Sessions start again this coming Monday 26th at 3.45-5pm at Rubislaw.
P4 Hockey will start again from September 2nd.
If you have any questions please contact Emma Williams: emmamcara@hotmail.co.uk or 07717453711.
The extra-curricular clubs run through Active Schools are looking to start back up next week. If you would like to sign your child up for any of these please use the links below. Clubs will start next week. Other clubs will also be looking to start again and the sign up for these will be added to the News page when we have them.
P4 Football
P5 Football
P6 Football
P7 Football
P4-7 Multisport
We said farewell to our P7s in assembly this morning with speeches by the House Team leaders and some poems, written by the SLT and each of the class teachers about the antics of the last seven years. Assembly finished aptly with us singing a slightly revised version of the school song, introduced by children in the P7 year group this session.
We are Ashley Road Primary School
The teachers are kind and the kids are cool
Seaton, Westburn, Hazlehead and Duthie
We use our voices, we have autonomy
You were Ashley Road Primary School
Your time here is done so say goodbye.
We are incredibly proud of each of them and know that they will go on to achieve great things. As ever the 'hockey stick honour guard' was ready to see them out for the last time. An emotional day, a next step they are very much ready for.
My Movie 33.MOVEven a rain shower couldn't dampen our spirits as the whole school joined together for our end of year ice-cream afternoon, kindly funded by the PTA. As the sun came out, the children enjoyed mixing year groups, dancing and even conga-ing to music, to round off the year in style!
My Movie 32.MOV
We had great fun this week in our non stop dodgeball tournament where the teachers mixed teams with some P7 pupils! The competitive spirit was high and staff were certainly on the receiving end of some very strong throws! Well done all.
My Movie 31.MOVA tradition that the P7s wait for all year - the 'water fight' took place this week, and didn't we all get soaked! Awesome fun was had by all, and many took the opportunity to make sure the teachers were soaked though!
The skills and talents shown by the P7s this year were absolutely outstanding! The wacky story of Seussical, was told exceptionally well by both P7 casts, who seemed to take complex choreography, singing in harmony, subtle character choices, professional sound and lighting and quick costume changes in their stride to captivate and entertain their audiences! One of the best we have seen yet! Amazing work P7.
This week we had our P2 Parental Engagement event and what a wonderful time it was! The children from both classes were able to show the types of challenges they take part in through Outdoor Learning sessions and it was great to see parents get fully involved in the challenges with their child. The children were also able to sit down and share their own versions of the Little People, BIG DREAMS books that they had made all about themselves, sharing their future aspirations. What a great idea!
Thursday saw the return of our annual staff v pupils netball match and it's fair to say there was a good sense of competition in the air! Both teams played brilliantly and the adults had their work cut out keeping up with the speed of the team.
A big thanks to Hannah for the unenviable task of refereeing and to all who took part - including some unsuspecting parents who stepped in to keep the competition going!
This week we had the end of year celebration event for the ELC children. They impressed the audience with a selection of songs, sung perfectly along with actions. They showed a wide range of skills on the stage and it was great to see all that they have achieved this year. For some this was their last ELC event as they will be moving onto P1 after the holidays- everyone in the ELC wishes them the best for P1.
P4 had a great time this week over at Ruthrieston Community Space, using the newly upgraded tennis courts! Local community groups have been working with Active Schools to regenerate this space for use by groups and individuals within the local community. We hope to be able to use this fantastic facility more in the future!
My Movie 30.MOVOur assemblies this week were full of impressive moves and lots of laughter,
as we joined together for Ashley Road’s first DANCETAHON, led by a range
of pupils who took to the stage to lead the choreography. Great to see
children of all ages getting involved and, for many of us, realising just how
catchy ‘The Pizza Song’ is.
Please see information below regarding class/teacher allocation for next session. Children have been informed of their new teacher/room at the end of the day today (Friday). Our new P1 pupils met their teachers on Wednesday this week at the P1 Fun Morning and all other classes will have a 'meet the teacher' session with their new teacher in their new room on Wednesday the 26th of June at 11am. Please try avoid any appointments at this time. The staff are excited to get to know their new classes and start planning for the new year!
Thoughts are turning to the end of term, particularly for our P7 pupils as many have now experienced some time at secondary school through the P7 transition programmes. This session our 'improvement Squad' have decided to create a P7 yearbook to ensure they leave a little bit of themselves behind to be remembered by. They were excited to hear that the completed yearbooks arrived today! We will present the yearbooks to the P7's as a leaving gift on their last day. A big thanks to the PTA to provided funding for this project, meaning all children will receive a yearbook free of charge.
The children may have spotted lots of furniture moves around the first floor on Wednesday and Thursday this week as we start to prepare for some exciting building work which is planned to take place over the summer break. The wall between room 4 and room 5 will be removed during the school holidays, enabling us to form one large open plan space for our P1 pupils next session. This really exciting project is being supported by the PTA who are providing half the funding (£4000) to allow for the removal of the wall. We look forward to seeing this modernised space in action next session, set up to enhance playful learning opportunities and to support collaborative working between classes/teachers.
Our P3 had a great time this week during a parental engagement session based on food preparation. It was lovely to see so many families turned out on the day and had the opportunity to prep and taste lots of healthy fruits together. Some children even found new favourite fruits, which they hadn't tasted before. There were lots of sticky hands and tables by the end of the day, but it was worth it. Thanks to all who were able to make it!
This week our P1s and P2s were out exploring the community and having fun up at Cromwell Park. Some lovely weather and lots of happy parent helpers enabled the trips to be a great success. It has been lovely to see the children get out and about on advanetures in the community. Next up, P3 are off to Duthie Park, fingers crossed the sun sticks around!
Our 'Charities and Community' pupil leadership group will be holding a 'clothes swap' on Friday the 28th of June at lunchtime. Through the 'Fast Fashion' focus that P5 has last year, everyone has learned lots about the impact of clothing production on the environment and the role we can play in reducing our footprint. This is why the group would like to help children REUSE any unwanted clothing through the swap!
