We did it! Orchard Brae achieves Silver RRSA!

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.

Ashgrove Room 3 Ladybird Room Autumn and Winter News

The Ladybird room at Ashgrove have had a very busy term. We have been having fun in the outdoor area whilst experiencing the changing environment as Summer turns to Autumn and then Autumn turns to winter.    We have been playing in the falling leaves and lately been able to experience the snowy conditions.

 Earlier in the term we all celebrated harvest time when we went shopping for harvest vegetables which we then made into soup for snack. We have been learning about road safety whilst out for walks in the local community and learning to safely balance and climb whilst in the hall.

Now preparations are well underway with our Christmas festivities and are looking forward to our families joining us for our Nativity on Friday.  

The Nativity – Ashgrove Nursery (Butterfly Room 2)

After lots of rehearsals, we finally had our nativity show. Parents were invited, we all had a lovely time. The children were all beautifully dressed and performed brilliantly well. We had Mary, Joseph, the kings, shepherds, wise men, donkey, camel, an angel and baby JESUS.

We all had fun singing Christmas songs and jingling the bells. At the end of our show, we had a grand visit from a very special guest. Santa came in with gifts for every child. It was so lovely to have our parents in to share our day with us.

Orchard Brae Nursery Howes Road – November News

We have had a busy time in nursery in November. We participated in Bonfire night activities  painting with bright colours, popping bubble wrap with our feet, hands and wheels and activating light projectors using switches to make patterns on the walls. 

The children have been engaging in a variety of activities and discovering how they can make things move or make things happen. We did this by pushing, pulling, squeezing and tapping. We used a switch to activate the food mixer and the bubble tubes and everyone had fun playing the Apps on the Magic Carpet, to make the icons disappear and reappear through movement. 

We celebrated St. Andrews day over the week. The children enjoyed playing with oats, emptying and filling and pretending to cook with them. We dressed up using tartan, and danced to Ceilidh Music in the hall. We continued our theme of pushing and rolling using vehicles in paint to make Tartan patterns and then finished off the week making oatcakes and tasted them for snack.

Celebrations – Ashgrove Nursery (Bumble Bee Room 1)

We have been busy learning about different celebrations in Nursery.  We explored lots of different crafts to help us learn about these:

  • We printed fireworks on black paper and added some glitter for sparkle.
  • We coloured in some Pudsey’s and used fingerprints to make spots for Children in Need. 
  • Printing and sticking to make poppies for Remembrance Day.  
  • We used cars to make tartan for St Andrew’s Day.
  • We have been busy painting, sticking and glueing for Christmas.

Howes Road Nursery – Settling In and Term1

All our children in the Nursery at Howes Road have been busy settling in this term and have done a great job of it. Well done!

Over the past few weeks we have been walking in the local community, collecting interesting items that tell us Autumn is here. We have used our senses to explore them and been creative in using them for art and craft activities such as conker rolling and hedgehog making.

Ashgrove Nursery Room 1 – Term 1 and Settling In

It is lovely to have all our returners back and we have welcomed some new friends too. 

We have been busy exploring our new Nursery Playroom since returning after the summer holidays.  Fun activities include: going out for walks and trips to our local park, weekly drumming sessions with Keith and making playdoh which involves getting very messy!

We are focusing on Myself this session, and are learning about our body parts through singing, sticky kids, painting with our hands and feet and learning how to brush our teeth.

End of Year Celebrations at Ashgrove Children’s Centre

We welcomed Mums and Dads, Grannies and Grandads to our end of year celebrations. The children moving onto Primary 1 graduated from nursery with a Graduation Certificate, Graduation hat and a book.

Our guests had juice and biscuits and Mrs Thomson visited and handed out the Graduation Certificates.

The children returning next year received bubbles and at the very end were surprised with helium filled balloons bringing big smiles to their faces.

Orchard Brae @ Ashgrove Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

The sun rose brightly on the day of our Platinum Jubilee Celebrations making for a fun and sun filled afternoon for our families. This was our first meet up with parents/carers since Covid began. What a wonderful afternoon was had by all – the children made Jubilee Crowns and there was a sensory activity with British coloured rice. They enjoyed British cupcakes, refreshments and strawberry marshmallow kebabs. The children and families participated in a singalong and then it was time for the certificates to be handed out: I Celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.