Active Travel Plan 2024-25

Orchard Brae School Travel Plan 

About our School 

Orchard Brae is an all through free standing special school for learners aged 3-18 with profound, multiple and complex needs.  We have two sites that children and young people attend, our main building at Howes Road which is a purpose-built facility in Howes Road and Ashgrove Children’s centre in Gillespie Place.  Our facilities include a swimming pool, hydro and deck level trampoline alongside a wing where our outreach team, consulting room and social work colleagues are based. 

Our shared vision: 

We are passionate in our shared commitment to provide a learning environment where each pupil experiences a personalised pathway, enabling them to be as functionally independent as possible, achieving their potential as successful learners, effective contributors, responsible citizens and confident individuals and therefore fully equipped to achieve lifelong success in positive destinations, within communities who respect diversity. 

We will learn together 

We aim to provide an inclusive, nurturing and appropriately stimulating learning environment in which people are; valued and connected through a strong sense of belonging, understanding the benefits of learning together and enabling everyone to give of their best. 

We will listen carefully to each other 

We aim to actively listen to our school community as a Rights Respecting School. Pupil voice is particularly valued by embracing inclusive communication and technological advances, to ensure opinions are encouraged, valued and used to influence change. 

We will participate in our personalised curriculum 

We aim to encourage every pupil to fully participate and engage in their learning journey by providing a personalised curriculum that is relevant but challenging.  This curriculum engages the benefits of family learning, uses the knowledge of professional partners and actively seeks community partnerships, to increase life chances for all our learners. 

We will engage in learning that is fun and challenging 

We aim to deliver high quality and enjoyable learning; by gathering and using our knowledge of learners, responding to their needs and motivations through innovative and evidence-based practice, respecting risk whilst focusing on appropriate challenge and empowering pupils to develop their curiosity, independence and resilience.  

We will work together: families, professionals, and partners 

We aim to work closely with parents and families using, when appropriate, multi-agency approaches in line with GIRFEC; ensuring learners and adults are safe and protected, promoting positive behaviour through nurturing approaches, encouraging optimum health and well-being through professional guidance and using the Child’s Plan to guide positive outcomes for learners. 

We will challenge ourselves to improve 

We aim to know ourselves very well by effectively looking inward through robust monitoring, tracking and evaluation.  Utilising our ‘can do approach’ to tackle improvement, we will look outward, learning from sector leading practice.  Professional learning and leadership at all levels ensures our skilled team of reflective practitioners improve and innovate, to meet the needs of our learning community and those learners who require outreach support. 

We will take our place in a community who understand us 

We aim to ensure our pupils are an integral part of our local and wider community through active participation with a focus on ability and developing skills for work and leisure.  We will support the community to understand and embrace difference through the promotion of inclusion, sharing best practice and innovative partnerships. 

UNCRC 

Article 29: I have the right to an education which develops my personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment. 

Orchard Brae are a Rights Respecting School having achieved Bronze: Rights Committed. We encourage pupils to be physically active throughout the school day.  

Pupils are encouraged to walk or wheel when moving around the local community. We use public transport if this is possible for accessing work experience and community activities if this is appropriate to our learning goals.  

How to find our School 

Transport 

As the services catchment area is city wide, Aberdeen City Council provides most learners with transport to and from school.  This comes in multiple forms including parental contract.  Pupils who access transport are usually support by an escort.  Any Secondary aged learner living within 3 miles or Primary aged learner living within 2 miles of Orchard Brae @ Howes Road or Orchard Brae @ Ashgrove Children’s Centre, will only be provided with transport in exceptional circumstances in line with Aberdeen City Council policy.  

At Orchard Brae, we currently have a mix of pupils who are transported by ACC and by parents.  At the time of writing, we have no pupils who are able to travel independently to school.  

Orchard Brae has a comprehensive travel system for school transport. In the morning, vehicles can set down in any space to avoid any hold ups.  Pupils are met by staff and escorted to classes where appropriate.  Pupils are encouraged to be as independent as possible when transitioning through the school.  At 3pm, each vehicle has been allocated a designated space and slot for to enable classes to transition their pupils appropriately and without causing distress.  Classes transition the pupils out to the allocated transport where they are met by their escort(s).