The panto stars come out as Orchard Brae receives brand new mini-bus

14 December 2017

Jimmy Osmond and other members of the Aladdin cast joined up with Dons legend Willie Miller as Aberdeen’s newest school, Orchard Brae, received a new addition to its fantastic facilities today (Thursday 14 December); a mini-bus presented by the Variety Club of Great Britain.

The Gothenburg great handed over the keys to Head Teacher Caroline Stirton at the star studded ceremony. The arrival of this fully accessible bus at the £18.5 million Centre of Excellence, was made possible by the school’s own fundraising efforts and donations from the McRobert Trust, in partnership with the Variety Club.

Ms Stirton said: “This is a great early Christmas present. Our buses are an essential part of ensuring that all of our pupils are able to access the community regularly.

“We do a very wide range of community based learning with our pupils from 3-18 years and without these buses we would not be able to facilitate this. We are immensely grateful to the McRobert Trust, the Variety Club and every one of our fundraisers for all their efforts.”

Orchard Brae School, which opened in August this year, is the first of its kind in Scotland and is developing as a hub for best practice in supporting pupils with Complex Additional Support Needs (ASN) from across Aberdeen city.

Orchard Brae is striving to act as a community hub for families, ASN parents, groups and charities, as well as a hub for outreach services such as autism support and MOVE (Mobility Opportunities Via Education).

The innovative development also provides a new resource for ASN teaching and training and a multi-agency facility for health, education, social work and family support.