Author: Naomi Farrimond

Room 12 Birdie Dance

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Room 12 have been exploring photography this term.  We have had great fun with digital cameras, eyegaze cameras and ipad cameras.  We decided to use our skills and take photos and video for Easter.  We decided to show you all how to do the Birdie Dance.

We hope you have a lovely Easter and enjoy this classic dance.

Head Teacher’s Easter Blog

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HT Easter Blog

It’s the Easter holidays already, wow, that was a fast term and again another busy term for our Orchard Brae community.  This term has brought it challenges with COVID having an impact on our staff, even I couldn’t escape it, but there is light to be seen and with the new term will come less restrictions.

We hope to resume our educational trips in the community and at long last get back into the water.  Our school will be opened back up to the community and we can welcome parents and visitors back in, it will be great to see you all in person again. 

We have a few ideas for events in the summer term and we will keep you informed of all the dates and our plans. 

Our building is almost fence free and our plans to revitalise the outdoor space are well underway, thanks to our fantastic outdoor learning team Roddy and Sharon.  The arrival of our all-terrain bikes was a great to see and once the weather gets a little bit warmer, we will be out in full force getting maximum use out of them.

After the holidays we will be sending out a questionnaire to gather our school communities’ thoughts on the changes we have made to some processes and what you would like to see change/develop moving forward.  All ideas welcomed!

Congratulations to Naomi Farrimond who officially took up the post of PT Secondary this term.   

Important Dates

  • Term ends – Friday 1 April 2022
  • Term starts – Monday 18 April 2022
  • May Day holiday – Monday 2 May 2022
  • In-service day – Tuesday 3 May 2022
  • Polling Day – Thursday 5th May (Orchard Brae @ Ashgrove, closed to all pupils)
  • Queen’s Platinum Jubilee- Friday 3 June 2022
  • Term ends – Friday 1 July 2022

Parents/Carers evening will be in June but no date has been set yet – more information to follow after the holidays.

Howes Hoose Work Experience

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The pupils in Howes Hoose have been very busy on work placements. They now have the opportunity to work at Airyhall Community Centre and Somebody Cares. Work placements are very important for the pupils to meet and work with new people, increase their confidence and independence. Everyone on work placement is working hard and they are very polite to people they meet. Well done to all the Howes Hoose pupils for representing Orchard Brae in the wider Community in such a positive way.

Science Week

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Room 16 enjoyed celebrating Science Week last week by doing their own sensory experiment. We made our own lava lamps by adding Vitamin C tablets to oil and coloured water. We enjoyed the smell of the orange from the vitamin C, the sound of the fizzing and the sight of the bubbles coming through the layer of oil. It also gave us all the opportunity to practise our motor skills with pouring the water and oil. We shone lights underneath our lamps and put the lights out – they looked awesome!

Red Nose fun in 15

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This week Room 15 have been busy learning to play Boccia in class. It has been so much fun getting to play all together as a class. We’ve been taking turns and practising our throwing skills and trying to get as close to the white ball as possible. 

On Friday, we celebrated Red Nose Day by making some squishy red noses of our own. We filled bits of tights with red pom poms and then glued on some googly eyes and wool to make them look funny! Some of us used really big eyes, some used small and some used a mixture! Then we made some red gloop to play with. It was so sticky!

Willow tunnel

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Our fantastic Outdoor Learning team are working hard to develop the school outdoor area. Last year Sharon started a willow tunnel leading to the sensory garden. This is a huge job so last weekend Sharon enlisted a few helpers to come and finish setting it up! We think it looks marvellous!

Huge THANK YOU to John Malster who came to teach everyone how to work with Willow and to everyone who came along to help out. Well done everyone

Boccia in Room 15

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This week Room 15 have been busy learning to play Boccia in class. It has been so much fun getting to play all together as a class. We’ve been taking turns and practising our throwing skills and trying to get as close to the white ball as possible. 

We have also been getting really good at making playdough. Using our skills to measure out the ingredients and mixing them together.