Winter Reminder

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As we head into the winter months, please find below a general reminder of illnesses in school.

Due to the increased vulnerability of our Pupils, we must all take extra precautions when dealing with potential infectious illnesses.

If you feel your child/young person is unwell, please contact the school to check before sending them on to transport.

If your child has required paracetamol/Ibuprofen, please contact the school before putting them on transport.

Pupil Escorts will be encouraged to contact the school if they feel that your child is in any way unwell, so please be patient and understanding.

Other Information

For cough/colds/respiratory illnesses – Please keep your child at home if the following applies:

· coughs where the child young person is unable to perform cough etiquette in the infectious period.

· Runny noses – Green/yellow or constant runny nose.

For Diarrhoea and vomiting

• Please ensure that 48 hours has passed between the last episode of vomiting and or loose bowel movement

If your child/young person has a regular cough/vomits/diarrhoea or paracetamol/ibuprofen for medical reasons, please ensure that the school have been informed of any condition. Otherwise, normal exclusions will apply.

School Closure Information Line

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Please find details of the Aberdeen City schools telephone information service for parents/guardians.  This is the Schools Information Line.

 The main features of this service are:

  1. Emergency Arrangements message for Parents/Guardians

To be used to inform parents/guardians of emergency arrangements and important announcements, e.g. early closure arising from adverse weather conditions/failure of heating systems.

  1. Voicemail for Recording non-urgent Messages from Parents/Guardians

The system also has the potential to record brief messages of a routine nature from parents/guardians.  You will be advised at a later date if this feature is to be activated.

  1. List of Messages containing School Information

This could hold routine information for parents/guardians, e.g. the times for a Parents’ Night, School Concert details, etc.

Parents/Guardians can access these features by dialling this National Rate number:

Tel: 0870 054 1999

 A Council message will be heard followed by a request for a six-digit PIN number specific to their child’s school.

The Pin Number for Orchard Brae School is     011890.

 Once connected, a voice will speak out the name of the school and a series of prompts will guide the caller to the appropriate option.  The cost of calls is no more than 10p/call (landline calls).  You can also check school closure status on the School Closure page on the Aberdeen City Council website. Please use the link below:  

https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/school-closures

We did it! Orchard Brae achieves Silver RRSA!

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We are delighted to share that today we had our Silver Accreditation visit with UNICEF to look at how we’re progressing our Rights Respecting School work. Our assessors enjoyed learning about the work that we do in Orchard Brae and the opportunity to meet with some pupils (thank you Room 19), parents and staff. A huge thanks to everyone that joined us virtually or in person.

Please enjoy the video that we shared to highlight some of our work.

We’ll share more about our next steps in future as we are keen to continue progressing, going for Gold in the longer term. For now, we’re delighted to have recognition as a Silver Rights Respecting School: Rights Aware.

We Are All Unique

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Back in August, the Home Economics department started work on an exciting project to showcase our school in a vibrant and innovative way. By celebrating the unique styles and individuality of our students, we have highlighted the beauty of our diverse community. Each student crafted their own small square, and when combined, these squares create a stunning patchwork that represents our differences while illustrating how they harmoniously come together to form something truly remarkable – much like our school itself.

Every square is a true reflection of each child’s creativity, with personalised choices in colours, designs, and even fonts. This artwork, titled “We are OB 24/25,” beautifully encapsulates the essence of our collective spirit and individuality.

A Feast of Pumpkins

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For our end of term, we held a pumpkin competition where each class was given a pumpkin and asked to decorate it.

This morning we displayed our pumpkins in the hall and classes had the opportunity to come and see them and vote to see which one we liked the most.

We are delighted to announce in third place were Rooms 10, 12 and 18 with 8 votes each. In second place was Room 3 with 10 votes and the winner was Room 7 with 13 votes!

Whole School Assembly

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Today we held our monthly Celebration and Rights Respecting assembly. It was great to say ‘well done’ to so many pupils for their hard work and efforts which included graduating from the MOVE programme, independent walking, building confidence and relationships, as well as developing life skills and enterprise!

We then focused on our right of the month from the UNCRC, which is number 27 – ‘I have the right to a proper home, food and clothing.’

We looked at the changing seasons from summer to autumn, and how this brings about changes in the weather and the types of clothing we need to wear. We also looked at how the change of seasons leads to harvest and the variety of foods available in autumn.

