Our group of Form 7 sailors have enjoyed the last two days on board Ocean Spirit, the yacht of Gordonstoun, as they have sailed around the west coast. The weather has been mixed but they have worked so well together and made some real memories made.

A big thank you to Gordonstoun for the opportunity!

Read more here. 

Our group of Form 7 sailors have enjoyed the last two days on board Ocean Spirit, the yacht of Gordonstoun, as they have sailed around the west coast. The weather has been mixed but they have worked so well together and made some real memories made.

A big thank you to Gordonstoun for the opportunity!

Read more here. 

The Form 6 potential Art scholars’ enjoyed a fabulous afternoon workshop with Barbara Conway and Laura Sutherland from Fettes College. They did some ilk screen printing and book design based on the work of Eduardo Paolozzi. A fantastic afternoon! 

Read more here. 

The Form 6 potential Art scholars’ enjoyed a fabulous afternoon workshop with Barbara Conway and Laura Sutherland from Fettes College. They did some ilk screen printing and book design based on the work of Eduardo Paolozzi. A fantastic afternoon! 

Read more here. 

What a tremendous evening’s entertainment Form 7 gave us performing their own version of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves! In the open air around the tree house, with the evening sun shining, there were puns aplenty and lots of laughter from the audience (and the cast!) as the entertaining story unfolded and we even had a dancing German camel! Great fun indeed! Very well done to all those involved; a terrific production and a lot of fun.

Read more here. 

What a tremendous evening’s entertainment Form 7 gave us performing their own version of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves! In the open air around the tree house, with the evening sun shining, there were puns aplenty and lots of laughter from the audience (and the cast!) as the entertaining story unfolded and we even had a dancing German camel! Great fun indeed! Very well done to all those involved; a terrific production and a lot of fun.

Read more here. 

These are the Boarding Weekends for 2019/20:

These are the Boarding Weekends for 2019/20:

P3 went to RSPB Tayside and Fife at Loch Leven to learn all about the mini beasts that live all around us. They trapped their own insects and inspected them using maginifying glasses. They also pondipped, looking for underwater mini beasts. Earth worms, dragonflies, beetles, flies, slugs, water beetles, sticklebacks and tadpoles are just some of the creatures discovered on this fantastic trip! Thank you Loch Leven for such a lovely day in the sunshine!

Read more here. 

P3 went to RSPB Tayside and Fife at Loch Leven to learn all about the mini beasts that live all around us. They trapped their own insects and inspected them using maginifying glasses. They also pondipped, looking for underwater mini beasts. Earth worms, dragonflies, beetles, flies, slugs, water beetles, sticklebacks and tadpoles are just some of the creatures discovered on this fantastic trip! Thank you Loch Leven for such a lovely day in the sunshine!

Read more here. 

A wonderful afternoon of athletics brought the first half of term to an end under glorious blue skies. There were lots of outstanding performances on the track and in the field events and the children all enjoyed the competition. 

Read more here. 

A wonderful afternoon of athletics brought the first half of term to an end under glorious blue skies. There were lots of outstanding performances on the track and in the field events and the children all enjoyed the competition. 

Read more here. 

We headed to Merchiston for the 3rd and final match in our ‘Tri-Series’ and thank you to them for giving us the extra fixtures.  Once again, the squad was refreshed and some of those 3rd XI players who have stood out in training, were given the chance to show what they could do.  Having lost the toss, we went into bat and William and Leo opened.  Leo went after just 1 run but in came Ramsay to play very well alongside William.  William made some quick singles whilst Ramsay at the other end, played the big powerful shots.  Their partnership of 48 ended when Ramsay hit his own wicket and William went just after.  Lachie scored 1 and in came Mungo to partner Ollie and with both players on 0, it felt like we were starting again from scratch.  Both Form 7 boys batted extremely well with Ollie making some great runs and rotating the strike and Mungo, in his first appearance for the 2nds, timing some lovely shots to the off side.  They took us on to over 120 runs before Ollie was retired and Mungo fell to a straight delivery.  The tail enders made a few to get us to 134/6.

After match tea, Maclean opened the bowling with Joshua and both bowlers kept the run rate very low with their accurate deliveries.  The breakthrough came from Edward who pitched it short to allow the batman to pop one up to Maclean at mid-off.  Two wickets fell in Joel’s first over and Finn bowled a beauty to dismiss one of their more dangerous players.  ‘Safe-hands Maclean’ was there again to take two excellent catches, including one from his own delivery and when Joshua caught the ball to give Edward’s his  second wicket, we were so close to getting them all out and just a dropped catch on the final delivery preventing us doing so.

