Category: Early Learning and Childcare

Orchard Brae Early Learning and Childcare department have 2 developmental nurseries on 2 separate sites. Orchard Brae Nursery at Howes Road is based within the school site, while Orchard Brae at Ashgrove is based within the Ashgrove children’s Centre. Places at both nurseries are allocated on application through the Educational Psychology service in conjunction with NHS Health Visitors. Placement meetings take place in June, November and February with pupils starting in the term after their 3rd birthday, depending on the availability of spaces.

Both Nurseries have pupils with a wide range of additional support needs. The aim of the Nurseries is to support pupils to develop the skills required to allow them to reach their full potential. A place at Orchard Brae nursery does not assume a place at Orchard Brae school as many pupils will gain skills that allow them to start Primary 1 in their zoned Primary school or Mile-end ASN provision.

Colour day in Butterfly room

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The Butterfly Room had a busy term before the holidays. We’ve been engaging in various activities and our colour day was a hit. The children had lots of fun pouring and watching the rainbow rice fall into the tray. They made beautiful handprints using different coloured paints, painted the autumn leaves and stuck them to the wooden tree. Using the pipette for colouring the cotton petals was a little bit tricky while the yellow, red, brown cooked pasta was quite sticky but the children manoeuvred their ways around them. 

Children enjoyed some lovely numeracy experience through sorting and stacking the various shapes according to their colours. The  beautiful balloons added more colour to the day. 

A Busy Term In The Ladybird Room

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We have had a busy start to the year in the Ladybird room. We welcomed some new children to the playroom and we are all very much enjoying getting to know each other. Everyone in the Ladybird room loves to be outside in the nursery garden, whatever the weather. When outside we all have an amazing time exploring and investigating the different areas of the garden. Being outside has many benefits and we are always thrilled by the ways in which the children use their imagination, creativity and problem solving skills while they naturally engage with the learning activities on offer, such as water play, den building, loose parts, a mud kitchen, sand pit, bikes and trikes to name a few. 

All about me!

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In Room 1 at Ashgrove Nursery for our first term we have been learning all about ourselves.  We have been looking at the different parts of our bodies and their names. We used our hands and feet to explore some paint and make prints with these. After we made footprints we tried out the foot spa to clean them, it was lots of fun. We have also been moving to music with body awareness to help identify our head, arms, hands and feet.

We also made family trees and displayed them for everyone to see.

Exploring Movement In Nursery

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The children at our Howes Road Nursery have been busy settling back into Nursery after the summer break and have done a fantastic job of doing so. We have been making the most of the beautiful sunny days with children engaging in their favourite activities both indoors and out thanks to the wonderful donations of parasols and a swing for our outdoor area. The children have been showing an interest in things that move and how we can make that happen. We used salad spinners, vehicles and tall flowers that were blowing in our nursery garden to create some lovely artwork and have taken part in baking activities making yummy round biscuits, round pizzas and cheese swirls. Some children enjoyed using a switch to activate the foot spa, splashing their feet in the bubbles they created. 

Celebrating Burns Day In The Ladybird Room

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The Ladybird room children and staff had great fun celebrating Burns Day.

They started off the week by making special Ladybird tartan pictures. On the day itself they had the traditional meal of vegetarian ”haggis, neeps and tatties.” Some children appeared to enjoy it more than others.

We rounded off the celebrations on Friday with children and staff dressing in tartan and dancing to ceilidh music in the hall followed by having a very Scottish teddy bear picnic. All the children had taken in their favourite teddy or soft toy and were able to join us for an indoor picnic of traditional Scottish food such as shortbread, oatcakes, and cheese.

A great end to the week and lots of fun.

Ashgrove Room 3 Ladybird Room Autumn and Winter News

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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)

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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

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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)

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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.