Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

It’s been 50 years since the last person walked on the moon and Primary 5 pupils had the opportunity to visit Motherwell Heritage Centre during the week beginning 23rd May to participate in a workshop about our nearest solar system neighbour.

The children had the chance to see real moon rock and took part in several practical activities to learn more about the science behind the moon landings which took place between 1969 and 1972.

The Heritage Centre is running a special Moon Activity Day on Friday 27th May from 12.00 – 4.00pm with moon-themed activities for children of all ages. Entry is free and booking is not required.

A team of Cathedral pupils had the opportunity to ‘christen’ our recently resurfaced pitch on 23rd May with a friendly football match against Knowetop Primary School.

Under the watchful eye of our very own premiership referee, Mr McDermid, both teams played exceptionally well. However, Knowetop emerged the winners at the final whistle, beating Cathedral 3 – 2.

A football tournament is planned for later in the term and Coach Willie and the team are looking forward to regular fixtures next session.

Cathedral pupils had great fun on Friday 20th May participating in a sponsored ‘Clubersize’ event. Expertly led by a very energetic and enthusiastic Mrs Rimmer and Mrs Tomminey, the children had the opportunity to show off their best dance moves, complete with disco lights and glow-sticks!

The children raised an incredible £4496.12! All money will be used to subsidise this term’s school trips as well as support other learning opportunities for Cathedral pupils.

Forty-four Primary 4 pupils received their First Holy Communion on Saturday 14th May in the beautiful setting of Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral. The church was packed with family, friends, school staff and parishioners for both the morning and afternoon Masses and the children were blessed with good weather which allowed for photographs in the grounds and the opportunity to relax and socialise outside the Cathedral after Mass.

Fr Chromy, Fr Mark and Fr Stephen presided at both Masses and the school choir led the congregation in the hymns, accompanied by John Pitcathley on the organ.

We continue to keep the boys and girls in our prayers at this important moment in their journey of faith.

Cathedral Primary is committed to continuous improvement to ensure the absolute best learning experiences for our pupils. To help us develop our 2022/23 School Improvement Plan, parents and carers are asked to take a few moments to answer several questions. The questionnaire can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

https://forms.office.com/r/93hy7ZQvrJ

Following a break of two years due to the pandemic, school trips have made a very welcome return to Cathedral Primary and Nursery Class. When we consulted on our curriculum in March 2021, pupils and parents were unanimous that school trips should be ‘essential experiences’ for Cathedral pupils at every stage of the school.

Primary 7 had an absolutely fantastic time on their residential excursion to Lendrick Muir last week and Primary 2 pupils will be heading off to Five Sisters Zoo this coming Wednesday. Primary 4 will also be going to Five Sisters Zoo later in the term as the exact trip we wanted to New Lanark is currently unavailable. Primary 1 pupils are looking forward to their trip to Almond Valley and Primary 3 will be heading off to the Riverside Transport Museum next month. With them being that bit older, our Primary 5 children will be travelling by train to the Science Centre in Glasgow.  As for our Primary 6 pupils, they’ll be off to Edinburgh on 17th June… although the exact details are currently TOP SECRET! All will be revealed in due course!

The money raised through next Friday’s sponsored Clubersize event will be used to subsidise our trips.

With the easing of COVID restrictions, this year’s Nursery – Primary 1 transition events can take place as normal.

Wednesday 1^st June 2022    An introduction to OLGA Cathedral Primary School

This will give parents and carers the opportunity to meet the Leadership Team and get all the information they need about Cathedral Primary. Meanwhile, the children will meet their Primary 1 teacher and spend some fun time in their new classroom.

Wednesday 8^th June 2022

The children will meet their new Primary 7 buddy and enjoy an exciting adventure trail around the school. For parents and carers, there will be a presentation on the Primary 1 curriculum, including information on how they can support their child’s learning at home.

Each new Primary 1 class has been allocated a different time of the day for their transition visits. Parents and carers should ensure they attend at their allocated time.

PRIMARY 1a (Mrs Gillespie): 9.15 – 10.15am

PRIMARY 1b (Mrs Laird): 11.15am – 12.15pm

PRIMARY 1c (Miss Forsyth): 1.30 – 2.30pm

A leaflet about our Nursery – Primary 1 transition events can be accessed via the link below:

Nursery – P1 transition programme 2022

We look forward to welcoming our new-starts on Wednesday 1st June!

The morning of Tuesday 3rd May saw Primary 7 pupils head off on their residential trip to Lendrick Muir.

Lendrick Muir is a large country house near Kinross, set amongst the beautiful Ochil hills. With 120 acres of grounds around the house, there’s no shortage of space to enjoy fantastic outdoor activities such as ropes courses, trail biking and bungee trampolining. Evening activities include a murder mystery and campfire.

The opportunity to go on a residential trip was identified as one of Cathedral’s ‘essential experiences’ during the 2021 consultation on our curriculum. Lendrick Muir is already booked for next year’s Primary 7 and it’s sure to become a highlight for Cathedral pupils for many years to come.

Throughout the week beginning Monday 25th April, Mr Young, Mrs Campbell and Mrs Duffy visited Primary 4 – 7 classes to observe learning and teaching. These visits were part of the school’s ongoing quality assurance calendar and, on this occasion, focused on a literacy or numeracy group lesson, with the remainder of the class accessing their learning independently via the class ‘Active8’ task board.

The learning provision observed across all classes was of a high quality and, in line with the self-evaluation document, ‘How good is our school? 4’, we were delighted to be able to grade Quality Indicator 2.3 (Learning, Teaching & Assessment) ‘Very Good’. This is a credit to our dedicated and hard working team of teachers and, of course, to our enthusiastic and equally hard working pupils.

On Wednesday 27th April, Cathedral Primary Fundraising Committee met in person for the first time since the pandemic began. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Fundraising Committee has continued to support the school, including donating £1000 towards our new library, continuing to provide Christmas presents to Primary 1 pupils and paying for treats for our Halloween parties.

With very few opportunities to fundraise over the past two years due to COVID-19, funds are now running low. However, the treasurer shared the good news that there is enough money to provide spending money to all Primary 7 pupils heading off on their residential trip next week as well as sufficient funds to pay for their leavers’ event in June and their new high school ties. The committee also plan, as they have done over the years, to provide a Cathedral polo shirt to all new Primary 1 pupils starting in August.

The committee discussed ideas for the 2022/23 session and a Family Night is being planned for September. Pupil-led coffee mornings, which were so popular before the pandemic, will also be back up and running.

Keep an eye out for the Fundraising Committee stall at Parents’ Evening on 31st May to find out how you can support the fantastic work they do. The money the committee raises really does make such a positive difference to Cathedral pupils!