Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

As part of their current topic on mini-beasts, these Primary 2 learners had great fun in Cathedral’s playzone on Thursday 15th May making their very own bee keeper outfits. After some careful planning, designing, cutting, painting and sticking, our young learners donned their fabulous outfits and buzzed along to Mr Young’s office to show them off. Fab-BEE-lous!

These Primary 7 learners worked together to make a fantastic life-size Anderson shelter on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th May. They used and developed a wide range of skills during the two-day project including collaborating, designing, planning, predicting, persevering, modifying, constructing, organising, solving and adapting. As you can see, even Miss Cameron and Mrs Shevlin were eager to try out the shelter!

Great Cathedral teamwork, Primary 7!

Primary 5c headed to Cathedral’s forest area, just outside the school grounds, on Thursday 15th May for some outdoor learning linked to their current topic, The Scottish Wars of Independence. After learning how to build a campfire, the children discussed the sights, smells and sounds that soldiers would have experienced when camping out before battle and created a bank of rich vocabulary which they’ll use to write a diary entry of a soldier. During their time together, our young learners enjoyed some traditional Scottish food, including oatcakes, but also couldn’t resist toasting marshmallows over the fire as a special treat!

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 a Lego Anderson shelter. 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.

Another popular activity has been den building. Our young adventurers had to source tarpaulin, ropes and bungees then use their problem solving skills to stop the den from blowing away by gathering bricks and logs from the forest floor. The children were so proud of their den, they decided to have their snack inside.

As always, the children left the forest exactly the way they found it. What responsible Cathedral learners!

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.

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 |

Cathedral school community joins with the Church throughout the world in praying for the new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV.

Faithful God,
You guide us on the path of life
and your goodness is our constant companion.

Be with our new Shepherd, Pope Leo XIV,
in his service of the Church.
Fill him with the power of your Spirit,
the peace of your presence
and the compassion of Christ.

May he walk with you,
in wisdom and humility,
and lead us, together with all God’s people,
to embody your love for the world.
Amen.

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 from How good is our school? 4:

1.3  Leadership of change

2.3  Learning, teaching and assessment

3.1  Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion

3.2  Raising attainment and achievement

Ahead of Cathedral’s inspection, Mr Young delivered an amended version of the presentation to parents and carers on Thursday 8th May.

Cathedral’s interactive inspection page can be accessed via the link below:

Preparing for Cathedral’s inspection