Kilgraston Junior School show - The Little Mermaid
Under the sea…in the marquee…
Disney’s classic musical, The Little Mermaid, splashed onto our screens for the Junior Years’ end of term production, ensuring everyone had an opportunity to shine on the sea bed.
Government rules don’t allow singing, a fact not deterring Music Director, Jason McAuley, sound-effects supremo, Jamie Pryke, or Drama Director, Carly Smith: “We had to think outside the box,” said McAuley, “In fact, we had to think outside altogether, recording the sound separately in a windy marquee on the school’s front lawns!”
Subsequent sound and visual synching took over 20 hours of editing, the end result a slick, half-hour ‘film’ worthy of Walt himself: “We’re pretty pleased with the results,” said Mr Pryke, “the children were amazing, so patient and enthusiastic. We asked a lot of them and they just gave and gave.”
The story swirls around troubled-teen mermaid Ariel, blessed with a beautiful voice (although, obviously, not utilised indoors!) harbouring a fascination for life on the land. Falling in love with Prince Eric, she’s prepared to sacrifice her impressive vocal-chords for a chance above the surface.
Tense moments ensue as Evil Ursula and her adoring acolytes have their doom-laden personas cleverly enhanced with lightening effects and seasick-inducing visuals: “Ill, insane or water on the brain?” words, sounds and lighting melding together.
But (spoiler alert) all’s well that ends well; a beaming Ariel, reunited with both voice and love-interest, bobs along on calm waters, while less tasteful sea creatures slither under their rocks.
A joyous, fun-filled production, packed with impressive performances, inspiring voices and extraordinary special effects.
The last year may well have blown us all a little off course, but everyone involved with The Little Mermaid certainly found their compass, a safe-passage found right to the very end of term.
Mairi Fraser
Nb. because of licencing restrictions, the production was only available to parents and guardians via a direct link. Apologies if you didn’t have the opportunity to view it.
Kilgraston Juniors turn forensic scientists
Kilgraston Juniors Upper Second class have been exploring the topic of Crime this term.
This week the class were lucky enough to have Jon Bates from Sci-High visit the pupils in school to staged a crime for the class to solve.
In a busy day of crime-solving the class had to turn forensic scientist ,detective and finally jury to solve the case using their knowledge and understanding and our scientific skills.
There was finger print analysis, swabbing of blood from the crime scene and footprint examination. The class also examined handwriting, used chromatography, examined clothes from the suspects and compared DNA samples.
The Upper Second class had so much fun and even - after a court case in Scotties - managed to successfully solve the crime, presenting the forensic evidence and learning about the judicial system in Scotland.
What a fantastic day.
You can find out more about Kilgraston Junior School here.
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.
Kilgraston Junior School Young Musician Of The Year 2021
Kilgraston’s Young Musician Of The Year 2021 Competition has been underway over the past few weeks.
This year, pupils are sending in their entries via video with the Junior School competition now judged and we are delighted to announce that Upper Third’s Lucy Moran is this year’s Junior Young Musician Of The Year. Congratulations Lucy and to everyone who entered. Results are below.
Junior Years: Junior Open Class (Grade 3 or above)
1st Place: Lucy, U3, Flute I Got Rhythm, Gershwin
Highly Commended: Chloe, U3, Voice Can We Sew Cushions, Burns
Junior Years: Grade 2 Class
1st Place: Heidi U3, Piano Gigue a l’Angloise, Telemann
Junior Years: Beginner/Grade 1 Class
1st Place: Sally L3, Clarinet Blue Monday, Rae
2nd Place: Sophie, U2, Piano One and a Half Minute Waltz, Duro
3rd Place: Georgiana, L2, Piano The Detective, Wedgwood
Highly Commended: Eliza, U1, Flute Springtime, Pollock
You can watch Lucy’s winning performance below and the results of our Senior School competition will be announced after the Easter holidays.
Kilgraston Junior School - wildlife visit
Earlier this week Reception and Lower First pupils in Kilgraston Junior School had a visit from some furry friends.
Thanks to Rhona Forrester, the children had the opportunity to learn about beavers and their reintroduction to Scotland. Rhona is an avid wildlife enthusiast and is a member of the Scottish Wild Beavers Association (and many other wildlife groups).
