Welcome to the Secondary Department
The secondary department has 8 classes and pupils follow the principles of Curriculum for Excellence: a broad general education in S1-S3 and the Senior Phase in S4- S6. The curriculum is varied, relevant, challenging, enjoyable and adapted to meet our pupil’s individual needs. Pupils also visit a range of specialists, have access to relevant therapeutic inputs and participate in wider community events.
Many thanks to the Chapel Chimers for visiting us at Orchard Brae yesterday. Although we love our weekly Makaton Choir, this was a lovely musical alternative for us. We all enjoyed hearing the resonance of the chimes and both singing and playing along.
Classes across the school enjoyed workshops with Scottish Ballet last week. They were in Aberdeen for the performance of Swan Lake.
During the day, different classes had workshops and enjoyed lots of fun, sensory activities and music.
Room 14 have been learning about the Archie Foundation in the last couple of weeks. They decided they want to make and sell chocolate fudge to the staff to help the charity. Recently we went round all the classes doing a taste test survey to see if there would be interest in our product. It was a success – everyone said yes! We are looking forward to raising lots of money for a good cause!
Two of our pupils have been on regular work experience at Airyhall Community Centre. They support with keeping the centre clean and are doing a very thorough job. Our work experience opportunities promote independence in our pupils. In addition to learning about the skills needed for work, we also engage with other people in our workplace, communicating with other staff and members of the public depending on our work environment.
Room 15 have been exploring different jobs recently as part of our ASDAN units. Through role play we have explored jobs that members of our families or the people who work with us do.
We role played being oil rig workers by donning high-vis vests, hard hats and practicing our communication of “stop” and “go” as we ran “oil” (water) down ramps and collected them in buckets.
We role played being chefs and bakers by practicing our hand-washing skills, putting on aprons (because we learned hygiene is very important for a chef!) and measuring out ingredients into a bowl and mixing them. This gave an opportunity to work on “more” and “finished” with our communication systems too!
One pupil had some additional work experience shadowing the teacher for bucket time – she explained what was happening for bucket time and sang our bucket time song.
The Young Leaders of Learning programme has been developed by Education Scotland with the aim of enabling and empowering pupils to have an increasing say in their education and school. As a school, we have been in the fortunate position of working alongside Maxine Jolly, Senior Education Officer for Education Scotland, in adapting the programme for use in ASN schools.
Yesterday, a group of secondary pupils participated in a training day at the Beacon Centre alongside colleagues and pupils from Bucksburn Academy ASN Wing.
The students worked together in identifying the key skills required to be an effective young Leader and had great fun designing their Leaders.
The students also spent time identifying and comparing key areas of the two schools and sharing their likes and dislikes.
We’re absolutely thrilled to be the first group of pupils and staff trained from specialist settings and we look forward to participating in the programme with Bucksburn Academy ASN Wing over the rest of this term.
Our fruit/vegetable of the past fortnight was apple and for the next two weeks is CARROT. All our classes are encouraged to serve this vegetable at least five times during snack to expose our children to fruit/vegetables and encourage them to have a taste. Our Howes Hoose group certainly enjoyed their apple and carrot and at the other end of the school our little ones in nursery are being exposed to and encouraged to taste the fruits/vegetables.
In Room 14 we have been working really hard this term and enjoying a range of learning opportunities.
Home Economics
In HE we practise literacy through following recipes, practise our number skills in a practical context, and learn about healthy eating. We enjoy cooking and taking home what we have made to share with our families. Our HE instructor is very good at adapting things to ensure that everyone can be involved.
Literacy and Communication
We have regular opportunities to practise our communication skills and often move around the school to interact with other people and practise our skills outside the classroom. We also enjoy books and are encouraged to read for pleasure.
Science
We have been investigating the properties of materials. We enjoyed mixing cornflour and water. If you’ve never tried it, you should – it’s great fun and a very interesting learning experience!
Numeracy
Some of us have been practising our money skills. We have enjoyed setting up a play shop in class.
Life Skills
We’ve also been doing jobs around the school and practising life skills, such as recycling and looking after our homes.
P.E.
We’ve continued to enjoy our PE sessions. We all like being active!
We had a very busy day yesterday! In the morning we had a session with Scottish Ballet. They are performing The Snow Queen at HMT this week, and we were able to join in and learn about the performance through music, storytelling and multi-sensory play. All the classes that visited through the morning thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Then in the afternoon, we had a Ceilidh to celebrate Burns Night. Our teacher, Naomi, performed in the new Orchard Brae band, ‘A Bunch of Apples’, along with Emmeline (Music Therapist), Keith (Music Instructor) and Alan (Outdoor Education Teacher). The band played well, and alongside our Makaton Choir we had a rare old shindig! Lots of dancing and so much fun for everyone in school, with our PE team having supported us well in the run up to the event, practising a range of dances with us.
We also enjoyed an early Burns lunch, with mince, neeps and tattties for lunch for those that fancied something traditional and a vegetarian option as an alternative. Hope you enjoy yourselves if celebrating Burns this weekend!
Every Tuesday Room 16 pupils and staff go to the Heathryburn Primary School Community Café. As well as having a snack, a small group of Primary 7 pupils join us to play card games and board games. Last week we decorated T-shirts. We really enjoy going and have learned a lot being there.
Everyone is welcome in the Community Café from 2pm – 3:20. Entry by the main school door. Maybe see you there!