Another win for the 2nd XI gives them an unbeaten first half of term and this was a good team performance with two players in particular standing out – Ollie for his superb batting and Maclean for his fielding.  Well done, boys!

We headed to Merchiston for the 3rd and final match in our ‘Tri-Series’ and thank you to them for giving us the extra fixtures.  Once again, the squad was refreshed and some of those 3rd XI players who have stood out in training, were given the chance to show what they could do.  Having lost the toss, we went into bat and William and Leo opened.  Leo went after just 1 run but in came Ramsay to play very well alongside William.  William made some quick singles whilst Ramsay at the other end, played the big powerful shots.  Their partnership of 48 ended when Ramsay hit his own wicket and William went just after.  Lachie scored 1 and in came Mungo to partner Ollie and with both players on 0, it felt like we were starting again from scratch.  Both Form 7 boys batted extremely well with Ollie making some great runs and rotating the strike and Mungo, in his first appearance for the 2nds, timing some lovely shots to the off side.  They took us on to over 120 runs before Ollie was retired and Mungo fell to a straight delivery.  The tail enders made a few to get us to 134/6.

After match tea, Maclean opened the bowling with Joshua and both bowlers kept the run rate very low with their accurate deliveries.  The breakthrough came from Edward who pitched it short to allow the batman to pop one up to Maclean at mid-off.  Two wickets fell in Joel’s first over and Finn bowled a beauty to dismiss one of their more dangerous players.  ‘Safe-hands Maclean’ was there again to take two excellent catches, including one from his own delivery and when Joshua caught the ball to give Edward’s his  second wicket, we were so close to getting them all out and just a dropped catch on the final delivery preventing us doing so.

Another win for the 2nd XI gives them an unbeaten first half of term and this was a good team performance with two players in particular standing out – Ollie for his superb batting and Maclean for his fielding.  Well done, boys!

Another glorious summer’s afternoon over in Musselburgh today and playing on the beautiful 1stXI square, we really did hit our straps today and put in very nearly the complete performance to convincingly beat a good Loretto side by 82 runs. A very strong batting display meant we are able to rotate the bowling quite a lot and this allowed us to look a little bit towards next year as Max, Edward and Quin all bowled good spells taking wickets at regular intervals and run scoring was very difficult. The boys played some really impressive cricket today and once again, we showed real strength in depth in all areas of the game.

Harry won the toss again and elected to bat first, and I was keen to see how we would bounce back after a poor batting performance last week against Fettes (despite winning the game easily after a superb bowling performance). Jack and Harry opened and Loretto, once again, bowled tightly as they had done two weeks ago when we played them in the rain; we were 16-0 off five overs, playing each ball on its merit and running well too. Then Jack succumbed to a straight one and played across the line which brought Sebastian to the crease. He has worked really hard in the nets and I felt it important to give him the opportunity to bat high in the order against good bowling to see if he could build an innings; together, they put on 63 in exactly ten overs, upping the run rate and batting well together. 

I always say how crucial it is that batters bat together, encourage each other, speak to each other and keep each other mentally strong, and the skipper certainly kept Sebastian on his toes with plenty of quick singles taken too! After a slightly hesitant start, Seb got his feet moving much better, and he hit the two shots of the match with consecutive textbook cover drives hit very hard along the ground to the boundary; a terrific knock of 24 off 32 balls, but ended slightly farcically as he jogged through for a single and was run out failing to ground his bat. A disappointing end to a super innings, but one he will hopefully learn from – total focus and concentration is required and not to throw it away having got in!

Harry went on and on, reaching his 50 off 56 balls and then accelerated at just the right time, scoring 23 off just 13 as we pushed on in the final few overs, reaching 151-4 off our 25 overs. It was Harry’s best innings of the season, full of technically correct shots, playing each ball on its merit, and quick to capitalise on scoring opportunities be that taking singles when the field was pushed back, or else playing forcing shots through the gaps. A joy to watch; well batted. A very good score given the quality of the bowling, and I was really pleased with how we bounced back from last week.

