Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Headteacher put school at “heart” of community

Headteacher put school at “heart” of community

For the last 13 years, headteacher Sandra Japp has worked hard to put Gourdon School at the “heart” of the community.

From running the local pensioners club to offering a breakfast club for youngsters, the school aims to offer something for all ages.

And under the watchful eye of Mrs Japp and her 10 staff, the pupils have recently completed two projects on two of the area’s most prominent attractions.

In the first, all 88 pupils – as well as the pensioners club – visited Arbuthnott House, researched various items in the house and interviewed the Arbuthnott family, before compiling their findings in an E-book for all to read.

During the second project, which ran for three years, youngsters teamed up with the Maggie Law Maritime Museum. Together with local songwriter Dave Ramsay, they wrote songs about the 1890-built Maggie Law inshore lifeboat, before designing and making games for other children visiting the museum to enjoy. Their efforts were filmed by Aberdeen University to further promote the area.

Mrs Japp, who was last night awarded the Outstanding Leader of the Year accolade, said she believed it was important for the school to take part in such projects as the “very rich source of learning”.

She added: “It’s made parents, pupils and senior citizens work together with the school, which has made it very much the heart of the community.”

The teacher admitted that when she first heard she had been nominated for an award she thought it was a wind-up.

She said: “I was speechless. I certainly don’t think of myself as an outstanding leader. It’s really thanks to my staff, parents, pupils and the wider community because we all work together in partnership.

“If, through that partnership, outstanding things happen, then I’m happy to accept the award on behalf of everyone.”