Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Primary 3 learners celebrated their First Reconciliation in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral on Tuesday 10th March. It was a beautiful and prayerful liturgy, and there was barely a dry eye in the church when the children sang their thanksgiving hymn, ‘I’m Accepted, I’m Forgiven’.

Congratulations to all the boys and girls, and sincere thanks to the members of staff who supported them in preparing for the sacrament. We keep each of them in our prayers as they continue on their journey of faith.

Mr Young came across a fantastic learning activity in Winners Wynd on Tuesday 10th March. As part of their topic on the Ancient Egyptians, these young Primary 6 archaeologists were busy digging through sand to uncover fragments of pottery. Each piece revealed a hieroglyph, which they then had to piece together to crack a secret code: ‘Tutankhamun 1332 BC’—the year he became Pharaoh.

A brilliant hands‑on way to bring history to life for Cathedral learners!

This Primary 1 learner shared some truly wonderful news with the Cathedral school community on Monday 9th March. She has faced periods of ill health in recent years and has spent time receiving treatment at hospital in Glasgow.

Recently, she reached a very important milestone and was able to ring her End of Treatment Bell — a moment of joy and relief for her and her family. She rang the bell once again at Cathedral’s weekly assembly, where the whole school joined in with cheers, applause and huge smiles!

“With love and strength to you we say, this bell will help you on your way!”

This week we have been exploring the UNCRC Rights of the Child, with a focus on how we show respect to others. Through daily conversations and interactions, the children have been developing their understanding of boundaries and what they mean for themselves and others. We have shared lots of ideas about being kind, listening to one another and helping our friends throughout the day.

Our nursery mascot SIMOA the purple elephant has also been out and about on local outings, helping us remember to be Safe, Observant, Monitoring and Acting on what we already know.

Our young learners have been using a variety of mark-making tools to practise writing numbers, and some children have even been creating their own sums for friends to solve.

Junk modelling has been a firm favourite this week, with creativity flowing freely. The children produced many fantastic creations including dragons, boats and princess castles. Well done everyone!

Out in the garden we have begun our spring tidy-up, doing some weeding to prepare our planting area for seeds. This has sparked lots of curious “I wonder…” questions such as: Where do plants come from? and How do they grow? We’re looking forward to watching what happens over the next few weeks.

A number of local schools came together at Cathedral on Friday 6 March for a friendly and energetic football tournament. Teams from Cathedral, St Brendan’s, Our Lady & St Francis, Christ the King and St Theresa’s took part, enjoying a morning of great sportsmanship and teamwork.

After a series of closely contested matches, St Brendan’s Primary emerged as overall winners, with Cathedral securing a very strong second place.

The Cathedral team received a big boost from an enthusiastic group of volunteer cheerleaders, proudly waving banners and  pom-poms they had made at home.

The Cat in the Hat brought a burst of excitement to our three Primary 1 classes on Friday 6 March. Our young learners had been hard at work colouring, cutting and gluing to create their own fantastic masks of the much‑loved book character. Their creativity shone through, and they had just as much fun proudly showing off their finished designs as they did making them.

A wonderful effort from everyone — well done, boys and girls!

Girls from Primary 5 to Primary 7 enjoyed an exciting introduction to rugby this week through our rugby taster sessions, led by Dalziel Rugby coach Grant Talbert. Mrs Duffy was delighted to see the pupils embracing new skills, growing in confidence, and discovering just how fun and empowering the sport can be.

Alongside the in‑school sessions, pupils can also get involved in our after‑school rugby club through Come Clubbing @ Cathedral, giving them even more chances to train, play and develop as a team. With Grant’s expertise and encouragement, who knows—perhaps we’ll see some of our girls representing the National Team in the future.

Mr Young discovered a fantastic Explore & Extend learning activity in Ambition Avenue on Tuesday 3rd March. As part of their Amazing Africa topic, Primary 7 learners suggested creating their own models of traditional African mud huts using real mud and straw.

The activity gave pupils hands‑on insight into how these dwellings are built across parts of Africa, and there was no shortage of enthusiasm as everyone got stuck into the mud! It was messy, creative, fun and full of brilliant learning moments.

One of the signs proudly displayed in Cathedral Learning Streets reads: “Some of the BEST learning is MESSY… but don’t forget to clean up afterwards!” Once the activity was complete, our responsible learners gathered cleaning materials and took great care to leave the floor and tables as spotless as they found them. By the time the school cleaners arrived, there was no hint of the messy fun and brilliant learning that had taken place earlier in the day!

This Primary 5 learner was so inspired by her current class topic, The Scottish Wars of Independence, that she spent time at home creating two fantastic models: one of Stirling Castle and one of Stirling Bridge. She proudly shared her intricate work with Mr Young on Monday 2nd March, and he was very impressed by the careful detail in both models.

March’s wellbeing indicator is RESPONSIBLE. Please use the prompts below to talk to your child about this indicator. This will help them complete their wellbeing wheel in school.

Nursery and Primary 1

• I can name some jobs in my local area.
• I can talk about the rewards of having a job. 
• I can help my teacher and other adults in the school. 
• I can control my behaviour in school. 
• I take responsibility for my actions. 
• I can find ways to solve problems.

Primary 2 – 4

• I can set and work on my own learning goals.
• I can talk about the skills needed for different jobs. 
• I can talk about the skills I have. 
• I can talk about the world of work. 
• I take responsibility for my actions. 
• I can recycle waste responsibly. 
• I can make decisions and explain them.

Primary 5 – 7

• I know how peer, media and other pressures can influence my decision making.
• I can describe what my rights and responsibilities are at home, in school and in my community.
• I know how to reduce and recycle waste.
• I am given opportunities to make connections between my own skills and the world of work.
• I can use my investigative skills to find out about different jobs/careers.