run. The smiles on the faces of our young actors said it all – they had not only entertained but also learned and grown through this experience.
Thank you to everyone who made the Junior Years’ production of ‘Aladdin’ a resounding success. Your support and enthusiasm are what make Kilgraston such a special place.
Junior School highlights for 2021 - 2022
Kilgraston Junior School has had many highlights, over the course of the year, including the whole school production of ‘Matilda, Jnrs.’, which was a triumph. Having a real live audience again (filled with friendly faces) was such a treat.
Upper Third’s final trip to the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, where an art professional led a very creative workshop was inspirational. The class then donned bird and bee vision glasses (to become pollinators) and viewed the flowers at the Royal Botanical Gardens in a completely different light.
Lower Third’s Enterprise stalls raised an amazing £440 and taught pupils a great deal about marketing and entrepreneurship. Their class trip to Stirling Castle brought history to life and completed their project on The Battles of Independence.
The Upper Second had a fun filled day out at Edinburgh Zoo watching real life research including a chimp play computer games!
Lower Second went bird watching at Auchingarrich after using taxidermy from Perth Museum to research their topic on Birdlife in class.
Upper First have been industriously building Eco Bug Hotels and even saw a shark up close and personal at Deep Sea World whilst learning about life Under the Sea.
For the early years, having the fire brigade in for their first school visit since lockdowns was a real milestone and the front lawn was well watered. Equally, having parents in for a Pirate Play was a welcomed step back towards normality.
At Christmas we all still remember the ballet. Our last large group visit!
We held an epic Book Battle and the ‘Ickabog’ won a fierce battle between Juniors’ favourite novels - this got everyone reading.
We also held a Times Tables Rock Star Day to aid Maths fluency - even the teachers dressed up as rock stars. Everyone competed to increase the times tables fluency.
Our trip to Landmark was eagerly anticipated as we hadn’t been allowed to visit such attractions in some time. It was a well-earned treat and the teachers couldn’t have been more proud of the pupils’ exemplary behaviour. A fantast end to the year!
Ms Cooper, Deputy Head, Kilgraston Junior School
Junior School - Upper Second turn detective
This week, Upper Second became Crime Scene Investigators.
As part of their class project on crime they were visited by Jon Bates from Sci-High Forensics who spent the day with our Upper Second detectives and led them through different role plays.
In this scenario, there had been a break-in at Kilgraston School and the culprits had left behind lots of forensic evidence. Upper Second pupils donned their forensic suits to collect blood swabs, dusted for fingerprints, and found footprints in our initial search.
The police then sent the forensic team the fingerprints, clothes, handwriting samples from the three main suspects. They then had to analyse these carefully to paint a picture of what happened that night.
Once the Crime Scene Investigators had pulled together all the evidence, Upper Second pupils then held a full trial complete with judge and jury to determine whether the suspects were innocent or guilty. The forensic evidence we had found was essential, especially the blood spatters.
The class had a fantastic day so thank you to Jon for leading this investigation.
You can find our more about our Junior School curriculum here.
Junior School show 2022 review - Matilda
The Junior School show 2022 is ‘Matilda: The Musical’. After last year, when the Junior musical was recorded, it is great to be back performing live in front of an audience, and everyone has certainly taken it in their stride. You wouldn’t be able to tell that we had all been online for the last two years! The energy and enthusiasm of the young actors and actresses can’t help but make you smile.
Matilda is a fantastic choice of script; it has everything you could wish for from a musical – comedy, suspense, and of course, catchy musical numbers. The set, which was designed and created by our own stage crew was indistinguishable from a professionally made set, and really speaks to the talent and vision of our National 5 drama students. The number of people involved in pulling this off speaks to the inclusion and spirit of community within our school, with children aged five performing in the musical, to the exam years helping during the performances and coming in during study leave to assist teachers.
It is evident how much time and effort our head of Drama Mrs Murphy, and Director of Music Mr Morley, dedicated to the musical, as the acting, choreography, and singing came together at the final performance to encapsulate the work of several months of hard work. Mr Murch and Mr Stewart provided the top-notch instrumentals to accompany the scenes. The sound and lighting was carried out by Mr Pryke and a team of talented sound technicians in the making, Emma and Kaitlin, and gave a polished and professional feel to our musical.
I think we definitely have some future stars in our midst - Caitlin played the lead role of Matilda, and made us all fall for this intelligent, quirky character with her heartfelt and genuine performance. Ms. Honey, Ms. Trunchbull and the school children also gave delightful performances, showcasing vocals and acting that rivals a West End production. The entire cast was enthusiastic and shared their feeling of fun with the audience.
