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.
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
Kilgraston’s commitment to the environment
Kilgraston’s Junior School has been busy charting the growth of a hedge planted in 2009, part of Kilgraston’s on-going commitment to the environment and educating our pupils on nature.
Speaking in the Catholic Universe, Ms Dana Cooper, Junior Years’ teacher and head of the school’s Eco Committee said, “We thought it would be demonstrated particularly well if we showed our eleven-year-olds what nature can do in the same period. Our pupils are particularly interested in natural habitats for indigenous wildlife, which we have an abundance of here at school, but they are also keen to create artificial habitats and, additionally, are currently building a ‘bug hotel’ out of palettes and recycled materials.”
The hedge, which is made up of hawthorn, common lime, hazel and the guelder rose, stretches along the Kilgraston beautiful countryside campus next to the school’s swimming pool. Now, eleven years since it was planted, the hedge reaches four and a half metres high in places and is almost 80 metres long.
Upper Third’s Edith, who is Head of the Junior Years Eco Committee, said: “We have been learning how the hedge provides wildlife with a natural larder.
“Birds such as thrushes, blackbirds and fieldfares love the rose hips, while bees enjoy nectar from the hawthorn and robins, red squirrels and rabbits enjoy the berries.”
This story also featured in the November issue of magazine, Scottish Field.