Clothing Swap Rules:
Pupils are advised or bring one piece (two maximum) of clothing that they wish to donate.
All clothing donated must be good quality and clean.
Please hand any donations in to the school office from Wednesday the 26th until Friday the 28th.
Happy Swapping!
Competitive spirit is already building in school as we approach two teachers VS pupil events which are coming up before the end of term:
The annual teachers VS pupils netball match will be taking place after school on Thursday the 27th.
A P7 teachers VS pupils lunchtime dodgeball match will be taking place on Wednesday the 3rd of June. This is a new initiative which one of the pupil leadership groups has campaigned for. Fingers crossed the pupils don't put too much power behind the ball!
The PTA Summer Disco will take place on Friday 28th June.
Please see all information about tickets and helpoing out on the following links:
https://buytickets.at/ashleyroadpta/1290274
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094DA4AF2DA5FEC52-50062020-summer
Both the P1-3 and P4-7 Discos require the children to have an adult to supervise. 4 children to 1 adult is the maximum ratio accepted.
Our 'Communities' pupil leadership group have been coming up with lots of ideas and the first they would like to put into action is to have a foodbank collection for CFine, a local charity who we have worked with before, who aim to improve health and wellbeing and the environment, tackle poverty and build resilience for and with disadvantaged. Please see the message below from the 'Communities Group'.
'CFine are going to come to our school on the 28th of June. Parents are invited to donate different types of foods which they can use to help families locally. This might include canned foods, cereal, tea, coffee, or dried foods like pasta, rice or sugar. Donations can be dropped off on the 27th and 27th of June to 'the bubble'.
P5Rm15 have been having a fab time up at Harlaw Playing Fields over the last few Thursdays with the amazing Ultimate Frisbee team from Aberdeen Uni. The children have loved developing this new skill, having fun and developing their fitness. It was great to hear some of their parents even came along to get involved!
IMG_6188.MOVIMG_6192.MOVIMG_6189.MOVIMG_6191.MOV
A big congratulations to Zafina, Clara, Niamh and Christina who were all invited along to attend the prizegiving for the Scottish Maths Challenge which took place at Aberdeen University this week. They chose to work on some tremendously difficult challenges and in recognition of their awesome efforts and talents, were awarded with a cool mug!
We were delighted to welcome Pete from Radio 106 and Greg from TVP (a local filming/media company) to speak to the P4-7s this week about the process of marketing and producing 'creative content'. These industry experts were invited along to help us launch our final whole school writing engagement of this session which will focus on 'selling our school' (not literally!). The children will be focusing on creating some writing/a podcast/an advert to share what is special about Ashley Road. They learned lots in this session about the 'brief' they were being set and some top tips from the industry. We can't wait to see what they create!
The PTA Summer Disco will take place on Friday 28th June.
Please see all information about tickets and helpoing out on the following links:
https://buytickets.at/ashleyroadpta/1290274
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094DA4AF2DA5FEC52-50062020-summer
Both the P1-3 and P4-7 Discos require the children to have an adult to supervise. 4 children to 1 adult is the maximum ratio accepted.
This week four P7 pupils who are members of the Junior Road Safety Officers went out with Mr Rae before school on Thursday morning to look at one of the Travel Plan actions - to identify possible Park and Stride as well as Park and Drop locations within easy walking distance of the school. They visited 11 locations and found that there were lots of roads where Park and Stride and Park and Drop options would be available. The children will put together some information on suitable roads which will then be shared to families. The main aim is to look at ways to reduce congestion and families using the roads at either side of the school where the main congestion occurs and at times dangerous driving/parking is seen regularly.
As our P7 members will be leaving this year Mr Rae has also spoken to the P6s to find out who would like to join the JRSO group for next year.
My Movie 29.MOVThe first session of AR Radio - today DJ'd by Teniola and John was a huge success! The tunes had the playground bouncing and it was lovely to hear some heartfelt reasons for the requests. We were very grateful to welcome a local DJ, Pete from the breakfast show on 106 who gave our DJs some top tips and showed them how to 'work the crowd' on the mic! Thanks Pete! Another amazing example of pupil leadership in action ably supported by Miss McIntosh!
Lots of work has been carried out to upgrade the facilities at Ruthrieston Outdoor Sports Centre, which is an awesome community resource right in the centre of our local area. A launch event is being held on Saturday the 22nd of June to allow families to go along and find out more about how they can use the centre. We hope the school will be able to make more use of this space in the future.
This year’s Aberdeen Reads Challenge will see Library Bear (LB) travelling back in time all Summer! Pupils from the city’s schools suggested historical periods and events for LB to visit…these will be revealed throughout the summer. Will LB come face to face with dinosaurs, or will there be visits to Ancient Egypt? It will take 350 books read, challenges completed and/or library activities attended to let LB jump through the time portal to the next historical ADVENTURE!
Young people and families can pick up their FREE challenge cards from any city library. Take your challenge card into the library and collect stamps to earn rewards. Aberdeen Reads Challenge is open to everyone, with rewards available for 4-15yrs taking part in the challenge.
If you can’t make it to a library, you can take part online by downloading a challenge card from our website – let us know what you’ve been reading at LibraryEvents@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
Further information can be found at https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/aberdeenreads
If on a rare occasion, parents are unable to make it to school to collect their children at 3:15, it is essential that as much notice as possible is provided. Office staff receive many phone calls between 3:00 and 3:15 and are unable to deliver a large number of messages across the building, whilst remaining available to take calls of this type.
Where you wish to arrange for someone different to collect your child, this must be communicated to the school office on each occasion, on the day of/in advance of the arrangement.
Still one of the biggest risks to the children who attend Ashley Road is inconsiderate, dangerous and illegal parking, often by parents from our own school community. This issue has been raised again by local community members and within our Parent Council Meetings. We ask in the strongest possible terms that families consider the actions detailed on our school TRAVEL PLAN, to minimise the traffic around school and ensure the streets are safe for our children and families.
Lost of stamina and resilience was shown this week by all as we had a go at a 'Runathon' ahead of our annual Sports Day. During the Runathon, the children ran laps of the playground, with each lap earning them points for their house. Many children learned about the idea of 'pacing' so they were not exhausted too soon!
