Running Total

The first parents evening meetings of this session will take place on  Tuesday the 6th and  Thursday the 8th of October and will continue to be in person, in school.  

Booking will be online via the same system used previously.  You can book an appointment be going to the address below and logging in using pupil and parent details.   The information you use to login must match exactly what we hold on our school system, so if you are struggling to login, please call the school office who will support.  

https://parents-booking.co.uk/login.jsp

The booking window is now open and will close on Friday the 2nd of October at 12:00pm.

Please help us to make best use of teachers time which is set aside to meet with parents.  If for any reason you are unable to attend an appointment, please cancel with as much notice as possible by calling the school office or cancelling via the online system. 

Next term sees the return of our popular pupil led lunchtime clubs, which will run for a 6 week block starting in the week beginning 9th November.

If your child is in P4-7 and wishes to run a lunchtime club for other pupils, they can now apply using THIS LINK

Applications will close on Friday 25th September at 6pm.

A further form allowing pupils from all year groups to sign up to attend clubs will follow at the start of next term.

On Monday and Tuesday we welcomed our P1 parents in to have lunch with their child in the dinner hall. It was great to see so many able to come and enjoy lunch with their child. Some chose to have a school dinner and others to take their own packed lunch. The overwhelming feedback was about how well the children were able to follow the dining room routines and many parents were amazed at how indpendent the children were, especially with the tidying up process. Another lovley event in our P1  induction calender. 

Are you passionate about communication and helping others? We are looking for pupils to become Makaton Ambassadors in our school!

As a Makaton Ambassador, you will help promote the use of Makaton across the school, support your peers, and develop your own leadership and communication skills. Ambassadors will take part in activities during Clan Time, where they will learn new signs, build confidence, and help create an inclusive environment for everyone.

This is a fantastic opportunity to become a school leader, make a positive difference, and gain valuable skills along the way.

Interested? Sign up today and become a Makaton Ambassador!  the sign up sheet is on the wall in the link corridor beside the 'Words Of The Week';

A huge thank you to all the families who attended our Open Afternoon this week. It was wonderful to welcome you into our school and share the learning experiences taking place across our classrooms.

We hope you enjoyed seeing your child's work, meeting staff, and celebrating their achievements. Your continued support and partnership make a real difference to our school community.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and we look forward to welcoming you to future events. 

Following the introduction of our Steps to Success Writing Booklet last session, we are now creating individual Writing Target Folios for all children in P3-P7.

These folios will help pupils identify, track and prioritise their strengths across the core writing criteria, while also supporting them to recognise their next steps in learning. By focusing on one target at a time, children can work with purpose and develop their writing skills in a meaningful way.

Our aim is to help pupils become confident, independent writers with a strong awareness of their own strengths and areas for development. We hope these folios will encourage children to take ownership of their progress and approach improvement with real focus.

We look forward to sharing the folios with parents and carers during our parent meetings in October.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Morven McLean, a former pupil, who returned to school this week to speak to our P4-7 pupils about her incredible journey and achievements.

Morven shared her experiences of becoming a competitive powerlifter and what it takes to succeed at the highest level. Now ranked third in the world, she is achieving amazing things while helping to break down barriers and challenge stereotypes for women in sport.

Her determination, resilience and passion were truly inspirational, particularly for our girls, who enjoyed hearing about the opportunities that come from believing in yourself and working hard to achieve your goals.

The children were fascinated by Morven’s story and had lots of questions to ask. By the end of the session, there was even a queue of pupils hoping to get her autograph!

Thank you, Morven, for taking the time to visit us and for inspiring our pupils to dream big and believe that anything is possible. 

Excitement is building as our P7 pupils prepare their speeches for the upcoming House Team Leader elections!

Over the past few weeks, candidates have been working hard to develop their ideas, showcase their leadership qualities, and explain how they would represent and support their house team. Next week, they will present their speeches to the whole school before voting takes place.

We are incredibly proud of the effort, confidence, and determination our P7 pupils are showing as they take on this important leadership opportunity. We look forward to hearing their speeches and wish all candidates the very best of luck! 

Annual Data Check forms are coming home today for P2-7 pupils in schoolbags.  Please check and ammend these forms to ensure that the data we hold for your child is up to date.  Forms should be completed and returned ASAP.  Chasing unreturned forms often becomes a lengthy task for the school office, so please help us be completing this task promptly. 

