Recent News & Events
Scholarship Candidates
Congratulations to the following:
Max Rasmusen on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Eton
Alexander Gillespie on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Ampleforth
Constance McCool-Duncan on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Oundle
Constance McCool-Duncan on gaining an Art Scholarship to Oundle
Charles McGlone on gaining a Music Scholarship to Fettes
Geordie Milne on gaining an Academic Scholarship
to Fettes
William Page on gaining an Art Exhibition to Glenalmond
Hamish Prestige on gaining a Piping Exhibition to Glenalmond
Max Rasmusen on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Fettes
Joanna Scott on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Oundle
Thomas Thornton-Kemsley on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Glenalmond
Ben Whittle on gaining an Academic Scholarship to Fettes
P3 visit Lauriston Castle
P3 visited Lauriston Castle and had a guided tour by Joanne and Michael.
'We saw an Italian marble table that was four hundred years old! There were
pictures made out of carpets hanging on the wall. The bathroom had a deep
bath big enough for swimming in and the loo was like an armchair! We heard
that at a grand meal there would be nine courses and on a normal day just
five! The lights in the dining room wre made of plumbing materials. We saw
an entrance to a secret room adn we went through a false bookcase and down
the stairs to the garden!" Written by P3
P1 Fire it up at Playsafe!
Primary 1 went to St. Margaret's School in South Queensferry to take part
in the Lothian and Borders Police Playsafe morning. There were five schools
from all over Edinburgh taking part and lots of different emergency and
safety services there including the Fire Service, RNLI and police horses
and motorbikes.
Beach Day at North Berwick
As our fully-loaded 4 vehicle convoy set out on its journey to the beaches
of North Berwick, the children's excitement was palpable. Not only did we
have a well-provisioned barbecue to provide lunch and sufficient beach toys
to open a shop, but we also had a bright sunny day to enjoy ahead of us.
This was an excellent day out which was enjoyed by all and resulted in a
blissful peace in the dorms that evening!
Summer Fair
Once again, the day dawned with glorious blue skies and warm sunshine for
yet another Summer Fair, and it was wonderful to welcome so many parents,
grandparents, friends, old boys and girls, brothers and sisters to Cargilfield
to enjoy a wonderful day, picknicking around the cricket, chatting, laughing
and doing a spot of sunbathing! The highlights were perhaps the playing
of the Pipe Band, the French Cafe in front of the Headmaster's House, the
Upper School dads playing cricket against the Pre-Prep dads, the Gymnastics
display and of course the final part of the day - the concert. As always,
the Summer Fair was one of real enjoyment, relaxation and fun: Cargilfield
at its best!
P3 Play - 'A Grimm Night for Hans Christian Anderson'
To the delight of parents and friends and visitors from Dalmeny and Cramond
Primary Schools, the P3 Players put on a stunning performance this week.
Their Play 'A Grimm Night for Hans Christian Anderson' provided ample scope
for their combined talent and this was entertainment at its very best. The
amusing story based on a conflict between the Bothers Grimm and Hans Christian
Anderson as to who should be writing fairy tales allowed the introduction
of many well-known characters, but not necessarily as we know them, for
this was a tale with a modern setting - the Ugly Duckling going for cosmetic
surgery, the Princess at odds with the mattress company and the Tin Soldier
suing for damages were just a few of the engaging scenes, leading to an
exciting climax with the characters rounding on the authors in protest against
their unrealistic roles! Laughter abounded and the sophisticated and clever
dialogues were handled with such aplomb by the children, whose delivery
and timing could match many a professional. Every moment was sheer delight
and the very hard work of all those involved was apparent throughout; thanks
must go not only to the children themselves but also to all the behind the
scenes helpers, a dedicated group of staff, parents and pupils who helped
to bring the whole thing together under the expertise of co-directors Dawn
Corbett and Dawn Spencer. The P3 Play is certainly becoming a highlight
of the Cargilfield calendar.
Junior Camp
Friday afternoon finally arrived and with great excitement three minibuses
full of eager children, set off in convoy to Glenalmond for 'Junior Camp
2008'. Upon arrival we pitched camp in the grounds of Cairnies and despite
the rather gloomy drizzle the children enjoyed a delicious supper and
there were even some volunteers for the washing up! On Saturday morning
the majority of the group headed to Dunolly rafting centre for a day of
water activities, river rafting, kayaking and duckying, whilst a small
group of filming enthusiasts stayed at Glenalmond for a morning of film
and photography. After a thrilling day the exhausted but happy group enjoyed
supper and settled quickly to sleep! Next morning we all needed our hearty
breakfast to face the challenge of climbing Ben Chonzie. We had a fantastic
five hour walk and enjoyed a picnic near the top with some breathtaking
views. On return to Cairnies a monumental team effort had the camp packed
up in record time and we were soon on the buses winging our way home.