Excellent team spirit was shown by everyone as they took part in a whole range of races for Sports Day and we all managed to push through a mid afternoon shower and individual thunder clap! A huge thanks to all the parent helpers who walked with us to the field and/or helped run the races. We really cannot do it without you.
Massive congrats to all members of Seaton house who won both the Runathon and Sports Day this year to claim the house cup!
Our LfS group were delighted to hear today that our achievement of Rights Respecting reaccreditation has not just been a matter of celebration within school/the local community, it has even been mentioned in Scottish Parliament (Link HERE)! A motion was passed in parliament on Wednesday to congratulate the children, and this all happened to coincide with the arrival of our new banner so we got the snap below with the committee!
Parent Reporting Info Nov 23.pdfEnd of year school reports went home to families in school bags yesterday (30th May). Please have a look over the attached guidance to ensure you understand all aspects of the report. If you are unsure, feel free to get in touch and we can talk things through with you.
A group of P5 pupils have been keen to have a go at running the first ever AR Spelling Bee this year. They have put in tonnes of work in their own time to come up with lists of (some extremely tricky) words with appropriate challenge for each year group. This week in assembly we looked for volunteers who were up for a competitive challenge. You would be surprised the volume of cheers that erupted as the children managed to spell some really tricky words correctly! Another awesome example of child led learning!
Now our next round of pupil leadership groups is up and running, the fantastic ideas are flowing thick and fast! The first that has already started to kick into action is 'AR Radio'. This group plan to create playground playlists with song requests submitted by children across school who want to give a 'shout out' to a peer for their kindness with a song of their choice! We look forward to seeing the radio DJ's in action next week!
A sunny start to the week meant the children were able to make the most of their new play equipment at lunchtimes. There has been a real buzz in the playground, across all age groups, and it has been lovely to see so many team activities place.
How many people can skip with a single rope at one time? P7 are determined to find out!
Be ready with hair coiffed and uniform ironed for Class Photo Day on Thursday the 6th of June!
On Monday and Wednesday next week (3rd + 5th) children are invited to come to school in their sports gear/gym kits as, in honour of the Paris Olympics which will be taking place this summer, our House Team Leaders will be planning some extra sporting activities this term, with the first being a 'Runathon' on Monday. In an effort to earn house points, the children will be running laps of the playground/school, the more laps, the more points. It could all influence the overall winning house at Sports Day!
The sun came out in time for the Nursery Sports Day on Wednesday. The children did so well with their Sports day and lots of family members came on to give them encouragement. The children definitely deserved their snack at the end. Thanks to everyone who came to help with the walk up to Harlaw Playing Fields and for all of those that came to support the children.
The P4s were delighted that their bird feeder's enterprise project was a success! They learnt many skills during the project whilst pitching ideas, collecting market research, branding, costing, manufacturing and selling!
They made £229.20 profit that will be split between a charity called Team Jak, and purchasing items to support biodiversity in the school garden. Team Jak is a charity that supports children and their families that are going through treatment for cancer. Well
done P4s!
A huge thank you to our PTA who organised a fantastic Summer Fair last Saturday. It was great to see so many people coming to support the school and having lots of fun.
A special thank you has to go to the members of the PTA (who were planning the fair for the last 3 months!), the volunteers, the people and companies that donated prises for the Raffle, the P7s who ran stalls and volunteered to run the games as well as the teachers who chose to get sponges thrown at them. A big thank you also goes to everyone who came out on the day to take part in the event.
The total raised at the fair this year was £ 8,576 - As always the school relies on fundraising to put into action priorities for the children across the school and this money will be well used.
A big thanks to everyone who was able to make it along to the P6 parental engagement 'poetry recital' session this week. As ever, the children really enjoyed sharing their learning with parents in person. Some fantastic poetry was written via parent/child collaboration!
A very fond farewell to Mr Martin, who after five years at Ashley Road is off on a secondment to become Acting Depute Head Teacher at Sunnybank Primary School. The children and staff have shared gifts with him today to thank him for his hard work, sense of humour and his unmeasureable commitment to our school and its community. We wish him the very best of luck at Sunnybank.
Our first round of Bikeability training is now complete and our children are armed with the skills to cycle safely when out and about! Another big thank you to our parent trainers and volunteers for making this possible.
A big thank you to the PTA who have funded a range of new equipment to help us increase the play opportunities available in the playground at lunchtimes. Our new 'Play Presidents' have taken feedback from their peers and carefully used a budget of nearly £350 to choose items for different areas of the playground which will suit all ages and encourage more team activities. Having demonstrated the new items at assembly, they will hit the playground next week. We are looking forward to seeing basketball, hula-ing, group skipping, stepping-stone assault courses, 'throwing and catching' games and more in action!
This is the first small step in hopefully a series of developments for our playground and we are grateful for the PTA support.
On Tuesday the Learning for Sustainability group had their final meeting for this academic year. Our class reps have supported the school in achieving our Gold Rights Respecting award and our Eco Green Flag. Throughout the year they have led assemblies on topics such as the UNCRC and about the concept of dignity, as well as proposing developments for our school community. We also enjoyed carrying out audits of our class charters and sharing the Article of the fortnight with the nursery pupils. Thank you to our fabulous team who have achieved such a high level of success! We will be seeking representatives from P2 to P7 to be on the committee next academic year. Applications can be made on the following Google Form HERE.
IMG_6413.movToday in assembly we had a dry run (not so dry) of one of the new activities at the Summer Fair this year - 'Splish Splash'. For the first time, children will have the chance to throw wet sponges at Mr Middleton, Mr Rae, Miss Smith or Mr Martin who will all be taking shifts on the stall. Let's just say there was a good amount of enthusiasm about the idea! We look forward to seeing lots of families at the fair tomorrow. Fingers crossed for sunshine!
