Primary 4b were very busy in Cathedral’s Investigation & Innovation Hub on Thursday 11th September. Joshua, one of our Primary 4b learners, was eager to share what his group were collaborating on:
“Our challenge was to make a paper aeroplane based on an animal that flies. Our group discussed animals that fly. We decided to base our aeroplane on a bat. I was the Team Captain. I logged onto the laptop to find pictures of bats. Our Chief Architect, Jade, then used the pictures to sketch a plan of our design. Next, Damian, our Master Builder, constructed our design. Finally, Amelia, our Testing Coordinator, put our aerophane through several tests and it passed with flying colours (except when I launched it and it flew out the window!).”
What amazing learning, and what an articulate description of the creativity skills being used and developed in Primary 4b!
The title of this newsfeed post was the wee joke Mrs McDerment shared with her class on Thursday 11th September as the children embarked on their colour mixing art lesson. The Primary 3b artists started by learning about primary colours before moving onto secondary colours. They were able to share with Mrs Duffy that their ‘next step’ is to learn how to mix secondary colours for themselves. Look out Picasso: you have competition here in Cathedral!
Primary 2b learners visited the Playzone on Thursday 11th September and, as part of their free-play session, these highly-engaged learners decided to head to the Post Office. They were under the watchful eye of a very efficient Post Master as they used their knowledge of money and their counting skills to pay for the postage.
On Sunday 31st August, this young learner made their way to a swimming competition in North Ayrshire. She managed to win not one, but two medals at the meet. For the 50m breast stroke, she came in 3rd place winning a bronze medal, but in the 50m front crawl she came in an impressive 1st place, taking gold! We are very proud of her achievements and look forward to hearing about more super swimming success in the future.
As part of Cathedral’s 150th anniversary celebrations, learners planted 150 daffodil bulbs on Tuesday 9th September. Under the watchful eye of Head Gardener, Mrs Findlay, the bulbs were carefully planted around a statue of Our Lady and will bring a burst of colour to the playground once winter is over and spring arrives. Many thanks to Goulding’s Garden Centre for kindly donating the bulbs.
Our first ‘universal’ Family Learning workshop of the year, for parents and carers of our new Primary 1 pupils, took place on Tuesday 9th September. The workshop focused on Primary 1 literacy, particularly Cathedral’s approach to teaching phonics.
As part of our targeted family learning programme, Cathedral learners have the opportunity to attend our Monday homework club and even 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!
“To always be close to Jesus, 
I am learning skills and strategies which will support me in challenging times, particularly in relation to change and loss. HWB 0-07a
Primary 2a had fun learning about germs on Friday 5th September and how easily they can spread if we don’t wash our hands. Our young scientists used a mixture of glitter and hand sanitiser for their experiment, with the glitter acting as pretend germs. Two children dipped their hands into the ‘glitter germ’ mixture and then shook hands with their classmates. This showed everyone how easily germs could spread around the class. Primary 2a will definitely be washing their hands carefully from here on in!