Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

A new group of nursery learners made the short journey to our forest site on Thursday 22nd April, taking shared responsibility to get there safely. The sun shone throughout their forest adventure and the children had great fun climbing, relaxing on the hammock and improving their balancing skills on the rope ladder. Our young explorers left the site just as they found it, showing themselves to be very responsible (the wellbeing indicator they are focusing on this week). More forest fun awaits them next week!

His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIe) will carry out an inspection of Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class during the week commencing Monday 12th May. Please click on the link below to access an interactive summary of the strengths and good practice Cathedral Primary will share and celebrate with inspectors during their visit:

Preparing for Cathedral’s inspection |

Our Primary 6 classrooms were transformed into court rooms on Thursday 24th April for an engaging Developing the Young Workforce activity, facilitated by Cathedral parent, Mrs Neville. Mrs Neville works as a Sheriffdom Legal Advisor for the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service and supported our Primary 6 learners to run their very own court case, the case of the stolen jelly beans. The big question was: who stole the jelly beans, gifted to him by Mrs Duffy, from Mr Young’s office?

The children learned about the Scottish criminal court system before taking on various legal profession roles: lawyers, Procurator Fiscal,  Defence Agent, Court Police Officer, Bar Officer, Sheriff, JP, Legal Advisor and Clerk. Other pupils played the accused and the witnesses.

The verdicts in each class were as follows:

Court hearing 1: Guilty

Court hearing 2: Not guilty

Well done to Primary 6 for engaging so passionately in the court proceedings and many thanks to Mrs Neville for giving so generously of her time.

His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIe) will carry out an inspection of Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class during the week commencing Monday 12th May. Please click on the link below to access an interactive summary of the strengths and good practice Cathedral Primary will share and celebrate with inspectors during their visit:

Preparing for Cathedral’s inspection |

Learners, along with their parents and carers, participated in a school improvement workshop on Wednesday 23rd April. There was the opportunity to reflect on this year’s improvement priorities and think about how successful Cathedral learners, staff and parents/carers have been in taking them forward. 70% of participants graded our success as ‘excellent’ and 30% as ‘very good’.

Learners and parents then had the opportunity to discuss how Cathedral uses its Pupil Equity Fund. There was unanimous agreement that using the majority of the money to fund additional staff for our ‘Attainment Team’ should continue.

Finally, learners and parents looked ahead to our 2025/26 Annual Improvement Plan which, like this year’s plan, will have a dual focus on how we learn and teach and what we learn and teach. Cathedral’s proposed 2025/26 improvement priorities are:

• Continue to secure high learner engagement and attainment across all stages by further developing and embedding high-quality adult-initiated and learner-led learning experiences.
• Build the capacity and confidence of all teaching staff to teach Spanish to their own class and embed stimulating language learning opportunities within day-to-day learning. (Year 1 of 2)

Many thanks to all learners and parents/carers who participated in the school improvement workshop. The information will be communicated to the wider parent body for final consultation.

His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIe) will carry out an inspection of Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class during the week commencing Monday 12th May. Please click on the link below to access an interactive summary of the strengths and good practice Cathedral Primary will share and celebrate with inspectors during their visit:

Preparing for Cathedral’s inspection |

Milton Street residents, Mr and Mrs Ferguson, surprised Cathedral Primary on Tuesday 22nd April when they dropped off three hand-knitted football mascots to the school, along with a donation of over £100 for school funds. The couple’s kind gesture was in response to Cathedral House Captains and the Easter Bunny delivering a chocolate treat and invitation to our 150th anniversary exhibition to local residents prior to the holidays:

House Captains and Easter bunny surprise local residents |

Mr and Mrs Ferguson left two books of raffle tickets with the mascots and all Cathedral learners will have the opportunity to enter a free prize draw to win one of the hand-crafted characters.

Many thanks to our friendly neighbours for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIe) will carry out an inspection of Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class during the week commencing Monday 12th May. Please click on the link below to access an interactive summary of the strengths and good practice Cathedral Primary will share and celebrate with inspectors during their visit:

Preparing for Cathedral’s inspection |

THE INSPECTION OF CATHEDRAL PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY BY HIS MAJESTY’S INSPECTORS OF EDUCATION (HMIe) AND THE CARE INSPECTORATE WILL TAKE PLACE THE WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 12TH MAY.

On the first afternoon of the inspection, Mr Young will discuss Cathedral’s strengths and next steps with the Managing Inspector, based on the school’s ongoing self-evaluation. Please click on the link below to access our interactive inspection page which summarises some of the strengths and good practice Cathedral wants to share and celebrate with inspectors during their time with us. Each bullet point includes links to additional information and real-life examples which will ensure parents, carers, our various partners and our older learners have a sound knowledge and understanding of Cathedral’s strengths and feel prepared for the important part they’ll play in our school and nursery inspection.

Looking ahead to Cathedral’s inspection |

1936 – 2025

On Monday 21st April, Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced the death of Pope Francis with these words:

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of God.”

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
~Amen~

What an incredible term it’s been here at Cathedral! You only need to scroll back over our website newsfeed to see the rich and varied learning experiences our pupils have enjoyed since returning to school after the Christmas holidays. There’s NEVER a dull or a wasted day here at Cathedral!

Please can I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate each and every one of our learners for all their hard work and enthusiasm throughout this term. It’s always an absolute joy walking through the school and seeing everyone so engaged in their learning, from our youngest learners in the Nursery and Discovery Drive to our senior pupils up in Ambition Avenue. I’m the luckiest Head Teacher in the land!

Please can I also thank our dedicated team of staff for their incredible hard work this term. You always give of your absolute best for the children in your care and I want you to know it never goes unnoticed. Thank you, Team OLGA!

And to parents and carers, clergy, parishioners and friends of the school: thank you for your ongoing support. It is very much appreciated.

Finally, best wishes to the Darroch family as they head off to Perth, Australia, next week to begin a new and exciting life down under. Keep in touch, Findlay and Isla!

I wish our entire Cathedral family a very Happy Easter and a restful spring break. See you on Tuesday 22nd April!

Learners and staff brought a burst of colour and fun to Cathedral Primary on Friday 4th April for this year’s Crazy Hair Day. As you can see from the photographs, everyone had great fun conjuring up an array of whacky hair styles!

This year’s Lenten almsgiving has raised a total of £1,177.42 for Missio and £470 (topped up to £1000 by Mrs McCarthy’s family) for Brain Tumour Research. Many thanks to Cathedral families for your generosity.

The North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Team attended Cathedral’s Parents Evening on Thursday 3rd April. As well as having a selection of goodies, including piggy banks, for our learners, the team were on hand to signpost parents and carers to a range of financial support such as debt advice and benefit assistance.

These two Primary 5 learners popped down to Mr Young’s office on Thursday 3rd April to showcase their amazing poster on neurodiversity. During an opportunity for learner-led learning, the girls researched autism, A.D.H.D, dyslexia, O.C.D, dyspraxia and Tourette syndrome, bullet-pointing what they learned in each of the six sections. What an impressive piece of collaboration!

People often have misconceptions about neurodiversity. Here at Cathedral, however, we aim to create an inclusive school community which celebrates difference and diversity, and empowers every individual to be the unique person God has created them to be.