In reply, Vinjero and Harry bowled miserly three over spells, each giving nothing away and Harry picking up the key wicket, bowling their captain for just 3. The pair of them bowl in really good areas, forcing the batsmen to play and backed up by excellent fielding, cutting off run scoring opportunities which then forces the batsmen to play false shots. Edward and Will were the change bowlers and again both bowled very well indeed with Will picking up two wickets for just 5 runs in his 4 overs; he continues to work hard and his left arm bowling is going to be a real handful in the next few years. Our top four bowlers produce the goods time and time again and are very hard to score off. So 35-4 off 14 overs, game done and dusted.

However, this was the perfect opportunity to rotate the bowling round and Max and Quin bowled extended spells this afternoon which bodes well for next year. Max bowled a fantastic spell of 5 overs, 1 maiden, taking 4 wickets for just 8 runs; he bowled very straight if truth be told which is half the battle, but Todd once again snaffled a couple of excellent catches behind the stumps and there was also a fantastic run out from Jack who had an excellent afternoon in the field. Impressive and really encouraging, and although we could have wrapped things up much earlier, it was important to give others a go and perform under pressure out in the middle. It is always different from bowling in the nets, and today was the ideal situation to try things out. So Loretto ended 69-9 and a comfortable and convincing win.

They have been our strongest opposition this term so far, and it was good to lock horns with Peter again, once of this parish, who was very complimentary about the quality of cricket we played today. It has been an outstanding first half of term and this group of boys have played some really good cricket over the past 4 weeks. Now, the focus is on exams and F8 camp, but after that we have the Merchiston Super 8s, and matches against SMC, Carlton CC and Ardvreck still to come so there is a lot of cricket still to play once Common Entrance is out of the way!

Very well played today, boys. Another impressive team effort, and your Lucas ice cream afterwards was well deserved!

Another glorious summer’s afternoon over in Musselburgh today and playing on the beautiful 1stXI square, we really did hit our straps today and put in very nearly the complete performance to convincingly beat a good Loretto side by 82 runs. A very strong batting display meant we are able to rotate the bowling quite a lot and this allowed us to look a little bit towards next year as Max, Edward and Quin all bowled good spells taking wickets at regular intervals and run scoring was very difficult. The boys played some really impressive cricket today and once again, we showed real strength in depth in all areas of the game.

Harry won the toss again and elected to bat first, and I was keen to see how we would bounce back after a poor batting performance last week against Fettes (despite winning the game easily after a superb bowling performance). Jack and Harry opened and Loretto, once again, bowled tightly as they had done two weeks ago when we played them in the rain; we were 16-0 off five overs, playing each ball on its merit and running well too. Then Jack succumbed to a straight one and played across the line which brought Sebastian to the crease. He has worked really hard in the nets and I felt it important to give him the opportunity to bat high in the order against good bowling to see if he could build an innings; together, they put on 63 in exactly ten overs, upping the run rate and batting well together. 

I always say how crucial it is that batters bat together, encourage each other, speak to each other and keep each other mentally strong, and the skipper certainly kept Sebastian on his toes with plenty of quick singles taken too! After a slightly hesitant start, Seb got his feet moving much better, and he hit the two shots of the match with consecutive textbook cover drives hit very hard along the ground to the boundary; a terrific knock of 24 off 32 balls, but ended slightly farcically as he jogged through for a single and was run out failing to ground his bat. A disappointing end to a super innings, but one he will hopefully learn from – total focus and concentration is required and not to throw it away having got in!

Harry went on and on, reaching his 50 off 56 balls and then accelerated at just the right time, scoring 23 off just 13 as we pushed on in the final few overs, reaching 151-4 off our 25 overs. It was Harry’s best innings of the season, full of technically correct shots, playing each ball on its merit, and quick to capitalise on scoring opportunities be that taking singles when the field was pushed back, or else playing forcing shots through the gaps. A joy to watch; well batted. A very good score given the quality of the bowling, and I was really pleased with how we bounced back from last week.

In reply, Vinjero and Harry bowled miserly three over spells, each giving nothing away and Harry picking up the key wicket, bowling their captain for just 3. The pair of them bowl in really good areas, forcing the batsmen to play and backed up by excellent fielding, cutting off run scoring opportunities which then forces the batsmen to play false shots. Edward and Will were the change bowlers and again both bowled very well indeed with Will picking up two wickets for just 5 runs in his 4 overs; he continues to work hard and his left arm bowling is going to be a real handful in the next few years. Our top four bowlers produce the goods time and time again and are very hard to score off. So 35-4 off 14 overs, game done and dusted.