If there have been any changes to allergies etc that your child has previously had that are no longer a concern, please include this information in the return. 

P4 to P7 Hockey will continue to run this session at Rubislaw on a Monday but the time will change to 4.45 to 6pm. Sessions will start back on Monday 31st August.  If anyone is interested in registering, further info/registration is available via THIS LINK. 

Training sessions are on a Monday at Rubislaw Astroturf 16:45 - 18:00. Coaching is currently provided by qualified and experienced adults with help from secondary school pupils. Please note that the coaching is provided by volunteers on behalf of AGSFP (Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils) Hockey. All volunteers are registered with the PVG Scheme under Scottish Hockey. The sessions are mixed boys / girls from P4 to P7. Kids are usually split into year groups or Under 12s and Under 10s. We provide skills training specific to the needs of the children along with some fun games. Festivals are run throughout the year, usually on a Sunday morning. 

At the beginning of each session, we like to take a class photos of children as they start their year in a new year group.  Where consents allow, we share these with families via Seesaw classrooms at no cost to families.  Professional photos are taken later in the sessions for families to purchase if they wish.  

These photos will be taken on Tuesday 25th of August.  We will be unable to retake photos if anyone is absent on the day. 

Every year we hold an informal 'open afternoon' early in the session, to give families the opportunity to come into the school building, meet the teachers, see their child's new classroom and perhaps take part in an activity with their child.  This is an informal 'drop in' situation and not a presentation of any kind.  

The classrooms will be very busy, so we ask that families to attend on the following dates to ensure classrooms are less overcrowded. 

• Families with surnames starting with A - M - Monday the 7th of September  - 2:15 - 3:00

• Families with surnames starting with N - Z - Tuesday the 8th of September - 2:15 - 3:00

No more than two adults per child.

These visits are only for P2-7 only  as it could be a bit overwhelming for P1's at this point in the year.  

The school calendar, (which can be found HERE) has been updated with some key dates for the session so you can pencil them into diaries ahead of time.  More will be added as we get further into the year.  Please remember all dates may be subject to change if required.   Check the calendar for dates such as:

• Open Afternoons

• P1 Curriculum Evening 

• Dalguise Information Event (for parents of P7's going to Dalguise this session)

• Parents Meeting Dates throughout the session

More dates will be added as the year progresses. 

A reminder that we have an online form to support families to provide timely feedback to the ACC catering team when issues with lunches arise.  This has been added as a tab at the top of the school website and will be available via the school website under the 'Parents' tab.

Please use this form to provide feedback on the day if you are made aware of any issues regarding:

• The quality of the food provided

• The quantity of food provided

• Missing menu items

Any responses will be shared with the catering team on a weekly basis. 

We hope this approach is able to help support a sustained improvement in the school lunch provision at Ashely Road.

• School doors are secure to ensure that our children are safe throughout the school day.  All visitors will be asked to wait in the vestibule area to maintain building security.  

• After 3:15, the school building is used by the after school club.  To meet the safety standards required by Care Inspectorate, there can be no unsupervised individuals in the building during their hours.  Resultantly children and families cannot be admitted to the building after school, without a staff member staying with them.  This includes children who may wish to use the toilet after school.  

• In line with ACC policy, dogs should not be brought into the school premises (even when being carried), or left tied up at the entrance points on Ashley Road or Ashley Park Drive. 

• You may have noticed signage on the school gates, requesting that all visitors to school close gates fully behind them.  Please do this at all times to ensure our playground is as secure as possible.  

• We ask that families do not enter the playground for pick up until 3:15, to ensure that teachers are able to see all pupils in their class while lining up at the end of the day.  (Families collecting children from nursery at 3:00 should wait beside the picnic benches.)

• Pick-up arrangements for pupils at the end of the school day should only be changed in an emergency.  Where this information is provided very close to the end of the school day, it may not be possible for office staff to inform class teachers before the bell time.  

We are thrilled to welcome everyone back for the start of another exciting school year! Whether you are returning to familiar faces and places or beginning a new chapter, we hope this year is filled with opportunities to learn, grow and shine. We look forward to seeing new friendships flourish, fresh challenges embraced and many memorable moments created. Let's make this our best year yet!