A huge congratulations to Dougal and Samuel in P7 who were selected to participate in the Scottish under 14's Inter District Hockey Tournament in Edinburgh recently. They were rightly proud of their achievement of coming second place and with silver medals in hand, spoke in assembly this week about their achievement. They also used the opportunity to encourage all the children in P4-7 to join the local hockey group which runs on a Monday night. Ashley Road after school hockey club got it all started for Samuel and Dougal but numbers in the group have dropped. Both Samuel and Dougal were keen to chat about their love for hockey and to see if they can help increase numbers. Lots of their audience were interested, so to find out more, have a look at the extra curricular activities page on the school website for sign up info.
My Movie 28.MOVA huge congratulations to both our P4 singers and P6 players at today's Big Sing! Our P4s had a fantastic time singing along with children from across Aberdeen City Schools and were delighted to see such a large audience turn out to hear the songs they have been practising for months! Our P6 Woodwind group were centre stage during the performance of 'Happy' as the 94 strong group provided some instrumental support alongside the singers. They were thanked and congratulated by many of the local councillors would had come along to see the skills on display. Well done all.
This year the event will take place on Wednesday the 5th of June, with Wednesday the 12th of June as the reserve option. We aim to start around 1:30. Lunches will be earlier than usual to allow us to start at this time. Please note that we do try to run on time but that these times are estimates. We will send a Groupcall message in the morning if we need to cancel due to poor weather. The nursery will have a separate sports day again this year.
In order for the event to be a success we require many helpers. We do try to make sure that volunteers have an opportunity to see their own children take part but this is made easier if there are plenty of volunteers!
The event takes place at Harlaw Playing Field which is next to Cromwell Road. Please note that the whole school will be over at the pavilion side of the field. See image below which indicates which area parent spectators should use. In order to maintain the flow of the races and so that staff/helpers are able to manage their classes effectively, parents are kindly asked to stay in the designated areas and not to approach the children until the races have completely finished. In addition, could we ask that spectators refrain from standing directly behind the start and finish lines to prevent congestion and ensure the safety of the runners.
Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit on the day. Please apply sun cream if necessary on the morning of sports day.
Please complete the form below for each child so we know who needs to be brought back to school and who will be dismissed from the field to a known adult at the end of the day. Please do not do a family reply. The forms should be completed by Monday the 27th of May .
Thank you in advance for your support, let’s hope the sun shines this year!
Not long to go until the
PTA Summer Fair
One week to go!
The school an the PTA rely on your help for the school summer fair, please make sure you look at our volunteer join up site and pick a slot at https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C094DA4AF2DA5FEC52-49313692-summer
Please return your raffle tickets at the school reception for a chance to win amazing prizes or pick up some more. You can also pick up some empty jars there for making your Everyone’s a Winner contributions!
Drop off your (toy/book) donations at the bubble from Monday.
Drop off plants and food on the morning of the fair.
Get your tickets now at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ashleyroadpta/1239137
Some important dates for events coming up this term:
ELC Sports Day - 28th May 2.15-2.45pm (Harlaw Fields)
ELC Parental Potted Sports in the playground- 14th June 2.15-2.45pm
ELC (Nursery Induction) - 20th June 9:30
End of term Celebration - 26th June - 2pm
A reminder to please remember that between 8:45am and 9:00am +3:15pm and 3:45pm, children should not be biking/scooting around the school playground. At these times the playground is congested and it is not safe to move around in this manner,
A HUGE thanks to all the parents who volunteered to come into school this week to talk about their careers and the skills which they use in their roles. It has been fantastic to have so many visitors in school this week, sharing real life experiences which help the children see the relevance of their daily learning experiences. Also, thank you to all the families who were able to take the time to engage with the home learning task with their children. I have heard some parent reflecting that they have realised their child actually had no idea what they did for a job until they engaged in the task together. We really appreciate the increased participation in this task. The image attached shows just some of the wonderful submissions, representing a massively broad range of career options which the children have loved hearing about.
P6/7 netball team took part in a festival organised by active schools on Monday. They showed great team spirit and played brilliantly!
As ever a huge thanks to the parent volunteers to provide these amazing opportunities in collaboration with Active schools. We are already looking forward to the Staff Vs Pupils match at the end of term!
A big thanks to everyone who 'brightened up' today for 'Express Yourself With Colours' day. The playground was like a rainbow today and we hope it has raised awareness of mental health themes. A huge £297.61 was raised to help support the distribution of sensory tools and resources across school to help with all our work on self regulation and staying 'low in the zone'. Many thanks for your support!
Coming up soon it will the the turn of the other half of our P4-7 classes to form new Pupil Leadership groups in which they plan to make a change/improvement within our school community. Group themes were shared this week in assembly and next week children will be given the chance to 'rank' their preferences before they are matched with a group. These group times area a real opportunity to have voices heard and to make an impact! We cannot wait to see the creative ideas that come from this next group of young leaders. (See the group options in the image attached).
Our Learning For Sustainability Group has done amazing work over the last year and a bit, including driving forward toward a huge achievement - Reaccreditation at Gold Rights Respecting Level. It is time for this group to retire and for the torch to be passed on. We would like to invite applications from interested children across P1-6 who will be part of this leadership group next session. If your child is interested they should fill out THIS SIMPLE FORM to express their interest.
As we will have such a large P7 year group next session, we have had to get a kick start on Bikeability training in P6! The weather couldn't have been better for Group 1's session today. A huge thanks to the parent helpers who make this possible. Each year we need parents who are able and willing to undertake Bikeability training and give up their time to run these sessions. Without this support, they simply wouldn't be possible. Some of the parents who have led Bikeability through the years are approaching the end of their time at Ashley Road, so we need to find the next generation who can keep this valuable experience going. If that could be you, please get in touch via the school office!
This week P4 were very excited to welcome a professional film crew to school to record one of their final rehearsals with Mr Sneden before the big performance at The Big Sing on the 22nd. They sounded fantastic and the film crew were very complimentary about their singing and showmanship! We hope you are able to make it along to see them live at Duthie Park!
We are pleased to confirm that Ashley Road's P7 'Last Class photos feature will be in the local papers on the following dates:
The Press & Journal – Monday, May 13th
Evening Express - Monday, May 20th
2024-04-child-off-school-a4.pdfPlease see guidance attached from the NHS which provides details regarding when families are required/not required to keep children off school.