This was a superb production and is testament to the dedication and perseverance of our outstanding performing arts teachers, as well as the students! I feel privileged to be a part of this wonderful school community.
Isabel, Upper Sixth, Music Prefect
National Numeracy Day at Kilgraston
Our youngest pupils joined forces with schools around the world in a bid to crush a world record.
The Reception, Lower First and Upper Second classes were taking part in National Numeracy Day on 18 May. They attended a live event, watching the Times Tables Rockstars number roll at the same time. The organisation behind National Numeracy Day was aiming to get 1500 children to watch, but in fact almost 600 joined in - now confirmed as the ‘Most viewers of rolling numbers live stream on YouTube’.
The children all had to know the 5 x table and join in a dance taught to them by Strictly star, Katya Jones.
National Numeracy Day is the only day in the UK dedicated to Maths and a raft of stars joined the pupils online for the event and well done to the Kilgraston pupils who took part as well as everyone else in the UK. You did it!
Kilgraston celebrates St Andrew’s Day 2021
With a whirlwind of tartan and a blast of the bagpipes, Kilgraston pupils celebrated St Andrew’s Day 2021.
In our Junior Years, pupils were piped into the Atrium before taking to the dance floor for an afternoon of Scottish Country Dancing and a St Andrew’s Party which included a special cake. Our youngest pupils, four-year-old Abigail and Olivia were given the honour of cutting the cake.
Later on, Senior School pupils enjoyed an energetic ceilidh with lots of dancing and happy faces. This was the first time the School’s Ceilidh band performed and it was fantastic to hear. After more dancing, the pupils then enjoyed a delicious meal of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties prepared by Kilgraston’s in-house catering team. The evening finished with a mixture of modern and traditional music for the pupils to enjoy.
Organiser, Mrs Ferry, Kilgraston’s Head of PE, said: “Even with the COVID restrictions, we still enjoyed a wonderful day, a culmination of a lot of hard work from the pupils and it was wonderful to see. Everyone had a fantastic time.”
Thank you to everyone who took part and to Mrs Ferry for organising. Find out more about our schedule of extra-curricular activities
Watch our St. Andrew’s Day celebrations below.
Lessons in finance at Kilgraston Junior School
Proving it is never too early to start planning for their financial future, pupils in our Junior School received lessons in finance.
Pupils from Upper First, Lower Second, Upper Second and Lower and Upper Third got to grips with fun finance thanks to the super skills from Mr Andrew Stewart from AS Wealth Management and Ms Louise Laing from The Mortgage Finance Store.
Over the sessions, pupils looked at how trade works, analysed world economies, discussed personal finance and how to plan for the future.
The year groups then took part in a competition where they traded as different countries to get the largest amount of resources, and to ultimately run the world.
Thanks you to Andrew and Louise for these fascinating lessons in finance.
Our Junior School offers families outstanding wraparound care - so no extra breakfast club or after school club costs.
All pupils have fresh and nutritious lunches made in school every day.
Specialist teachers in art, music, science, modern languages and sport starting in our Junior School.
Access to our outstanding facilities including indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, AstroTurf and equestrian centre – the only school in Scotland to have one on-site.
Contact us to arrange your taster - [email protected]
Kilgraston Harvest Festival 2021
Wednesday 6th October marked Kilgraston’s annual Harvest assembly both in our Junior School and in our Senior School.
In a bright and colourful assembly, each class in our Junior School performed or presented on different elements of the Harvest Festival. We were treated to a performance of ‘Old Macdonald’ by our youngest pupils – in French, while each Upper First pupil gave a presentation about a different fruit or vegetable from around the world. Lower Second read a Harvest Time Poem and Upper Second performed ‘The Rainbow People’, a story about friendship and people being the same. Pupils in Lower Third talked about different cereals and then Upper Third performed ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’. We also welcomed an address by Rev. Allan Wilson, Minister of Dunbarney and Forgandenny who used the characters of ‘Lola and Charlie’ to discuss community.
The Junior Head Girl team has also been coordinating the food donations for local charity, C.A.T.H. (Churches Action for The Homeless). With a table ladened with cereals, pasta, tins of fruit and vegetables, the proceeds were taken to C.A.T.H. after today’s service.
This year’s senior harvest assembly was presented by Upper Sixth’s Sana, Hannah and Poppy. They spoke about the importance of being grateful for what we have, that harvest is a significant time of the year to celebrate the food we have and our farmers. Hannah and Sana spoke about what Harvest means to them.
“It is really important in this day and age that we are made aware that all the choices we have, were not always available to us and to take time to be grateful for what we have”, said Hannah.
“I am now aware of the consequences that buying food out with the season of Britain has, I am now going to make a conscious effort to buy local produce”, added Charities prefect Sana.
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
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.