Description of Our School

Aberchirder Primary School is situated in the village of Aberchirder, nine miles from Banff & Huntly, six miles from Turriff and forty-two miles from Aberdeen. The village enjoys a rural setting near the River Deveron. The school is nondenominational, and the catchment area is Aberchirder and the surrounding countryside of an approximate five mile radius.

The school, which faces south, occupies an open situation to the north of the village. It has light, airy classrooms which provide accommodation for seven primary classes as well as a general-purpose room and a recently renovated bright airy nursery. The school has a hall, library and dining area. There are extensive grounds with grass, shrub beds and tarmac areas surrounded by trees. The nursery has its own dedicated outside area.

The school roll is currently 154 children, including nursery. The school has a part time Head Teacher and a part time Acting Head Teacher, four full time teaching staff, four part time teaching staff and a part time ASN teacher. There are five pupil support assistant staff members, a school administrator, janitor, kitchen & cleaning staff. In nursery there is one full time Lead Early Years Practitioner, a part time Senior Lead Practitioner, four part time Early Years Practitioners and a full time Assistant Early Years Practitioner.

Aberchirder Primary School enjoys pro-active relationships with the Academy and other primary schools in the Banff cluster. Cluster schools work collaboratively on curriculum and community initiatives. The school manages its budget in line with Aberdeenshire Council guidelines and priorities are identified as part of the school’s quality assurance process and are written in the School Improvement Plan.

The school has an active Parent council. Parents and the community support the academic and social life of the school, with input into curriculum projects, fundraising for bus trips & school equipment as well as participating in evaluating the work of the school and agreeing improvement objects and new initiatives. The school has a Pupil Council, Health Promoting Group, Eco-school Group and a Rights Respecting School group. A diverse range of extra curricular activities including netball, basketball, ball skills, badminton and football are held in the school in the evening by St Marnans. Different activities are organised by Active Schools and held after school during term time.

Aberchirder Primary School also have their own chickens, which are hatched by the school Administrator. The children love the chickens and are a big part of the school. The school is also a gold accredited school for their Scottish Country Dancing. Anne McArthur volunteers her time to come in and teach classes the steps for different dances. Pupils then get the opportunity to participate in a festival held at Elgin Town Hall which is hosted by the Banffshire branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society. Aberchirder Primary School are also very lucky to have volunteers who give up their time to come in and share their knowledge and skills with different classes to do different activities from motor skills to gardening and much more.