A message from pupils in P4:
Hello Ashley Road school community,
P4 are currently making bird feeders as part of Our Enterprising World topic. We are going to be selling these at the school fair.
For this we will be asking for recycled 'tetra pak' cartons (please see the pictures attached).
We are also hoping to collect lots of twigs and natural materials that we can use to decorate our bird feeders and make perches for the birds.
Your child can start to hand in these items from tomorrow.
We are hoping to turn lots of 'tetra paks' into profit making bird feeders!!
Our nursery children go on frequent visits within the local community in small groups. Recently staff came up with the brilliant idea or starting to develop our 'P1 - P5' buddy connections early, by sending our P4 pupils out as helpers on these trips. We have been trialling the idea this term and both the P4s and the nursery children have absolutely loved the opportunity to get to know each other and learn together. We hope to be able to offer this opportunity to all P4 pupils next session!
Next week is 'Careers Week' at Ashley Road! Mr Martin and the staff 'Skills' working group have been pulling together a timetable of parent volunteers who will be coming in to talk about their careers and the skills they have needed. The children are very much looking forward to hearing how the skills they are developing daily in school will be applied in real life!
The skills staff working group have have a focus on helping families engage more with the schools skills framework, so have created a range of home learning tasks this session to encourage you to engage with the framework together with your child. We would love to see much greater uptake for this final 'Skills Master Challenge' of the school year (see slideshow attached - this has been posted as a task in Google Classroom for every year group).
A reminder about the Worldviews Parent Feedback form. We have only had two responses so far and would greatly appreciated your feedback!
Now that we have completed our first whole school 'Exploring Worldviews' block of learning (over the last three weeks before the Easter break) we are keen to gather views on the approach to help us to continue to refine and improve the approach and materials before we revisit the theme next session. We would greatly appreciate it if families could take five minutes to complete the attached survey.
A big thank you from our Charities Pupil Leadership group to all the families who donated, and bought from their cake stand last week. They were able to raise a massive £207.03 which will be donated to Cancer Research UK. They have really enjoyed practising the real life skill of counting the money today and are delighted to be able to help this worthy case.
The Mental Health pupil leadership group would like to invite everyone to come along to school dressed in a colour to express themselves. The idea came from our 'Regulation Stations' which have coloured zones, which we used to help us talk consistently about our emotions and how to recognise and work with them. We hope to see a rainbow of colours across the playground on the 17th of May! See you then!
Please see the fair poster for information on how to purchase tickets and how to volunteer on the day. As ever, we need lots of volunteers to make the fair a success.
Please see donations letter for the school summer fair.
This week we had Kimberlie Hamilton come to visit the school to speak to the children about her books, her inspiration and about how she became a published author. Kimberlie writes non-fiction books that often revolve around animals. We have her Rebel Cats book which is hardly ever in the library as it is usually out on loan. The PTA have very kindly offered to purchase her other books which we will add to the library when they come in. Kimberlie has also donated a signed copy of her newest book: 'A History of the World according to Cats.'
Huge congratulations to everyone for all the awesome work that has taken place in the run up to our Gold Award Rights Respecting School visit. We are delighted to say that the team have confirmed that we have received the award. Please have a look at the report below which describes the rights work which we have undertaken and the great impact which it has had across our school community. Thanks again to all the partners who participated in the accreditation process.
Ashley Road RRSA Gold reaccreditatin report March 2024 JP.pdf
Now that we have completed our first whole school 'Exploring Worldviews' block of learning (over the last three weeks before the Easter break) we are keen to gather views on the approach to help us to continue to refine and improve the approach and materials before we revisit the theme next session. We would greatly appreciate it if families could take five minutes to complete the attached survey.
A big thank you to our group of parent volunteers who have carried out bike checks ahead of our upcoming first round of Bikeability for Primary 6. We rely on the ongoing help of parents to keep this programme going and are always looking to recruit new helpers.
A reminder that if you are interested in undertaking the one-day Bikeability training course to become one of our instructors, contact the school office (ashleyroad@aberdeencity.gov.uk) and we'll be in touch with possible dates.
This weeks assembly linked to National Allergy Awareness Week and International Mother Earth Day.
We looked at what allergies were, what causes allergies and types of symptoms. Research has shown that around 1/4 of the UK's population has an allergy. A group of children in the school spoke about their allergy and how it affects them. We also reinforced the message about the school being a no nut zone as we have children who have allergies to nuts.
Linked to Mother Earth Day we shared some of the Journalist Team articles that had looked at how we can protect our planet and the small steps we can take to make a difference.
A big thanks to everyone who made it along today to attend the P4 parental engagement session which focused on the enterprise project they are planning linked with their 'Our World Of Work' topic. The children greatly enjoyed recruiting their parents to the cause and setting them to work on their marketing campaigns for '.Friendly Flappers - Feeders for flyers'. They cannot wait for the Summer Fair where they will be putting their business model to the test to see if they can turn a profit!
Please see the attached poster for all the details about the Fun Run series and how to sign your child up.
The Summer Fair will take place on Saturday 25th May. More information will come out soon!
Linked with Autism Awareness Week which has happened recently, our assembly theme this week was on neurodiversity. The children were brilliant in recognising that we all see things differently and that our differences are what make us interesting and unique. We watched some insightful clips about autism, ADHD and dyslexia which helped us all to understand things from the perspective of others and consider how we can help through the simplest of actions. This type of understanding is so important as we all work to embody our school values - Kind, Respectful, Inclusive.
A message from the Charities and Community pupil leadership group:
On Friday the 26th of April we (The Charities and Communities Pupil Group) will hold a bake sale from 3:15pm. The money that we earn will go to a cancer research/support charity and for this reason we would like to request a small donation of baked goods or treats. Any donations should be handed in to your teacher or to the school office on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th of April. Due to schools food safety guidance we are unable to sell/consume any foods which have been baked at home so any baked items would need to be purchased and be in their original wrapping.
