Our love of stories has continued to shine as we learned what a character is and began talking about our favourites. Children experimented with a wide range of writing and mark‑making tools, creating letter‑like shapes and using their imaginations to invent their own wonderful stories.
Maths has been woven through our play all week, with children spotting everyday objects and using them to count forwards and backwards, match quantities to numerals, and explore “how many” in meaningful, playful ways.
A special highlight has been welcoming our P6 buddies into Nursery, where the children loved spending time with them, sharing experiences, learning together, and beginning to build new friendships. We’re already looking forward to their next visit.
As part of their new class topic on natural disasters, these two Primary 3 geoscientists took on the challenge of designing a survival kit to withstand an extreme event on Tuesday 27th January. Their carefully considered items included a first aid kit, a torch, spare batteries and water. To deepen their learning, they then used the notes from their jotters to create a public information film using ScratchJr, showcasing their survival kit in action.
Primary 1 parents and carers were invited to take part in a Play Family Learning session on Tuesday 27th January. Each of the three sessions began with a presentation from Mr Young, who explained the educational theory underpinning learning through play and how Cathedral Primary School structures play to provide a balance of adult‑led, adult‑initiated and child‑led experiences. Parents and carers then joined their children in the Play Zone to explore and enjoy learning activities together.
As part of our targeted family learning programme, Cathedral learners have the opportunity to attend our Monday homework club and bring along a parent/carer to join in their learning. The club, which supports learners across the school, provides a warm, quiet space for pupils to complete their homework, have access to any learning resources they need and get expert help from our Attainment Team if they get stuck. Of course, there’s juice and a biscuit to stop any rumbling tummies and a cuppa for the grown-ups!
This Cathedral learner delivered an outstanding performance at a recent swimming tournament in Stirling. Over the course of the competition, she secured gold medals in the 50m front crawl, 50m back crawl, 50m breaststroke and 25m butterfly.
This week, our young learners at Cathedral Nursery enjoyed a wide range of creative and confidence-building experiences. Through the use of loose parts, children explored sorting and matching in their own unique ways, thoughtfully explaining how they grouped objects according to different criteria.
Primary 4 took to the stage on Friday 30th May with a vibrant and engaging learning showcase all about the Victorians. Their audience were treated to lively, toe‑tapping songs and a wealth of fascinating facts — from ground breaking inventions like the telephone and the bicycle, to the huge impact of industrialisation on life in Great Britain. Pupils also shared what it was like to attend a strict Victorian school, explored the harsh realities of child labour, and explained why some children turned to pickpocketing rather than face the workhouse. They rounded off their performance by highlighting the important changes in law that eventually helped to protect and improve the lives of children.
This week in our Investigation and Innovation Hub, Primary 7 learners took on an exciting sustainability challenge: to design and build a home for endangered species in support of local biodiversity. Rising to the task, these learners created a fantastic habitat for red squirrels and European robins (robin red-breasts to you and me), which they were keen to share with Mrs Duffy on Thursday 22nd January. Their creativity and commitment to protecting local wildlife made this project a real highlight of their week.
On Wednesday, 21st January, this small but committed band of Cathedral Parents joined the A-Team for a family learning session on the use of IDL. Mrs McMichael from Cathedral’s Attainment Team hosted a targeted family learning workshop, where parents and carers had the opportunity to learn alongside their child using the IDL programme. There was a great buzz around the room and parent/carer feedback on the sessions was exceptionally positive. Here are some of the comments from our ‘adult learners’:
Primary 1 have been enjoying the story of the Stick Man by Julia Donaldson in class. Towards the end of the story, Stick Man helps Santa on his Christmas journey, and he returns the favour by reuniting Stick Man with his family.