There were opportunities for those new to camping to learn some camp craft
and those with more experience were able to take on leading roles, some
individuals really stood out and there were many occasions for some wonderful
team work. It was a fantastic weekend and a great adventure for all involved.
U11 National Hockey Champions
Many congratulations to the U11 boys' hockey team on becoming National
Champions at the tournament held at Clifton College, Bristol, in March.
Qualifying from the group stages, they defeated some of the premier hockey
school's in the UK: Foremake Hall, Repton's Prep School, in the Quarter
Final and then beat Millfield 2 - 1 in the Semi Final. The Final, against
Gresham's School from Norfolk, was a titanic affair and with scores level
after extra time and golden goals, it meant the result would be decided
on penalty flicks. The Cargilfield boys did not wilt under the pressure
and calmly slotted their penalties to win the match and be crowned National
Champions for 2008!
New Teaching Block
The
increased numbers in the school during the last two years - the school
has grown by nearly 100 to over 250 - has allowed us to embark on our
latest development stage a little earlier than planned. The new teaching
block opened during this term and houses on the ground floor the whole
of Form 4 - two classrooms and the library/reading room and upstairs Modern
Languages, Mathematics and Geography. This is a very beautiful building
with individual rooms and some of them with outstanding views over the
Bruntsfield’s Link. The landscaping of Ashcourt was also finished
this term.
Girls’ Boarding House
The
Girls’ Boarding House opened on Friday and this weekend saw 16 girls
staying for the boarding weekend. The girls are delighted with their new
Boarding House and are now enjoying decorating the dorms with their personal
effects.
Music School
The
Townhill Music School has now been fully opened and is being enjoyed by
children in both the Upper School and Pre-Prep. This houses 10 practice
rooms and a small performance area which will give us the extra space
needed for our now 200 individual music lessons a week which is
a rise from 76 in 2004.
Inspections
The excellent H.M.I. and National Care Commission Inspection and the grading of the school at the highest possible level by these two independent bodies has given the school a real sense of purpose and worth. It is important for us to invite outside bodies to the school to comment on what we do and to enjoy being with Cargilfield children.
- Link to the recent H.M.I. Inspection (Link opens in a new window)
- Link to the recent H.M.I./National Care Inspection (Right-click to download - 170kb .pdf)
The Geography/Science Field Trip to the Burn
Twenty
six boys and girls and six members of staff travelled up to The Burn House
outside Edzell in Angus for a Geography and Science fieldwork over three
days, beginning on 12th October. The Burn House, built in 1791, with large
drawing rooms and sitting rooms, spacious bedrooms, dining rooms and indoor
games rooms, was a truly magnificent setting for this field trip. On hundred
and ninety acres of park and woodland on the banks of the North Esk, The
Burn affords peace and relaxation and of course study in an area designated
as a site of special scientific interest.
Our plan was to look at the flora on The Burn estate; do fieldwork on the
ecology of the woodland, particularly looking at the lichen; also looking
at different mosses and the gorge morphology. The visit to St Cyrus beach
was to study the beach profile; to look at the influence of plant colonisation
on the dunes; to do a banded snail survey; and to draw maps and sketches
to show the key features of the coastline. We also looked at the Montrose
beach to examine the impact of coastal erosion; to look at the long-shore
drift and to study salt tolerant plants on the beach area. The children
went about their work with some gusto and enjoyed the various challenges
and came away having learnt a great deal about this very individual environment
up in Angus. Putting, croquet, non-stop football, tennis, rugby on the beach,
cops and robbers on the beach and indoor snooker, darts, table tennis and
pool allowed the children to enjoy the weekend even more and the teachers
on the trip all commented on the superb behaviour and attitude of the boys
and girls. These comments were repeated by the staff at The Burn who found
our boys and girls very well-mannered and helpful at all times. Other special
features included the eighty-yard cattle tunnel - unique in Scotland - the
lovely burn built by French prisoners of war; the labyrinth built by prisoners
from the nearby prison; salmon leaping in the Esk; the fantastic example
of the Highland geological fault which is exposed on the estate; the food
cooked by Ruth in the kitchen. But above all, the peace and quiet and sheer
beauty of The Burn made the three days a very special treat for us all.
