Kelvinside Academy open day 2025: Discover Glasgow’s leading independent school
What do a Grammy winner, a British and Irish Lion, and a TIME Girl of the Year have in common? They all went to Kelvinside Academy.
And you can find out more about what this leading independent school can offer at the nursery and school open day on September 20, 2025, to give your children the best start in life.
Summer of successes
In any normal summer, a former pupil pulling on the red jersey of the British and Irish Lions would be the defining story for any school. So, when Glasgow Warriors and Scotland second row Scott Cummings was called up to the historic tour of Australia, the staff and pupils of former school Kelvinside Academy had reason to swell with pride.
However, 2025 has been no normal year for the 600-pupil independent school in Glasgow’s West End. Just as the excitement of Cummings’ Lions debut was settling, came news that 13-year-old pupil Rebecca Young had been named one of TIME magazine’s Girls of the Year – one of only 10 worldwide, and the only Briton to make the list.
Rebecca first made headlines aged 11, when she beat more than 70,000 entrants to win the UK Primary Engineer competition with her detailed design for a solar-powered blanket to help people experiencing homelessness. The concept has since been turned into a working model now used by the Glasgow Homeless Charity. As international media from the UK to the UAE picked up her story, she quietly returned to school this month, and while her timetable may be full of science and innovation, her real dream is to follow in the footsteps of her heavy metal idols – as a professional drummer.
For Daniel Wyatt, Rector of Kelvinside since 2019, the twin stories of Cummings and Young perfectly capture the school’s philosophy.
There is no single path to success. Our role is to open as many doors as possible and then help each child walk confidently through the one that inspires them most.
Every Seat is a Front Row Seat
That ethos is at the heart of Kelvinside’s campaign, Every Seat is a Front Row Seat, which will be on show at its open day on September 20. It reflects the belief that a small, tightly knit community can combine tradition with innovation, a school where every pupil is known, seen and heard, and where learning is rooted in doing. Whether it’s coding robots, playing chess, or building something to solve a real-world problem, pure theory is never enough. Children learn best when they make, create, and apply.”
As the school approaches its 150th anniversary in 2028, Wyatt describes leadership in schools as ‘stewardship’. “It’s about honouring tradition while building for the next 150 years,” he says. “Parents trust us with their children and their futures. We will never hold a pupil back from sitting exams to protect our results. Every child deserves their chance. That’s the difference between being future-ready and being past-focused.”
Role models matter, he adds. Rebecca Young’s accolade sits alongside alumni achievements such as Blair Ferguson, who won a Grammy after producing a US number-one hit, and Scott Cummings, who progressed from the school gym to the Lions’ dressing room. “Seeing people who once wore our blue blazer achieve extraordinary things in such different fields is the ultimate motivation. It reminds every child that they too have a front row seat to their own education, and to their future.”
“That is the future we want to create — one where every child is not just part of a system, but part of a community that knows them, believes in them, and gives them their moment in the spotlight.”
Attend the open day
To find out more about the open day and the school click here