Orchard Brae School Secondary 2021

Orchard Brae School is an all through free standing special school for pupils age 3-18 with profound, multiple and complex needs. Orchard Brae opened on 21st August 2017. The school is a citywide provision and is situated in the north of Aberdeen City. It is the amalgamation of 3 specialist provisions – Woodlands School, Hazlewood School (both 5-18 free standing provisions) and the Preschool ASN Service, all of which are now closed. Orchard Brae is a new purpose-built facility which has been specially designed to meet the needs of the children and young people who attend. It has a range of fully accessible specialist teaching areas that accommodate the sensory requirements of pupils. There are tracking hoists throughout and specially widened doors and corridors. There are 3 distinct areas all of which are equipped with sensory, soft play, therapy and general-purpose rooms. The whole school facilities include: a multi-purpose hall, deck level trampoline, swimming pool, hydro pool, HE and art rooms. The outdoor learning space is varied and large, with a good range of fixed play equipment as well as creative landscaping which lends itself to future development. The nursery, sensory, wildlife and growing gardens are also in the early stages of development. The school has a roll of 126 children with an additional 40 place nursery; the school roll is predicted to remain constant for the foreseeable future. The school has a management team of an Executive Head Teacher, Three Head of Areas – Head of Secondary, Head of Primary and Head of Early Learning and Child Care and four Principal Teachers, one of whom leads the Autism Outreach Service. There are 18 classes, 4 nursery classes (2 of which are based within Ashgrove Children’s Centre) plus 2 citywide outreach services – Autism Outreach Service and MOVE/Moving and Handling Team. The full-time equivalent teaching staff is 40.12fte, Early Years Practitioner 23.94Fte and Pupil Support Assistant staff is 52Fte.