Kilgraston Speech Day 2023
Kilgraston Speech Day 2023 had much to celebrate and alongside our existing families, alumnae attended this year’s event.
Our guest speaker was Olympic athlete, Eilidh Doyle, who gave an insightful speech into her competitive experiences and urging pupils to make the most of opportunities, staying to true to what ignites flames of ambition. Also speaking was Mr Barry Farrell, a former Kilgraston Bursar of 19 years and who is now part of the investment group, Achieve Education.
Our Junior Speech Day took place in the morning before a break for the Kilgraston tradition of picnics on the Front Lawn. Our Senior School Speech Day then followed with a special mention to Deputy Head Mrs Carol Ann Lund who is retiring this year after 34 years at Kilgraston .
The academic year 2022 - 2023 has been which will stand long in the memories of our Kilgraston family, and it has shown us all what we are capable of. Well done to all prizewinners this year and thank you to our community for your ongoing support. It has meant a great deal.
Now to 2023 - 2024 and beyond - we are excited and ready for it. See you all then.
Kilgraston Speech Day 2022
Kilgraston’s Speech Day 2022 was celebrated this year amidst sunshine and thunderstorms, smiles and tears.
It was the busiest Speech Day in many years as parents and families flocked to celebrated the successes of pupils, and well done to all of you for the many merits, cups and ribbons distributed.
This year’s Speech Day was the first to be experienced by Kilgraston’s Headteacher, Mrs Davie, who congratulated the pupils and in particular the 2022 leavers for their impressive results with 67% going on to prestigious Russell Group universities and with a 100% Oxbridge success.
Our guest speaker this year was Hannah Ovens, who has been mentoring Kilgraston’s Young Enterprise teams for the past three years. Hannah gave an inspiring speech detailing her own non-traditional route to success which was driven by hard work and boundless enthusiasm. Pupils were hanging on her every word as she talked to them about beating 38,000 candidates to become NCR CEO for 24 hours. Hannah imparted four must-dos to succeed, these are:
- Believe in yourselves.
- Never give us because hard work pays off.
- Make sure you have a great support system.
- Say yes to all opportunities because one yes can change the path you are on.
Kilgraston’s outgoing Head Girl, Maria also gave a moving Speech. Maria, who has been at Kilgraston for 15 years, spoke directly to her Upper Sixth peers, encouraging them on as “we stand on the precipice of the next stage of our lives as the uncontested authors of their lives”. We all look forward to reading the next chapter from all our leavers so stay in touch, sign up as an alumnae and we wish you all the very best of luck.
Kilgraston Speech Day 2021
We were delighted to be able to mark the many and varied achievements of our pupils this year at our annual Speech Day.
Parents and families were unable to attend but we did welcome a fantastic guest speaker, and former Kilgraston Head Girl, Dr Zinnia Hall. Dr Hall left Kilgraston ten years ago and has spent the following years carving out a career in medicine.
As a former Kilgraston pupil, Dr Hall’s speech gave a wonderful insight into how Kilgraston and our staff has shaped her life choices including her career in medicine.
Dr Hall went on to give some inspiring advice to the enraptured audience. She said: “Say yes to opportunities. Do not aim for perfection, but embrace your flaws.
“You are an individual, experience life. Trust and be guided by your instincts and judgement. Be fearless and think big. Rise to your challenges.”
In his speech, Kilgraston’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mr Thomas Steuart Fothringham thanked Mr Tim Hall for his dedication to Kilgraston for the past 20 years. Mr Hall stepped down as Chair of Kilgraston’s Board of Governors in 2020 but continues on our Board of Trustees and his speech Mr Hall paid tribute to Mrs MacGinty’s leadership and sense of humour.
In our Junior Speech Day, outgoing Head Girl, Willow gave a wonderful speech thanking her deputies and talking about the fantastic achievements of the Junior School this year.
In the Senior School Speech Day, Head Girl Team 2020-2021, Issy, Libby and Emily looked back on their Kilgraston journey and shared their highlights.
Head Girl Emily spoke movingly about how Kilgraston has supported her, admitting that school days do indeed go by so quickly, and as a result it would seem that parents are never wrong when they have imparted this wisdom to their children.
She said: “Kilgraston has given us knowledge. It is up to us to head out into the world and understand it.
“This is a bittersweet moment but we are ready.”
We wish all our pupils, families and staff a wonderful summer. To our 2021 leavers, we wish them every success - please do stay in touch.