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.

Aberdeen Reads: Join the Summer Reading Challenge

By Clare Russell 26th June 2020 26th June 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Family Learning, Howes House, Literacy and Communication, News, Nursery at Ashgrove AM, Nursery at Ashgrove PM, Nursery at Howes Road AM, Nursery at Howes Road PM, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

Aberdeen City Libraries have announced an exciting new reading challenge for the summer. Starting tomorrow (27th June) and running until 29th August, everyone is welcome to register as an individual or family / group. Register for the challenge online: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=aw-pJD2_E02ip4k2nOs16xSlCSTRm75Nn6t-EpSexzdUN0kySlJWRlpJUEdRSEdZUlhLRTczUDZDTSQlQCN0PWcu

There are 9 reading related challenges and you can choose those that appeal. Full details of all the challenges are on the Aberdeen Reads website:

There is something for everyone!

Some ideas of how you might use the challenge are:

Places

Read some of your favourite stories that are set in other countries (real or imaginary). Two of my personal favourites are:

Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak), a lovely picture book for younger readers, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C S Lewis) for older readers.

Get Creative

Across the school we’ve seen lovely photos of our children and young people engaging in Life Skills and Arts & Crafts during our period of remote learning. Why not challenge yourself to bake or cook something new? You might find a no-cook recipe that will encourage even greater independence. Try a new craft project and make something useful, or use some of your old junk to create something inspired by a book. Lots of exciting crafty projects can be done using recycled materials and this helps our environment.

Ec0-Friendly

Use recycled materials to create a favourite character or a scene from one of your books. One young man from Room 14 did this previously, creating his favourite scene from Harry Potter.

Cover Versions

Some of our Secondary pupils enjoy the Harry Potter books. These are magical stories to escape into and are very enjoyable to read aloud. Why not compare the film and the book to find out which you like best? Horrid Henry is always a favourite and episodes can be watched on TV. Do you like the TV episode or the story best? Popular with many of our younger pupils is Disney Cars or any other Disney movie. Again, see what you like best – the film or the book. There are also lots of E-comics on the library website, including Disney.

Favourite Place

Try reading in different places and find out what your favourite place to read is. I like to read in the garden, particularly on a fine day.

Let us know how you get on and feel free to share with your teachers the stories that you have enjoyed.

Online Learning Survey

By Clare Russell 17th June 2020 17th June 2020 Howes House, News, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

We’ve now been learning remotely for more weeks than we care to remember! This week is particularly exciting with the launch of our Google Classrooms (GSuite) and it’s great to see so many families getting involved with this.

As always, our aim is to support our children and young people as best we can, and we have a Leadership Group working together to focus on how do this as we move towards ‘blending learning’ from August. In order to support their work we’d really appreciate your thoughts on what we have offered so far, any issues or difficulties you’ve experienced, and what you would like to see as we move forward.

All feedback is welcome so please take a few minutes to share your views if you have not already done so. Thank you.

https://forms.gle/oparbBDTDzYbex8Z7

Google Classroom Survey

By Clare Russell 27th May 2020 27th May 2020 Howes House, News, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

Thank you to everyone that has completed our Google Classroom survey for their child to date. If you have not already done so, we would be grateful if you would complete the form on Survey Monkey. This is to ensure that you have access to the necessary IT to enable your child to access it. Please click on the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GLX5LM5

Please note this applies to Primary and Secondary pupils only.

POSTPONED: Friends of Orchard Brae 5k Fun Run

By Clare Russell 22nd April 2020 22nd April 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Howes House, News, Nursery at Ashgrove AM, Nursery at Ashgrove PM, Nursery at Howes Road AM, Nursery at Howes Road PM, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 our planned Fun Run is postponed until further notice. We will maintain contact with the City Events Team at Aberdeen City Council and hope that we can have our event at some time in the future. For now, our priority is to keep our school and wider community safe and well.

Easter Activities

By Clare Russell 3rd April 2020 3rd April 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Family Learning, Primary, Secondary Department

This is a list of Easter Activities ideas, which can be adapted to your child’s needs. They are suitable for the whole family. Remember to take time to enjoy the sounds, smells, sensations as you go

Parachute games – get some small teddies or balls and a blanket. Everyone holds the blanket and shakes, quickly, slowly, in time with a song, can you make the toys bounce or roll towards people

Decorate boiled eggs – poster paint or felt tips or cut out bits of coloured paper and stick them on

Rolling eggs – in whatever outdoor space you have or take them on your daily walk/jog

Upcycle some eggs – use cardboard from the recycling bin like a cereal box or pizza box, open it out and paint/draw / scribble inside, before cutting it into an egg shape. You might want to stick it in your window for others to see. Or you might want to do lots and have an egg hunt in your house

Bunny hop races – your garden who can go fastest / furthest / highest

Egg and spoon race – use a ball and soup ladel if you are worried about the mess

Easter Songs – have an old fashioned singsong with Easter/animal theme – e.g. Peter Rabbit’s got a fly upon his nose. Why not learn the Makaton versionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iIRpmxkmGE

Easter Movie

Edible Bird’s nests – make chocolate and cereal birds nests https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/chocolate-rice-crispy-cakes.html

Birds nests – collect twigs when out on your walk, when you get home use an old container e.g. margarine tub, snap the twigs into small pieces, enjoy the feel and sound they make. Maybe make a Bird from a pine cone (draw eyes and wings on paper and stick them on) or maybe you will be lucky enough to find feathers on your walk.