However, this was the perfect opportunity to rotate the bowling round and Max and Quin bowled extended spells this afternoon which bodes well for next year. Max bowled a fantastic spell of 5 overs, 1 maiden, taking 4 wickets for just 8 runs; he bowled very straight if truth be told which is half the battle, but Todd once again snaffled a couple of excellent catches behind the stumps and there was also a fantastic run out from Jack who had an excellent afternoon in the field. Impressive and really encouraging, and although we could have wrapped things up much earlier, it was important to give others a go and perform under pressure out in the middle. It is always different from bowling in the nets, and today was the ideal situation to try things out. So Loretto ended 69-9 and a comfortable and convincing win.

They have been our strongest opposition this term so far, and it was good to lock horns with Peter again, once of this parish, who was very complimentary about the quality of cricket we played today. It has been an outstanding first half of term and this group of boys have played some really good cricket over the past 4 weeks. Now, the focus is on exams and F8 camp, but after that we have the Merchiston Super 8s, and matches against SMC, Carlton CC and Ardvreck still to come so there is a lot of cricket still to play once Common Entrance is out of the way!

Very well played today, boys. Another impressive team effort, and your Lucas ice cream afterwards was well deserved!

On a blustery day at Merchiston, Max won the toss and elected to bat, Diederik and James made full use of the pitch and got Cargilfield off to an absolute flyer off the first four overs.

This continued throughout with some solid batting from Theo and Oscar laying a foundation for our remaining batsmen to blast our way to 135 off our 20 overs. Key to this total was the running between the wickets from the whole group alongside impressive power hitting from Cameron, Duncan and Alex.

Our bowling was consistently good with Chay, Duncan and Oliver bowling particularly economically resulting in Merchiston having to force the game, leading too a comfortable 43 run victory for Cargilfield.

On a blustery day at Merchiston, Max won the toss and elected to bat, Diederik and James made full use of the pitch and got Cargilfield off to an absolute flyer off the first four overs.

This continued throughout with some solid batting from Theo and Oscar laying a foundation for our remaining batsmen to blast our way to 135 off our 20 overs. Key to this total was the running between the wickets from the whole group alongside impressive power hitting from Cameron, Duncan and Alex.

Our bowling was consistently good with Chay, Duncan and Oliver bowling particularly economically resulting in Merchiston having to force the game, leading too a comfortable 43 run victory for Cargilfield.

Lost to Loretto 8 ½ to 3

Lost to St Mary’s 10 to 2 ½

We had a super afternoon down in Melrose for a mini triangular tournament with the Under 10 girls. Against stiff opposition, the girls played well and have made great improvements in their games over the last few weeks.

In the first match against Loretto, there was some great fielding by Isobel who was able to retrieve long balls and Judith made two great catches (in almost exactly the same place)! A solid bowling and backstop performance by Mariella and Annika, teaming up with Lottie at 1^st to make a good triangle. Mariella also scored a great rounder in the batting innings, with Lola and Famke also scoring.

Against St Mary’s, Anna batted very well to score an excellent rounder and 2 half rounders. Lara, Bea and Sophia also had some good hits of the ball and were unlucky not to score from these. St Mary’s had some very strong batters and scored some good rounders but the girls remained competitive in the field with some great deep fielding again from Isobel.

Well done to all the girls for trying hard and being excellent representatives of the school. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in the borders in wonderful surroundings and with great team spirit.

Lost to Loretto 8 ½ to 3

Lost to St Mary’s 10 to 2 ½

We had a super afternoon down in Melrose for a mini triangular tournament with the Under 10 girls. Against stiff opposition, the girls played well and have made great improvements in their games over the last few weeks.

In the first match against Loretto, there was some great fielding by Isobel who was able to retrieve long balls and Judith made two great catches (in almost exactly the same place)! A solid bowling and backstop performance by Mariella and Annika, teaming up with Lottie at 1^st to make a good triangle. Mariella also scored a great rounder in the batting innings, with Lola and Famke also scoring.

Against St Mary’s, Anna batted very well to score an excellent rounder and 2 half rounders. Lara, Bea and Sophia also had some good hits of the ball and were unlucky not to score from these. St Mary’s had some very strong batters and scored some good rounders but the girls remained competitive in the field with some great deep fielding again from Isobel.

Well done to all the girls for trying hard and being excellent representatives of the school. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in the borders in wonderful surroundings and with great team spirit.