P2 visit to The Museum of Flight
As
part of our transport project we visited the museum to see
aircraft and hear tales of flight from past decades.
We had the opportunity to visit an exciting Concorde exhibition
that tells the story of those lucky enough to have worked and
travelled on board.
We had a guided tour through the cabin where the children saw original furniture and décor. They also looked into the cockpit and viewed flying instruments used to take the aircraft to over 1350mph.
The day ended with interactive activities where the children were able to scan luggage, serve food, dress up and create their own luggage tags and boarding passes. The children and adults thoroughly enjoyed the outing.
P3 and the visit of Mad Lab
Last
week we had a special treat - the Mad Lab came and we got
to make circuits! Firstly, we met Miss Ali and she showed
us some examples of circuit boards for computers and mobile
phones that looked like cities! Then we all got a little
bag with all the things we needed for making our own circuit.
One by one, we put the circuit together - LEDs (light-emitting
diodes), a transistor, a capacitor and the battery connection.
When we had all put them together, we met Mr Davie and
they checked our boards - most of them were perfect!
Upstairs, we found the classroom was all set up with soldering
irons. They were 400 degrees Celsius and water boils at
100 degrees Celsius! We had to put on goggles and use a
wire which acted like glue. We melted it to seal the joins.
After we clipped the ends of the wires, the moment of TRUTH!
Would our circuits work? We added the batteries and the diodes
flashes alternately. We added a silly face which we could
choose and we now had a flashing badge! This was a great
end to our project “Magnets
and Electricity”.
Music at Cargilfield
This week sees the culmination of a lot of hard work by a large group of children. On Tuesday we have the first ever Rock School exams at the school and eleven children are taking Grade Four drumkit exams. The examiner is Mr Douglas Noble and we wish all the candidates the best.
Also this week the Choir are taking part in The Edinburgh Festival of Music,Speech and Dance for The Primary Schools Trophy. This takes place at St Cuthbert’s Church on Thursday at 12.00. This is the first time we have taken part in this Festival for sometime and we are looking forward to taking part. We are singing ‘Little David play on your harp’ and ‘The Old Superb’ by Stanford. The school will hear both of these as we shall be singing Little David at Tuesday’s Chapel Service and the Old Superb will end the poetry reading and Concert on Friday.
On Friday the majority of our music exams are also going to be
taken, this year we have 28 entries ranging from the Prep Test
Singing to Grade 5 Oboe and singing and some of the best will
play in the concert at the end of the day along with the String
Group.
Also coming up will be the concert at the end of the Cargilfield
Fair, we should hear the Pipe Band on that day and also the Wind
Band and songs by the Pop Group who have been rehearsing on Tuesday
evenings. The Pipe Band is also due to play at The Davidson’s
Mains Gala on June the 16th.
Dandylions v Wosps Rounders
A big well done to Lalsa Budhwar and Emily Rann who both represented the Dandylions rounders team on Friday at Fettes against the Wosps. Traditionally these are very tense and exciting matches and both the A match and B match certainly did not disappoint.
Both girls added to the scoreline and thanks to Lalsa’s aggressive bowling we managed to keep the Wosps score down as much as possible. Incredibly the A team won by 21 ½ rounders to 20 and the B team won by 15 ½ rounders to 9 - two great victories for the Dandys.
“The Witches” by P3
Visitors to the school this week might have been worried to hear cries of “down with children, do them in” emanating from the Chapel, and even more worried had they popped in to investigate to find the stage occupied by some of the most gruesome witches ever seen, not to mention white mice! However had they not run away they would have joined an audience of parents friends and children and been absolutely delighted by the Primary 3 production of “The Witches” by Roald Dahl.
This enchanting story in which a boy and his grandmother foil a deadly plot by the witches to rid the world of children was the perfect vehicle to bring out acting talents. Played out on a stage setting with professionally projected backdrops and imaginative costumes and props, the whole play was a joy to behold, with perhaps the wonderful humour it contained, so beautifully delivered by the children, being the true stars of the show.
With some of the main parts being shared, all of P3 had the opportunity to participate fully and be part of something they and their families will always remember. A great deal of hard work had been put into this production, not only by the children, but by the staff, parents and senior pupils who did such a marvellous job backstage, and thanks must go to all of them, for helping to make “The Witches” such a resounding success.
For more information on up-coming events, click here for the Weekly Calendar | Term Calendar