Volunteering In Howes Hoose

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Some of the Howes Hoose pupils have started volunteering at Springhill Community Gardens. Their hard work will contribute towards their Personal Achievement Award: Interacting in the Community. This week we learnt how to use the soil churner so to get rid of the big stones in the soil. We also did some work trimming back the broom. The ladies at Springhill were super grateful for the boys’ hard work and look forward to giving us lots more jobs as we head into the Spring months and the garden starts to bloom. The Howes Hoose pupils will be painting some stones in the coming week to bring to Springhill to brighten up the rock garden. 

Musical Fun In Primary 1 @ Ashgrove

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Here at Ashgrove we have really been enjoying Scottish music and dancing this month. We have a ceilidh every Friday afternoon, and the children are learning to clap to the music, to step forwards and backwards for 4 or 8, to move in a circle around the room, to kick their legs and to spin around. We also enjoyed when the music specialist Scott played Scottish tunes for us and let us try the accordion!

Pounds For Primaries

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We are delighted to once again be participating in the Aberdeen Journals Pounds for Primaries promotion.

Tokens will appear in the Press and Journal and Evening Express newspapers between Saturday 3rd February and Saturday 2nd March.  Please hand any tokens into school via the office or your child’s class teacher.

If you have an online e-paper account, please email  pjcompetitions@pressandjournal.co.uk stating the school you are supporting and the school will automatically be allocated your tokens.

Thank you for your support.

Getting Ready For 2024

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Room 17 had lots of fun making calendars for 2024.  We did some very good looking when we were choosing paint.  Some of us really enjoyed exploring the paint and feeling it in between our fingers.  We washed our hands with soapy water when we were finished.  Some of us thought hand washing was the best bit and really enjoyed feeling the warm water on our hands and playing with the bubbles.  We are hoping our Mums and Dads really like our calendar showing the different seasons through different colours.

Winter Festivals in Room 9

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It’s “That Time of Year” in Room 9!  Earlier this month we decorated the classroom, with lights, tinsel, and a few window pictures.  We’ve been busy as ever – our story study has been “Dear Santa”, our comprehension work has asked who is hiding in the Christmas present, our listening tasks explored moving to Christmas music, our numeracy activity counted elves.  Our morning choices have included lots of dressing up options alongside puzzles, colouring and decorations.

Our Makaton song sessions have included plenty of Santa getting stuck in the chimney, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and wishing a merry Christmas.  For bucket time we’ve had a dancing Christmas tree, racing Santa, novelty glasses, snowman splat, and for stage three a chance to decorate the Christmas tree and chased Santa!

As part of our journey to becoming a Rights Respecting School, we’ve explored a wider range of Winter Festivals in class.  Between Christmas, Yule and Hannukah, we noticed that lights played a recurring role in many winter festivals, so we made and decorated our own tealight holders from salt dough whilst listening to Christmas and Hannukah songs.

One more sneaky project for “That Time of Year” to look out for – Happy Holidays!

Room 6’s Fun Christmas Party: Decorating, Singing, and a Cool Story!

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Guess what? Room 6 had the best time getting ready for Christmas! We had a super cool party with lots of twinkly lights, shiny ornaments, and a beautiful tree.

We didn’t stop there! We sang all the best Christmas songs. You know, like “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was like our own little concert!

And here’s the coolest part: we found out about a giant Christmas tree in London. Oslo, a city in Norway, gives it to London every year! It’s like a big present between friends. How awesome is that?

So, Room 6 had a blast with our decorations, songs, and a fun story about friends from far away. We munched on cookies and felt so happy to have good friends and lots of holiday cheer. Yay for Christmas fun with Room 6! 🎄🎶

Christmas in Nursery Room 1 @ Ashgrove

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It has been a busy few weeks exploring lots of Christmas themed activities.

We have been decorating our tree and making Christmas crafts, whilst listening to Christmas music.

Our sensory tray has been filled with tinsel, baubles and lights for us to explore. We had lots of fun with hot chocolate sensory play using angel delight, whipped cream and marshmallows to explore and taste our own creations.

We all had our Christmas lunch and the ice cream for pudding was a real treat, everyone enjoyed it.

Letter To Parents/Carers – December 2023

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Dear Parent/Carer,
As Christmas fast approaches, it has been a time for us all to reflect on the school year so far. It has been a rollercoaster of a term filled with deeply sad times but also incredibly happy times. As always the Orchard Brae community pulls together through the good and the bad and we end the year on a high with our successful school show. The introduction of the stage made a real difference to our performance, with pupils, staff and parents enjoying the view.
This term many exciting activities both in and out of school have taken place, the big run for our P6 pupils, trips to the theatre, theatre companies visiting school, standing bikes, Santa’s grotto, to name but a few! I can honestly say I think we all need a well-earned break.
Next year we have two exciting projects that will hopefully see the installation of our outdoor classroom and our memorial tree. The school have been working closely with Fairhurst over the past 2 years to secure an outdoor classroom and we intend to “break ground” in February (weather permitting) with the full installation starting in the Easter holidays. The school is very grateful to Bob McCracken and Stuart Thompson of Fairhurst who have made this project possible.
The school is also working with NESCol in Fraserburgh, who will be designing and constructing our memorial tree. Some of the SLT visited the college last week and saw some of the wonderful work of the engineering department and are thrilled to be partnered with them to deliver such an important addition for the Orchard Brae community. The outdoor area just left of the gate as you come in will be the site of our tree and be at the centre of our “Garden of Memories”, which we hope to develop in partnership with the parks department and others.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all, pupils, parents, friends and staff of Orchard Brae for your continued support and wish you and your loved ones a restful Christmas and a New Year that brings health and happiness.
Elaine


Important dates:

Term starts – Monday 8 January 2024

Mid-term holiday – Monday 12 February 2024

In-service day – Tuesday 13 February 2024

In-service day – Wednesday 14 February 2024

Term ends – Thursday 28 March 2024

Spring holiday – Friday 29 March to Friday 12 April 2024