The bake sale will take place under the shelter on Friday the 26th at the end of the school day.
Thank you for your continued support,
Charities/Community group.
A big well done to all our P6 performers who who took part in the Spring Concert, many compliments were made about their performance, especially considering the short time they had had their instruments. Their next performance opportunity will be at the 'Big Sing' event on the 22nd of May at Duthie Park. The event takes place for all P4 pupils across Aberdeen City Schools and this year our P6s have been invited along to share their musical skills. Busses will be provided to take P6 children to and from the event. Parents will be very welcome to attend to spectate at the event.
We hope to build a progressive approach to this programme which allows children to develop their interest and skills over many years, in collaboration with our colleagues in the music service. Next year, we hope to be able to offer the following:
P3/4 - 'Playing' Together
Opportunities use the 'Toots' and 'Doods' (introductory flutes and clarinets) through class music lessons in school.
P5 - Have A Go At Home
We are looking into the possibility of lending out some instruments for families who are really keen, to do some self directed learning in preparation for the excitement of the P6 woodwind project. We will be in touch later this session to see if this is something families would be interested in.
P6 - Universally Musical
As has happened this year, next session all P6 pupils will be given a real woodwind instrument for the year and will receive fortnightly tuition in school with Miss Dow, our amazing woodwind instructor.
P7 - Band Club
Miss Dow will be offering the children an opportunity to continue on with their instrument in P7 as part of an after school 'Band Club'. The club will take place on a Wednesday from 3:15 - 4:10 and there will be a limited number of places. It is likely that those children in 'Band Club' will have opportunities to preform publicly at least twice in the year and any children attending would be invited to participate in the Wind Band which takes place on a Saturday at the Music Centre should they wish.
We continue to plan with the music service to ensure that as part of this project, there will be opportunities for children to continue to develop these skills as they move on to secondary school.
Big congratualtions to Harris in P6 who took part in the 1k RunFest event at the P&J on Sunday. All the training is really paying off as he darted around the course to come in an amazing 3rd place out of 116 runners with an awesome time of 3:41! His classmates were delightd to cheer for him as we celebrated his success this week in assembly.
Some important dates for events coming up this term:
P4 + P6 Big Sing - 22nd of May - at Duthie Park
PTA Summer Fair - 25th of May 12:30 - 3:00pm
Sports Day - 5th of June - PM
Annual School Reports - Towards the end of May.
Final Parents Meeting Opportunity - 11th June (Appointments reduced to 5 minutes as these follow parental reports. Appointments only for families who wish to discuss the content of the school report)
P7 Grammar Link Week - Week beginning 17th June
P1 Fun Day (Induction morning) - 19th of June - 9:30
ELC (Nursery Induction) - 20th June 9:30
P7 Shows - Wednesday the 3rd of July 24
- Room 10 - 9:30am
-Room 13 - 2:00pm
Ice Cream Afternoon - 4th of July (thanks PTA)
My Movie 27.MOVSome of the amazing work by one of the P6 classes on the theme of 'Creation'.
This afternoon the children took a tour of the school, leaving their classes set up with examples of the learning they have been doing over the last three weeks on our newly formed 'Worldviews' topic. The children then visited each class to find out what other year groups have been working on. The teachers have been delighted to see our school values clearly embedded throughout the times spent on this theme, with Curiosity, Kindness, Respect, and Inclusion being at the centre of all this learning. Early next term we will be looking to gather some feedback from pupils, staff and families on their perception of the topic to consider how we can adapt and uplevel the input next session.
Amazing talents on show today at both talent shows. Our judges were amazed by the skills and confidence on show, with a noticeable number of amazing musical acts this year!
Show 1 was won by Yuchan who played an amazing piece on the piano. the judges were even more amazed to find out that he was learning to play by using videos on Youtube!
Alastair P5 with a remarkable magic act which had the audience baffled. Mr Rae may well have some competition in the future!
A big thanks and congratulations to everyone for the work in the build up to the Rights Respecting Gold Award accreditation visit which took place last week. The day involved the assessor meeting with SLT, teachers, PSAs, parents, partners and an endless list of children to talk about their leadership roles, learning about rights and how they know rights are live within our school. It was lovely to hear the reflections of each of the different groups, and how these themes are positively impacting on the children's knowledge, skills and attitudes. Our Learning for Sustainability leadership group who lead on Eco/Global Goals and Rights based themes across the school met together this week to
We won’t get a formal ‘yes or no’ in terms of the Gold award at this point in time as the assessments have to go through a moderation process, but suffice it to say that Jenny (the assessor) was impressed by the work we have all done and the impact that it is clearly having for our learners and within the community. She was so impressed that she hopes to be able to use the school as a case study for UNICEF, creating videos which would be shared with school across Scotland to support and up level practice.
A big thanks to all the families who made it along to P5Rm14's French cafe last week. The children loved hosting their families and sharing their skills, encouraging families them to order their snacks and drinks in French (with help on hand).
Well done to our wonderful Glee group who put in an amazing performance at the Beach Ballroom last week. Their amazing singing and dancing talents were obvious for all to see and they were complimented on how well they worked together as a team. Although we did not make it through to the next round this year, the group were delighted with how they had performed and have certificates to take home to help them remember this big achievement!
A key part of everyday learning at Ashley Road Primary School is the teaching and development of skills. Next term, as part of our skills-based learning, we wish to strengthen our ‘Connecting Skills’ by connecting directly with you. As such, we’re asking enthusiastic family members to help us launch and run a Careers Week. This event will take place between the dates of Monday the 13th and Friday the 17th May.
Please see the letter attached for more information on how you can get involved. Use the link below to sign up!
Our P6 Sports Leaders Group once again planned a sport session for a P3 class this week. They worked hard to come up with a plan of activities to do with the class last week and put it into action today. They have also worked with one of the P2 classes earlier in the session and are also going to look at planning some sessions with the nursery children next term. Well done Sports Leaders!
We have now complete the two weeks of the Big Walk and Wheel survey for this year.
The results final results for the school are:
Total number of active journeys: 3,108 - We beat last year's total by 289 journeys!