Here is a copy of our assembly slides, if you want to share them with your child at home.

Social Snack

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Today we held our first Social Snack of the school year. We were delighted to have pupils and staff join us from across the school and everyone had a super time socialising and eating together. It was great to see pupils from different classes spending time together and mixing with other pupils that they might not come across within their normal school day.

Pupils were actively encouraged to come and choose their snack from a selection of cereals, fruits and toast and where possible, independently prepare them.

Social Snack will be a regular event, being held monthly and we can’t wait to see how it grows over the year – we just need to work out who’s turn it it’ll be for the washing up!

End of Term Newsletter

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Another school year has gone and as I sat through the various ceremonies and prizegiving’s this week, it made me reflect on how well the community comes together to celebrate all our successes.  This year we have been involved in lots of whole city events, where our children and young people have been recognised for their talents, skills and potential, a trend that I hope we can build upon.  Once again, the pupils have made me so proud (and tearful) when I see all of their achievements.

Outdoor Classroom

It will finally be open in August!  Many thanks to our partners, Fairhurst, especially Bob McCracken and Stuart Thompson who have been invaluable in moving this project forward.  Also, we have many more “thanks” to give which we will do in due course.  The official opening will happen in August.

Thanks

Many thanks to Orchard Brae Connect and Friends of Orchard Brae, whose support to the school is invaluable.

Thank you to all the staff who have, once again, worked hard to support all our pupils to be the best they can be.

Finally, thanks to all the parents and carers who have supported us this year, our community couldn’t thrive without you.

Important Dates

In-service day – Monday 19 August 2024

Term starts – Tuesday 20 August 2024

September holiday – Friday 20 September to Monday 23 September 2024

Term ends – Friday 11 October 2024

Learning about money in our classroom bakery

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In Room 6, we recently transformed our classroom into a busy bakery, providing a fantastic hands-on opportunity for our pupils to learn about money and the concepts of big and small items, particularly in the context of £1 and £2 coins. We brought the shop into our classroom instead of shopping in a real shop!

Our bakery project was designed to teach the children essential skills in a fun and engaging way. Each pupil received some play money, including £1 and £2 coins, to spend at our bakery. They could choose between big and small loaves of bread, pay at the till, and even wait for their change. This activity helped them practise counting, recognize different coin values, and understand basic transactions.

Moreover, this experience was multi-sensory. The kids used their senses to immerse themselves fully in the bakery environment. They enjoyed the fresh aroma of the baked goods, felt the different textures of the bread, and, of course, tasted the delicious results of their purchases. This sensory engagement made the learning process enjoyable and memorable.

The bakery project also introduced the concepts of big and small amounts of money and the corresponding bread sizes. The children learned that larger loaves cost more and smaller loaves cost less. This practical exercise helped them grasp these abstract concepts in a real-world context, understanding that bigger items often require more money and vice versa.

Overall, our classroom bakery was a resounding success. It was an excellent way for the kids to learn about money management while having fun. They gained confidence in handling money, making choices, and understanding the value of different amounts. Well done, Room 6! This experience has been educational and enriching for all involved.

Poppy (and Room 9’s!) Busy Weeks!

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Room 9 have continued our community focus for this term with a new book study, “Poppy’s Busy Week” by Suzanne Miell-Ingram and Tracey Upton (Singing Hands).  In this story, Poppy visits a different place in her community each day.

We started off by exploring the library, setting up our own class library (and library cards), choosing books and cosying up for a story and playing games to see how quiet we could be!  

After that we headed to the dentist, and alongside a focus on our toothbrushing skills we set up a wee dentist practice in class for role play and exploring symbol recognition skills – we enjoyed seeing our reflections in the mirror!  We had mark-making activities using toothbrushes and sang about brushing our teeth for our listening activity.  

Following on from dentist week we explored the Post Office.  We set up a Post Office in class, with posting activities, envelopes, stamps, cards and more.  During our expressive arts lesson we designed cards which we have since posted to our home addresses, walking to the local post box to post them ourselves.

Throughout all of this we continue to offer free play options which explore other community roles, including dressing up (Room 9 are fabulous at taking on the role of different emergency services!) and toy figures.

Next week we’re exploring a more familiar community feature, school, before moving on to doctors, hairdressers and then houses and homes.  We’re especially looking forward to our end of term community feature – the beach!