Easter colouring online – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/peter-rabbit-make-a-peter-picture?collection=creative-play-for-kids

Peter Rabbit Masks – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/cbeebies-house-lily-bobtail-mask

Cut out a large egg shape from old cardboard and use coloured paper or clean food wrappers cut up into pieces to make a collage’s Easter egg, if its big all the siblings can do it at the same time

Decorate some biscuits – some supermarkets sell gingerbread kits to decorate. But Digestives and shortbread work just as well!

15. Activity Village have a range of free activity packs for different age ranges including Easter and Spring activities https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/school-closures

(Normally a subscription is necessary)

16. Stop and listen to the birds on your walk – they are particularly noisy at this time of year

17. Spot the spring flowers on your daily walk – notice the shape, smell, size colour, number of them. Are they Daffodils or crocuses or Tulips

18. Have an Easter egg hunt, indoors or out in the garden.

For older students with SUPERVISION

19. Boil eggs

20. Help prepare the Easter meal

21. Toast and spread hot cross buns

Playdough Recipe

By Clare Russell 30th March 2020 30th March 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Family Learning, Primary, Secondary Department

Thanks to Room 12 for sharing their playdough recipe. This works well and can provide a wonderful sensory experience when different scents and colours are added to the mixture. Please keep an eye on your children when they’re using playdough as it’s not ideal for eating due to the high salt content.

Playdough Recipe

3 cups plain flour

1 ½ cups salt

3 tablespoons oil (e.g. vegetable)

6 teaspoons cream of tartar

3 cups of water

Food colouring/glitter/scents e.g. ginger, peppermint, mixed spice

I normally half these measurements and that makes a decent sized amount.

If you’re making more than one batch at a time, start with whatever is the lightest colour.

Slow cook altogether in a pan. Keep stirring.

When it starts to stick to the bottom, work it a little longer.

Remove from pan and work the dough with hands.

Wrap in cling film or put in a tub.

This will keep in the fridge for weeks.

PE with Hannah: Joe Wicks Adapted Sessions

By Clare Russell 30th March 2020 30th March 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Family Learning, News, P.E., Primary, Secondary Department, Specialist Areas

We’ve had a message that Bumble Bee Physio (find them on Facebook) are doing adapted sessions of the popular Joe Wicks PE. There’s a session at 11 am on Tuesday that may be worth tuning into. If 11 am doesn’t work, please check their Facebook page later in the day as live videos stay up.

The sessions will include options for lying, sitting and supported standing. Perhaps if you have other children at home they could also join in and support their brothers and sisters. Let us know how you get on.

Sport Relief 2020

By Clare Russell 13th March 2020 17th March 2020 Citizenship, Early Learning and Childcare, Expressive Arts, Health and Well Being, News, P.E., Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

Many thanks to Amanda, Salvi, Sam and Scott for organising fun activities for us all to join in with to support Sport Relief 2020. We kicked off the morning with a select band signing up to Run a Mile. Thanks to Room 19 for braving the cold throughout our challenge, the spectators that cheered us on from the warmth of the classrooms and those that came out for playtime, supporting with cheers as we ran our loops. Each of us did 5 loops of the playground in total.

At lunchtime we enjoyed dance sessions with Sam. We all had lots of fun!

Finally, the whole school joined in for the afternoon to Walk a Mile with a Smile. We were grateful that the sun came out and warmed up the playground nicely for us. We also had some special visitors – the sumos!

Our day was just for fun, but we also received generous donations towards Sport Relief, raising a total of £165! Well done to everyone for taking part!

Bucky Bear Hosts A Picnic

By Amy Dunnett 10th March 2020 10th March 2020 Citizenship, Community Learning, Inter Disciplinary Learning, Primary, Room 5

On Wednesday all the boys in room 5, were invited to a picnic in Duthie Park. The picnic was hosted by the class bear Bucky! Bucky has been going home with the boys at the weekend to meet their family and have adventures with them. To say thank you he decided to host a picnic were all the boys could bring their favourite stuffed toys (even the staff brought theirs). Bucky and the boys all had an amazing time eating lots of different food and getting to meet their friend’s teddies. Bucky Bear had the best time ever as he loves getting to meet new people and go and lots of different adventures! He will remember this picnic forever and can’t wait to plan another one!

Clothing Exchange

By Clare Russell 9th March 2020 9th March 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Howes House, News, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6/7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase, Uncategorised

Room 16 have been doing a great job, supporting the Clothing Exchange scheme. Pupils are regularly tidying up the area, washing, sorting and folding new clothing. It’s good to see an increase in sizes available too. Please keep sending items in if they’re in good condition and no longer of use to your child. Do also feel free to pop in and browse any time or let us know via the home school diary if you’d like the class team to have a look on your behalf.

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