Daily average score of active journeys: 65.18% - up from 61.89% last week.
Our overall position across the UK: 232nd out of 728 large sized primary schools.
Our position in Scotland: 29th out of 106 large sized primary schools.
The overall leading class in the school after the two weeks is P3 Room 6 with 240 - journeys!
Well done on such a great effort again this year.
The Aberdeen Parent Council Forum, of which the Ashley Road School PC is a member, has been having ongoing discussions regarding school lunches. As a collective parent council body, the APCF is keen to gather feedback from parents/guardians and children on this matter.
As you might remember, we carried out a survey last year to gather evidence of issues experienced by our children during their school lunch, and some actions have been taken as a result to address some of the identified problems.
In order to identify areas that might still require improvement, it would be very helpful if you could complete the ACPF survey via his link by no later than Friday 22nd March, 2024. The feedback will be exported to the council and discussed further with the view to drive improvements.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10i_zZmkKHr8w8fx1aespQYcPkIM6tpuWDlOBHI0ioJw/edit
Responses are anonymous and any collected data will be stored in line with the Data Protection Act 2018. If you have any comments or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Ashley Road School Parent Council on pcashleyroad@aberdeen.npfs.org.uk .
To minimise risks we have reviewed procedures around children leaving school to go for home lunches. From Monday, any children who are going home for lunch, must be collected and signed out by an adult from the school office. This is to ensure:
Records of those in the building are accurate in case of a fire alarm.
There is a clear 'handover' of children at this time in case of any accident or incident on thir journey home/back to school.
A big congratulations to all our P5, 6 and 7 pupils who attended the Cross Country trials at Balgownie today, despite the dreich weather! Mr Wallace and Mrs Morrison were mightily impressed by the resilience shown by all involved! Fantastic work Team AR! A huge well done to the P6 girls who were 2nd place in the team prizes!
Copy of My Movie 26.MOVThere was a buzz around school this morning as the children arrived when they spotted a small furry purple foot hanging over one of the roof areas on the top floor...
It was... Physical Fuzz.
The children were delighted to see he had returned, knowing that we can finally find out the answer to where he has been all this time and what happened in the library! Fuzz was interviewed and the video shared with all classes today to finally bring a close to the investigation. Watch the video to find out what happened!
On Thursday the 21st of March we will be welcoming Jenny Price from 'Rights Respecting Schools' to Ashley Road to carry out a reaccreditation assessment for the Rights Respecting Gold standard. At the 'gold standard' schools/children must demonstrate that they meet the following criteria:
1. Teaching and Learning about rights: for the whole school community through training, curriculum, assemblies, topics, focus days/weeks, displays.
2. Teaching and Learning through rights: by modelling rights respecting language and attitudes and making strategic decisions that involve students.
3. Being ambassadors for the rights of others: developing as rights respecting citizens.
Have a look at the slides to see all the work that goes into this aspect of learning across school life. Fingers crossed that all the hard work that children, staff and families do on this theme is recognised!
We listened to a lovely input from a group of P7 pupils this week in assembly on Ramadan, what is means to them and how it impacts on their daily lives. It was great to see the children so enthused to share information about their Worldview and see the audience so keen to find out more.
Our Primary 6 pupils will soon have the opportunity to undertake Bikeability training , providing them with the skills and understanding they will need to cycle on today's roads.
We are always looking for more parents to help deliver this training to our senior pupils, no matter the age of your own child. If you would be interested in signing up to a one day course to become a Bikeability instructor, then we'd love to hear from you. Please simply contact the school office (ashleyroad@aberdeencity.gov.uk) and we'll be in touch with possible dates.
As part of ongoing quality assurance processes in school, our ELC recently had a visit from central officers to work with staff to review standards and progress. As part of this process the team pull together an 'Ebook' with comments and reflections on the provision. Staff were delighted with the positive feedback and wanted to share this with families.
We have now complete the first of the two weeks of the Big Walk and Wheel survey for this year.
Some of the results for the school so far:
Total number of active journeys: 1,480
Daily average score of active journeys: 61.89%
Our overall position across the UK: 190th out of 728 large sized primary schools.
Our position in Scotland: 27th out of 106 large sized primary schools.
The overall leading classes in the school after the first week is P3 Room 6 and P4 Room 16 both with 118 journeys!
The total journeys in the event last year was 2,819. Can we beat that this year?
ARS Travel Plan.pdfPlease have a look through our new school Travel Plan. Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey which we have based our travel plan around. Thank you also to the parents, local councillor and pupils that formed the consultation group to finalise our plan and our actions that we will take forward. We hope that through continued collaboration with our families and local community we are able to keep our streets safe and ourselves fit!
Lots of amazing musical talents to celebrate this week and next due to the work of our fantastic Glee group and the ongoing collaboration with the music service on 'Project Woodwind'. On Monday last week our 92 P6 pupils attended the Beach Ballroom to perform a four part ensemble piece to the tune of Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins and 57 of the year group opted to perform on Tuesday evening at the Spring Concert to an audience of hundreds. The performance was fantastic and as a result of all hard work that has been put into the project, Ashley Road was presented with a 'Music Mark' award.
Next Tuesday our Glee group will be taking their talents to the same venue as they enter the first round of the national Glee competition with two songs 'Spaceman' and 'On Top Of The World'. We recorded their final rehearsals to share with families - see the videos below. Big thanks again to the PTA for providing funding for their snazzy silver sequined waistcoats which fit perfectly with the theme of all the songs this year - Space! Fingers crossed we have as much success as we did last year!
IMG_5569.movIMG_5570.movIMG_5551.movIMG_5556.mov
A big thanks to the PTA for providing funding to add some larger shrubs to the playground planters. Hopefully these shrubs will help reduce the footfall on top of the planters and help the bulbs grow. We hope over time with the right care and attention the plants grow and add some interest to the playground.
This year's P7 show has been selected and an overwhelming majority of children have decided to go with 'Seussical Jr'. This fab Broadway production is going to be a wonderful way for the children to show their talents and skills in their final team at Ashley Road.
