CARGILFIELD - Key Persons


Dr Joanna Allsop

Job Titles:
  • Director of Music

English, Games

Job Titles:
  • History

Lord Sinclair MRICS - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman
Matthew joined the Board of Governors in 2021. He is a former pupil of the school and a former parent. From Cargilfield Matthew went on to Glenalmond College and graduated from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester in 1992. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1994, whilst working for a national firm of Surveyors, progressing to associate partner, before leaving and founding Saint Property in 2000, a property search, acquisition and advisory business throughout Scotland. He is the past chairman of the Scottish Land and Estates South West Region and past chairman of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Scottish Auction. He currently holds a number of trustee posts for family estates. He is the owner of Knocknalling Farms, a farming and forestry enterprise in Galloway, and was appointed Lord-Lieutenant for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in July 2021.

Milly Scott Dempster

Job Titles:
  • Teaching Assistant

Miss Adeline Poirier

Job Titles:
  • Head of French

Miss Isabella Pett

Job Titles:
  • Head of R.S. & PSHE, Form 4

Miss Mhairi Hastie Smith

Job Titles:
  • Head of Games (

Miss Taisie Pennick

Job Titles:
  • P3 Teacher

Mr Alan Harper

Job Titles:
  • Catering Manager

Mr Alan Pike

Job Titles:
  • Form 4, Geography, Science

Mr Andrew McGregor

Job Titles:
  • Education and Welfare )
Following school at University College School, Hampstead, Andrew read Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He began his career at Brentwood School before joining Harrow School in 1987, where he taught for three decades. He was House Master of The Head Master's before his appointment to Harrow's Senior Management Team in September 2012. As Senior Tutor, he oversaw safeguarding and child protection as well as other areas of pastoral care and pupil welfare. Andrew takes a keen interest in all forms of sport. He is a published playwright with a love of musical theatre and continues to use his tenor voice wherever possible (most recently with Chelmsford Cathedral Choir). Andrew joined the Board in 2018. He is a member of the Education and Welfare Committee and Chair of the Safeguarding Committee.

Mr Brian Thomson

Job Titles:
  • Vice Chairman
Brian has two children who spent a combined 14 years at Cargilfield. He is an avid Cargilfield sports fan who has tagged along on eight sports tours involving rugby, hockey and netball and stood pitch-side for countless matches. Brian hails from Canada and has been living in the UK with his family since 2012. After graduating in Astronomy from Columbia University, Brian entered the quantitative trading world in New York. After some years at Chemical Bank and Interactive Brokers, he founded Hardcastle Trading in Switzerland in 1998 where he served as CEO until 2012 and more recently as chairman. Brian spent his teenage years at a Scottish traditional boarding school in Canada and is delighted to be associated with Cargilfield. He is Chair of the FGP and Vice Chair of the Board.

Mr Graham Swift

Job Titles:
  • Maintenance

Mr Iain Tinkler

Job Titles:
  • Head of Science

Mr Kenny Pope

Job Titles:
  • Groundsman

Mr Lindsay Kerr

Job Titles:
  • Head of Boarding

Mr Matthew Bayda

Job Titles:
  • Head of Maintenance

Mr Rob Taylor

Job Titles:
  • Headmaster, English

Mr Robert Lemmer

Job Titles:
  • Mathematics and Science

Mr Ross Murdoch

Job Titles:
  • Deputy Head, Head of Computer Science and Design Technology

Mrs Anna Mackenzie

Anna is an experienced strategy, change and communications professional who has worked at a leadership level in financial services, agri-foods and the pharmaceutical sector in both the UK and other European countries. She spent much of her childhood in Australia. She attended the University of Aberdeen and then lived in London for ten years. In her spare time she is keen on current affairs, running and pilates. She has two boys at Cargilfield and is a huge admirer of the school. This admiration is based not only on the experience of her two children but her own personal insights into myriad education systems and schools in three different continents.

Mrs Clare Marsh

Job Titles:
  • Head of Geography and Humanities

Mrs Dawn Spencer

Job Titles:
  • P2 Teacher

Mrs Eily Quayle

Job Titles:
  • P2 Teacher

Mrs Emma Buchanan

Job Titles:
  • Deputy Head, Head of Pre Prep

Mrs Fiona Craig

Job Titles:
  • Registrar

Mrs Fiona Macmillan

Job Titles:
  • Learning Support

Mrs Gaynor Prentice

Job Titles:
  • Teaching Assistant

Mrs Holly Wordie

Holly was a parent at Cargilfield from 2006 until 2019. During that time, the family moved from Edinburgh to Stirlingshire and embraced boarding life at Cargilfield (she also spent many hours manning the second-hand uniform cupboard)! Holly graduated with a degree in Modern Languages and Business in 1992 before working abroad and then pursuing a career in Financial Recruitment and Training in London. Since living in Scotland, she has spent her time juggling homelife, with one child still at Uppingham, one at Edinburgh College following a course for students with additional needs and a ‘grown up' child at University. She has a particular interest and experience with special educational needs and autism. Holly is a keen sportswoman and has spent many years supporting school teams. In her free time she enjoys most outdoor pursuits, travelling and looking after the family's animals.

Mrs Jenny Sinclair

Job Titles:
  • School Nurse

Mrs Kirsty Lukas

Job Titles:
  • Bursar

Mrs Laura Webber

Job Titles:
  • Mathematics & Science

Mrs Lizzie Bruce

Job Titles:
  • Librarian and Former Pupils' Coordinator

Mrs Lizzie Kerr

Job Titles:
  • Head of Boarding

Mrs Megan Collier

Job Titles:
  • Head of Learning Support

Mrs Nicola Lyell

Job Titles:
  • Learning Support, Head of English

Mrs Rachel Bucknall

Job Titles:
  • Director of the TBC Pub Company
Rachel is a director of the TBC Pub Company which owns and runs The Bridge Inn at Ratho, and The Ship Inn and The 19th Hole in Elie. She was brought up near Kelso and educated at Queen Mary's in Helmsley and then at Haileybury College before going to York University to study music. She has three children all of whom went to Cargilfield from Nursery, and then went onto Rugby School. She was Chair of Friends of Cargilfield for a number of years and her brothers, father and grandfather are all past pupils, making Cargilfield truly run through her veins. In her spare time Rachel sings for The Scottish Chamber Choir, occasionally plays for The Scottish Sinfonia, and looks after her small-holding producing meat, vegetables and eggs for her pubs. Rachel joined the Board in 2017, and takes a particular interest in marketing and contact with Old Cargundians.

Mrs Sally Hamilton

Sally has two children both of whom attended Cargilfield before going on to Glenalmond College. She chaired the Friends of Cargilfield for almost three years and has always been a keen supporter of the school. Sally worked as a solicitor in Edinburgh working in commercial/civil litigation and latterly criminal cases before ‘retiring' to bring up her children. She then became involved in supporting several charities and is now employed part-time advising a Family Trust. Whilst her days as a keen sportswoman are long behind her she enjoys country sports, entertaining and skiing badly.

Mrs Sarah Taylor

Job Titles:
  • Headmaster

Mrs Tiffany Murdoch

Job Titles:
  • Head of Nursery

Mrs Tina Liversidge - CMO

Job Titles:
  • Head of Marketing

Mrs Vin Parker

Job Titles:
  • P1 Teacher

Ms Alexa Hare

Job Titles:
  • Head of Art

Ms Megan Campbell

Job Titles:
  • Head of Classics

Rachael Pollock

Job Titles:
  • School Secretary and Head 's PA

Xiaoyan Cui

Job Titles:
  • Accounts Officer