Rhona showed the children how to look for signs of beavers and brought lots of beaver activities for the children.
Thank you Rhona for such a wonderful talk.
Kilgraston Junior School is co-ed
Kilgraston Junior School is co-ed. The process started in August 2021 when the COVID situation around schools re-opening was unclear and was initially open to boys of staff and existing parents.
Now though, the move to co-ed is open to all parents looking for a family focused school to nurture both their daughters and their sons.
It means more families and their children can now benefit from Kilgraston’s outstanding Junior School curriculum as well as our first class facilities including a swimming pool, tennis courts and over 50 extracurricular clubs.
The boys have settled in well into the Junior School, enjoying many different aspects of school life.
Kilgraston pupil James said: “There are lots of clubs and activities to take part in. For P.E we have swimming which is amazing. My favourite club is Science Club. We made a Scribblebot and egg parachutes.”
Conall added: “The clubs are fantastic with Football, Golf and Science Club- making slime was amazing. Being able to swim for core PE lessons has been a real treat in such a lovely pool and has made Tuesday my favourite day. The outside space is great for adventures at lunch time with my friends being able to build dens in the woods.”
Parents Elaine and Gordon have been impressed with their son’s move. Elaine said: “We have been delighted with how well our son has settled at Kilgraston. One of the many advantages of the school lies in its size, which allows the children to be individually known and valued. It has made a remarkable difference to his academic progress this year and Kilgraston is an excellent fit for our son.”
The school and community has adapted well to the co-ed move so if you are interested in finding out how Kilgraston’s Junior School can benefit your child, please contact [email protected]
Kilgraston welcomes back its youngest Junior Year pupils
It’s been wonderful to see our youngest Junior Year pupils back in school this week. In line with Scottish Government regulations, our first three year groups were back in school and there have been plenty of smiles as the pupils got the chance to see their friends and be back in the classroom.
There was plenty of time to be outside for some snowdrop spotting and to enjoy tennis lessons with Kilgraston’s tennis coach, Billy McNeil.
Welcome back to those year groups and we look forward to seeing more of you back when we can.
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 Junior School - Reception and Lower First virtual visit from the vet
In Kilgraston’s Junior School, Mrs Stewart’s Reception and Upper First are continuing with their ‘People Who Help Us’ class topic.
Recently this saw the pupils get a virtual visit from vet, Nicole, who works at Fair City Veterinary Group in Perth, and her dog, Walter.
Nicole gave a wonderful talk about her job. She showed the class some of the tools of the trade and used her ever patient dog to demonstrate bandaging a paw, listening for a heart beat and giving a vaccine. The children asked her an array of questions and thoroughly enjoyed the stories she told. They wrote about the talk in their diaries and here are a few of them.
Many of the people who help us most in the community are key workers, which is very topical at the moment. The children have each chosen one particular job to study and are busy making a poster which will show pictures and information about it. Many have relatives who are working in one of these fields which includes The Mountain Rescue, several nurses and care workers, farmers and of course, teachers.
Kilgraston Junior School Christmas Fair 2020
Below, Junior School Head Girl, Willow, writes about the Kilgraston Junior School Christmas Fair 2020:
Recently, Upper Third held the Kilgraston Junior School Christmas Fair 2020 in the Atrium.
The fair was organised by the Junior School Head Girl team with loads of help from Mrs MacGinty and Ms Cooper .
There were ten stalls selling inventive things as we could not have a bake sale. Instead we have all been very busy at home crafting, coming up with ideas to make money and creating loads of goodies to sell.
The aim was to raise as much money as possible for our chosen charities - Mary’s Meals, Free The Bears and a homeless charity in Edinburgh.
At the fair there was so much to buy and do including stalls such as ‘guess the name of the teddy’, Christmas baubles to buy, a tombola, a Christmas tree raffle, as well as stalls selling hair scrunches, bracelets, dog treats, home-made Christmas cards.
Everyone had lots of fun and it was a real treat to all be doing something different and together for a great cause.
A very big thank you from the Junior School Head Girl team to Mrs MacGinty and Ms Cooper for all their help and I am so proud , on behalf of the Head Girl team and Upper Third, to announce that the junior school Xmas fair raised over £700.
Willow, Junior School Head Girl