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.
Last Friday, we held our whole school Big Pasta Creativity Challenge Day. Lots of activity ideas for both home and school were posted on the Whole School Events google classroom, but here are some pictures of just a few things that staff and pupils got up to on the day!
We had a great time last week at our Super Hero Sports Day! In all honesty, we’re not sure who enjoyed the day more – pupils or staff? Thanks to Salvi for putting together this ThingLink so that we can relive the fun that we had. To access, follow the link (https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1463847446361669634) or scan the QR code:
On Friday 23rd April, Orchard Brae will participate in some fun Kiltwalk activities. Pupils and staff will be dancing and walking, along with potentially other fun activities. Pupils can wear something tartan to school that day if they wish. There is no expectation of fundraising or donations.
However, if anyone is keen to fundraise, Friends of Orchard Brae still have Kiltwalk places available for both adults and children to help raise money to further develop our Outdoor Learning Area. Registration for these places is free and if interested please e-mail: friendsoforchardbrae@mail.com
All money raised through this year’s Kiltwalk will be topped up with an additional 50% from The Hunter Foundation.
Orchard Brae are beginning the journey to becoming a Rights Respecting School. In line with our vision and aims (https://orchardbrae.aberdeen.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Orchard-Brae-Visions-and-Aims.pdf), we aspire to be a school where children’s rights are at the heart of our ethos and culture, to improve well-being and to develop every child’s talents and abilities to their full potential. Moving towards summer we will be working to put together an action plan to allow us to progress this work with pupils taking the lead as we go forward, our aim being to gain Rights Respecting School Awards through Unicef UK in recognition of sustained practice in this area.
Unicef UK is the world’s leading organisation working for children and young people and their rights. In 1989, governments across the world agreed that all children have the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and earlier this week the Scottish Government reached agreement that the UNCRC will become be incorporated in domestic law. These rights are based on what a child needs to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential.
Pupils and staff will learn about children’s rights, with staff supporting children to access their rights every day. Rights and respect will be modeled in all relationships, supporting our children in developing their awareness of good citizenship.
We really hope that you will be able to support our school on the journey towards becoming a Unicef UK Rights Respecting School. Further information sessions will be scheduled for parents and carers next term.
A user friendly version of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3rYe27f
The full UNCRC convention can be found here: https://cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/
For further information about Rights Respecting Schools please visit: www.unicef.org.uk/rrsa
We look forward to sharing our learning with you as we move forward together at Orchard Brae.
Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar new Year, is the Chinese festival which celebrates the New Year on the traditional Chinese calendar. This year it falls on Friday the 12th of February. Every year in the Chinese calendar is represented by an animal, 2021 is the year of the Ox.
Below are some activities to help you celebrate at home. Don’t worry if you do not have all the exact items you need, you can replace them with whatever bits and pieces you have at home.
Hope you have fun and Happy Chinese New Year!
This is a story from about how the twelve zodiac years were named by the Jade Emperor.
Cbeebies also have some fun things to make to help you celebrate.
This video shows you how to make a Chinese lantern that you can decorate and hang up.
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week, led by the charity Place2Be. This year’s theme is Express Yourself and is ideal for all of our learners. There are lots of lovely ideas for creativity and self expression with links on their website such as the art ideas below. Every activity has stories and music in addition to the art ideas so there really is something for everyone.
The sample below is from the Colour Project. Click on the links for more information and a sample of what is on offer:
The Place2Be website is well worth exploring:
https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/parents-and-carers/
BBC also have links for mental health week with some fun clips for younger children on emotions:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/childrens-mental-health-week/zk37bdm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/pshe-eyfs-ks1-feeling-happy/znnhvk7
Aberdeen City Educational Psychology Service Hub
Our colleagues at the Educational Psychology Service have recently launched their Digital Hub. This is available online and is well worth a look for supporting both you and your children. These are tough times for everyone so it’s important to care for yourself too. One of my personal favourites is the Circle of Control, a reminder to try not to waste time and energy thinking about about things I cannot control or change.
Explore the Educational Psychology Hub further here:
https://sites.google.com/ab-ed.org/educational-psychology-service/parentscarers
Place2Be Free Training for Staff
Finally, for staff there’s an opportunity to engage in free training around supporting the mental health of our children and young people. Please follow this link:
As always, feel free to share anything you enjoy!
Sometimes, when you have a child with an additional support need, working out what they are trying to tell you can be difficult!
Your child may be beginning to develop some behaviours that challenge you, or they may already have behaviours that challenge you.
There are often complex reasons behind a child’s behaviour and it is rarely anyone’s ‘fault’.
All children are different and there is often no single answer as to why the behaviours are happening.
There is no ‘quick fix’ but hopefully this presentation will give you some ideas, strategies and advice and show you that there are lots of ways you can help and support your child.
At the end of the presentation there are lots of links to additional resources that you may find useful!
Scottish Autism is the largest provider of autism specific services in Scotland and a leading authority and advocate for good autism practice.
In supporting families, Scottish Autism, have produced an online support programme.
The Right Click programme has been developed specifically for parents or carers of individuals who are on the autism spectrum who are in particular need of information or support.
The Young Child programme is focused on providing support to parents or carers of young and recently diagnosed children. The programme includes topics such as: eating, sleeping and toileting.
When you sign up for Right Click you will complete a registration form and then receive a confirmation email. You can then log in and get started.
As well as the Activity Sheets in the previous post we wanted to share some more videos from Sense Scotland on things you might like to try at home.
The ideas can all be adapted to suit your child and can be made using items and objects that can generally be found in the home without having to go out and buy specialist equipment or items.
If you do decide to make, or try, any of the activities or ideas that we have posted we would love to know how they turned out and how much fun was had. If you would like to, get in touch and let us know, if you get the chance you could always send us some photos too!
This next video is from Easy Peasy and Fun and is how to paint with ice!
Sense Scotland have a section on their website of early years ideas and activities. Below are a few of their sensory ideas and activities that you may wish to try out at home.
Sensory Balloons
Gloop
Sensory Bag
Sensory Box
Sensory Table-Top Exploration
Winter Themed Sensory Tray
Shakers
