Cathedral was delighted to welcome the local community to an advance 
viewing of our 150th anniversary exhibition on Wednesday 14th May, including residents from the local sheltered housing, members of the Deaf Hub and some of our friends from Firpark Primary. Our guests had the opportunity to walk through a timeline of Cathedral’s history, from the Victorian era to the present day; browse old photographs; handle various artefacts; and read the school’s logbooks, dating back as far as 1925. Mrs McCarthy was also on hand to share photographs of her classes through the years, which was hugely popular with visitors.
There was a wonderful atmosphere in the hall, with lots of memories and stories being shared, and it was great to see some brand new faces to Cathedral, all of whom were delighted to receive their invitation to our school.
Particular thanks to Mrs Mellon for pulling together the various elements of the exhibition in her usual magical way and to Redline Cabs for providing free transport to residents from the sheltered housing.
The main Mass to celebrate Cathedral’s 150th anniversary takes place in the cathedral this coming Tuesday, 20th May, at 10.00am. Our exhibition will then open Tuesday – Thursday in St Bride’s Hall, from 10.30am – 12 noon each day. All parents, carers, parishioners and residents of Motherwell and the surrounding area are most welcome to attend.
Primary 4b learners donned their lab coats on Tuesday 13th May and were provided with various materials to form a tornado in a bottle. Our young scientists had to make a hypothesis, plan their method and then use the materials to achieve their goal. Despite this being an adult-initiated task, with Mrs McCulloch stepping back to allow the children to work things out for themselves, it wasn’t too long before tornadoes were appearing all over Winners Wynd!
As part of an opportunity for learner-led learning on the class Active8 task-board, this Primary 7 learner selected a provocation card in the STEM area on Monday 12th May which led to the construction of an Anderson shelter from lego. She described her learning on her record card and also identified the skills she used and developed which included planning, adapting, modifying and recording.
It’s been another fun two weeks of forest adventures for our nursery learners. The children have continued to develop their balancing skills using the tight rope. This fun activity required strength, agility and concentration. All of the children took up this challenge enthusiastically and some even supported their peers to complete the task.
Milton Street resident, Mrs Ferguson, was so touched by her invitation to Cathedral’s 150th anniversary exhibition and gift of a chocolate bunny prior to the Easter holidays, she spent the holidays knitting three football mascots for Cathedral Primary to raffle for free. The winning tickets were drawn on Wednesday 7th May and the delighted winners visited Mr and Mrs Ferguson on Friday 9th to say thank you and present the couple with a Cathedral 150th anniversary commemorative medal. We look forward to welcoming Mr and Mrs Ferguson, along with other local residents, to our exhibition in school on Wednesday 14th May.
Cathedral school community joins with the Church throughout the world in praying for the new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV.
On the first afternoon of Cathedral’s inspection (Monday 12th May), Mr Young will give a presentation on Cathedral’s strengths and next steps around four main quality indicators 
Primary 4a learners wrote persuasive letters to Mr Young on Thursday 8th May asking if he would consider providing their class with money to do some planting in the school grounds, including strawberries. The children took the time to talk about climate change, how this causes extreme weather and explained the importance of sustainability. Our learners also highlighted how their eco enterprise will help them learn about budgeting, something they are moving onto in their maths work. Mr Young was so impressed with Primary 4a’s persuasive letters, he agreed to give them the money straight away!
The saints are our greatest role models. Cathedral’s ‘I AM…’ mirror has been relocated to the IGNITE Junior Chaplaincy board just inside the main entrance. The board invites Cathedral learners to look at themselves in the mirror, be inspired by the qualities of various saints and speak words of affirmation such as:
Reading for enjoyment, whether at school or at home, is very important here at Cathedral and visiting our fantastic library to choose a new book is a highlight of every learner’s week. The latest ‘In the spotlight this month’ display to appear in our library is ‘Animal Fiction’. Hopefully, this will inspire lots of Cathedral learners to browse the shelves for books with animal characters. Happy reading, everyone!