Kilgraston School
Nestled in the beautiful Perthshire countryside is Kilgraston, a forwardthinking, green-minded independent boarding school that aims to foster strong, powerful children. By developing their interests from an early age, the school seeks to instil the message that they have a voice and an impact to make on society.
Pupils learn how to give back, how to deliver their opinions in a fair and open manner so they learn to actively listen to others, and often become prefects with the responsibility of being a role model, skills they can take with them when they leave school. Through their Big Friendly Girl’s scheme, every Sixth Form pupil is partnered up with someone in their junior years to develop a strong sense of community and responsibility.
The school welcomes pupils from age 5 to 18, with co-ed classes in the junior years and all girls in the senior years. Every girl boarding at Kilgraston has their own room with a wardrobe, study area and personal space with beautiful views of the school’s green grassy campus. Each year group area has their own lounge area to collect in, and the senior area has laundry and cooking facilities to mirror living situations in university or in place of work. They have three houses, one for juniors and two for seniors, so that it is more age specific to their experiences and appropriate to their stage in life.
While Kilgraston plays host to all the usual clubs and sports, what they excel at is creating bespoke opportunities for pupils’ curiosity and interests to be developed into a real passion. The school has the luxury of having equestrian facilities on-site and recently, some pupils wanted to try polo. Keen to enable their interest, each week, Kilgraston pupils attend a local polo club in Kinross and with the team coming second in a national championship in June. Students regularly think up unique and creative ideas, and Kilgraston aims to facilitate them as best they can.
Due to the global pandemic, it has been a challenging few years for students, and that’s evident from the lower-than-average test results seen at schools across the country. However, Kilgraston worked hard to support and prepare their students throughout the year, and those efforts are shown through their remarkable exam results. At National 5 level, Kilgraston pupils obtained a pass rate of 93% with an impressive 70% achieving Grade As at this level. In Higher and Advanced Higher levels, over three quarters of pupils achieved a Grade A or B, and the results mean that 96%
of for Sixth Form leavers will be going to their first or second choice of university.
‘The legacy of everything we were doing online will continue in a positive modern manner, but classic face-to-face teaching is back and that’s what we are good at because we get to our pupils,’ said Tanya Davie, newly appointed head teacher at Kilgraston School, regarding having students back in classrooms and is proud of what
her pupils have achieved. ‘We hold our own competitively both on the sports field and
academically, but still remain bespoke to individual pupils.’
Tanya comes with a diverse and extensive background in the independent sector with appointments at St. Margaret’s School and academic deputy head at St Bede’s College in Manchester. She also was former head of department at The Royal High School in Edinburgh, and interestingly, she was the head of Manchester City Football Academy’s education provision.
CONTACT
Kilgraston’s next Open Day is 1 October 2022 at 10am. To book your place, please email openday@kilgraston.com or call 01738 812 257, www.kilgraston.com