Changing Lives Through our Bursary Programme

Viki attended MES from P6 until she left S6 in 1988. Viki launched Big Blue PR in 1999 after gaining experience in sports marketing at Scottish Rugby Magazine.  Viki was also instrumental in establishing the first women’s rugby club in Scotland and has recently been involved in a play, “90 Days”, which is about the 1994 Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

I attended my local school until Primary Six when I moved to The Mary Erskine School (MES). The decision to change schools was my parents, because they had recognised my sporting ability and wanted to give me the opportunities of private education. My mum was a nurse and my dad worked in financial services so they could not have possibly afforded to send me to MES, if it was not for the chance to have a bursary to enable me to access to MES.

When I started in Primary Six it felt like a baptism of fire – I didn’t know anyone and I felt like a bit of an outsider. I was put into Clan Erskine for my form class. Compared to my old school, MES felt more structured, with firmer boundaries. Children were much better behaved overall and there was less nonsense, it was clear pupils were there to learn. Everybody was really friendly from the start and I was keen to make the most of the opportunity that I had been given.

On reflection now, I can see quite what the financial commitment was from parents to send their children to MES, but also for the individuals that financially support the bursary programme to enable pupils like myself to access the best possible education.

MES was a big campus with two gyms and a swimming pool – it felt like a land of opportunity at that point and was a real eye opener. There were so many different areas to get involved in including sports, drama and music and I grabbed hold of all the opportunities that were made available to me. At the school that I had been at, there had not been a choir, for someone that loved to sing and perform, it felt very special to have that chance to be able to take part in regular music lessons.

The school felt that it had a personal approach for me, especially at the age and stage that I was at between 11 to 16. It was very much a joined-up approach and an individualised and informative way of managing and helping to get the best out of each student. The staff did all they could to harness my abilities and ensure I put in effort to get the best possible outcomes. I became Captain of the basketball team that started up, I sang in the Edinburgh Festival in the choir, I went to Carbisdale and did my Duke of Edinburgh, to name just some of the things that I got involved with.

The aim of the School was to get you to pass your exams, but there was so much more to do and the staff invested in us as individuals, giving so much time and effort to really understand what we needed. The relationship between staff and pupil was so important and I always felt that I had someone to turn to ask for support and/or advice. As I progressed through the school in my later years, your relationship with teachers matures and you can have a laugh with them, especially outside the classroom, through things like outdoor learning.

After school I went into college and within two years, I had started working for my father in a solicitor’s office. All the things that I had learnt from my subjects like history, geography, PE, creative writing and typing all started to come back into fruition. The life skills that I had learnt, through performing, achieving sporting excellence, having the drive and determination to success on the sports pitch and finding my competitive edge propelled me in my professional work.

Following on from that, I started the women’s first rugby club, as one of the cofounders in Scotland. I played rugby for 12 years and represented Edinburgh and one of the main drivers behind that was being able to think like a winner and keeping to the competitive mindset that I had learnt at school. I also started my own PR, Sponsorship & Events business which has been successfully trading for 25 years.

I left school 38 years ago but I am still friends with many of my school mates and when we meet, we have school memories that we still talk about to this day. There are around 8 of us that keep in touch and a couple of close friends that I will speak to most days. These are lifelong, authentic friendships with people that know me the best because they have been part of my life for decades.

It is truly a lifelong opportunity that you provide when you give to the Bursary Fund. It is not just for an education at school that finishes when you’re 18 – children that receive a bursary will feel the benefit every day for the rest of their lives. By giving, you are creating a personal legacy and a lifelong impact.