We expect performances to P7 parents to take place on:
Wednesday the 3rd of July 24
Room 10 - 9:30am
Room 13 - 2:00pm
At our recent parent council meeting we discussed school comms in an effort to ensure that all families have the best chance of receiving school updates and keeping informed. We need to ensure that school staff are able to get responses from parents in a timely way regarding school visits/consents etc. The group agreed that families in general would be more likely to receive/effectively monitor messages via email than Groupcall Xpressions due to the technical issues which sometimes arise with the app. We have therefore agreed that from this point forward, messages from school will be sent via email only, and we will no longer use the Xpressions Groupcall system for outbound messages.
Families will still be able to the Groupcall Xpressions app to report absences in the morning if they wish. This can also be done via email/by calling the school office.
The following information still applies:
Most weeks on a Friday (usually between 3 and 4pm) an update is made to the school website news page. This page is a ‘one stop shop’ for school wide information. We would ask that all families take 5 minutes a week to access the school website news page to ensure that they are aware of the information being shared. This page includes important information, e.g. parent meetings, upcoming events, medication procedure and a range themes which may be helpful for families to be aware of.
To help families, an email will be sent when updates are made to encourage families to follow a link and view the items included that week. We are aware that at times for technical reasons families may not receive these notifications. If this is the case for you, please contact the school office to find a resolution as this is how important information is shared from a school/local authority level.
Year group/class specific information from the school office is sent via email. It is the responsibility of families to ensure these routes of communication are active to ensure they can receive all relevant information.
It was great to see so many families come along for P5Rm15's parent engagement session, though which the children were able to show off some of the coding skills which they have been learning through their IDL topic. Building an arcade game and operating complex Sphero codes, a number of parents remarked on how things have moved on since their school days. Coding skills are likely to be a key feature of many careers in the future and we hope these experiences help open up important future opportunities!
A huge well done to our Rotary Quiz team who battled 7 teams from nearby schools through the first round of the series last night. They did a great job and having only returned the shield three days ago, will be bringing it back to Ashley Road having taken first place. Now for some general knowledge revision to prepare for round 2!
The Summer Fair takes place on Saturday 25th May. The PTA are already busy planning the fair and will be looking to have a plant stall. They would like to ask any budding gardeners to keep excess plants or seedlings to donate which will be sold at the fair. These can be handed in the week of the fair to school. We did have some plants last year and they sold very quickly.
This week in our assembly we have been focusing on the theme of gender equality due to International Women's Day, which is today - Friday the 8th of March. The children are clearly very aware of how these issues have impacted on individuals in the past and continue to in the present day.
Ashley Road will once again be taking part in the Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel this year. This runs from 11th March until 22nd March. It is the Uk's largest walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling challenge. It inspires pupils to make active journeys to school, improve air quality in their neighbourhood and discover how these challenges benefit their world.
On each day of the challenge schools compete to see who can record the greatest number of pupils walking, using a wheelchair, scooting or cycling to school.
A school's best five days will determine their final position and schools at the top of the leader boards will receive an exclusive Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel certificate.
The previous two years we have achieved a high active travel score and were rewarded with a visit from the Stunt 3 Sixty Bike Team.
Afterschool Multisport for Ashley Road P1-3 Pupils.
We are pleased to announce P1-3 Multisport will be commencing in Ashley Road Gym Hall. These sessions are open to all pupils in P1, P2 & P3 and are delivered by student volunteers.
Spaces are allocated on a first-come first served basis. If the session becomes full please still complete the booking form as the pupil will be added to a waiting list. If your child is added to the waiting list, please wait to receive further notification from the coordinator prior to commencement of the first session.
Day: Tuesdays Time: 15:30 – 16:30 - Children can wait in the library area at bell time.
Venue: Ashley Road Gym Hall Cost: FREE
Dates: 8 Week Block – including: 12th March, 19th March, 26th March, 16th April, 23rd April, 30th April, 7th May, 14th May 2024
To sign up: https://www.sportaberdeen.co.uk/news/mep_events/ashley-road-p1-3-multisport-2 Closes on Monday 11th at 12 noon.
Our P7 House Team Leaders would like to invite children to think about (and dress up) to reflect the future career they aspire to have. Their 'outfit' could be something as simple as a workplace name badge drawn/written to show their future role. 'Future Day' as they have decided to call it, will take place on Thursday the 21st of March. As with any 'dress up' day in school, the following applies:
We would discourage families from buying costumes or purchasing items for events like this, for sustainability reasons please make, create, reuse!
Children can choose to 'dress down' or wear their normal school uniform if they wish.
We look forward to seeing where the aspirations of our future workforce lie!
This Wednesday we arrived to school in the morning to discover that a crime had been committed! Our library area had been ransacked and one of our skills mascots 'Physical Fuzz' had disappeared! A local police inspector was able to attend to help investigate and shared some important clues with us all. Due to the timing of the incident, we know it couldn't have been any of the children and have managed to narrow down the possible suspects to teachers who 'stepped out' of the staff meeting after school.
Officer Sim was in school all morning helping the children identify and investigate the clues! Our sharp eyed pupils have all spotted shoe prints, hair, fingerprints and other clues in the library area and have started to gather their suspicions regarding potential motives...
In assembly on Thursday and Friday, the suspects were interrogated with questions which had been carefully prepared by all the classes and their answers scrutinised for potential leads!
My Movie 241 (1).MOVConnecting Cathy.mp4Coping Cora.mp4Creative Curl.mp4
Our next Parent Council meeting will be on Wednesday the 6th of March at 7pm in the school hall. We hope to see you there!
On the last day of term (Thursday the 28th of March) we will be holding our annual talent show! Children across the school have the opportunity to prepare an act to perform to their class if they wish. One act from each class will be put forward to the final show where they will perform and compete
We have had singing, dancing, magic, science shows and all sorts of talents to watch in previous years!
We are delighted to share that lots of our wonderful P6's will be playing their flutes, sax and clarinets together as an ensemble at the Spring Concert this year! If you would like to go along and watch, tickets are now on sale from thelittleboxoffice.com/beachballroom. We hope to see you there!
