Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

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.

With Cathedral Primary founded in 1875, this was a perfectly timed with the recent conclusion of the school’s 150th anniversary year. A huge well done to Primary 4 for their outstanding performance, and sincere thanks to Mrs McLaughlan, Mrs Cassidy, Miss Quinn and Mrs Loose for preparing the children so brilliantly for their big day.

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.

Inspired by the story, these enthusiastic Primary 1 learners donned their builder hats and vests in the Play Zone on Tuesday 20th January and worked together to build a fantastic chimney to help Santa deliver his final batch of presents.

Brilliant teamwork and imagination! 

Cathedral Primary was delighted to welcome Mr Jack Rafferty, Grand Knight of KSC Carfin, and Mr Michael Roche from KSC Action and Youth on Monday 19th January. They joined Cathedral school community for assembly, where they presented certificates to three of our learners who excelled in last term’s Knights of St Columba Christmas art competition, achieving a 1st and 2nd place in the Junior category and a 1st place in the Senior group.

The Knights’ visit offered a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the children’s talent, creativity and success, and the whole school community took great pride in recognising their achievements.

A much‑loved feature of Cathedral’s weekly assembly is the opportunity for two or three pupils to share an aspect of their recent learning journey with the whole school. Cathedral learners understand that successful learning isn’t about getting everything right all the time, but about embracing challenge, learning from mistakes, and persevering towards each ‘Milestone Moment’ when they can proudly showcase what they can say, make, write or do.

On Monday 19th January, these two enthusiastic Primary 2 learners took their turn on the Cathedral throne to share what they have been learning in literacy and numeracy during the first two weeks of term. Both spoke with confidence and were delighted to show off their jotters.

We look forward to hearing many more exciting learning stories from across the school in the months ahead.

Primary 6 hosted another successful coffee morning on Friday 16th January. As always, it was great to see the hall filled with families and friends enjoying a catch up over coffee and cake. The event raised a fantastic £719.59 for school funds.

Many thanks to Primary 6 and the Fundraising Committee for organising and running the coffee morning.

This week in Cathedral Nursery, we were delighted to welcome new boys and girls, with our pre-school children acting as buddies to help them settle in. Our learners led their own learning through exciting discoveries across numeracy and health and wellbeing.

In numeracy, the children enjoyed hands-on activities sorting and matching objects into equal groups and counting totals, helping to build early confidence with numbers. We also explored how to look after our bodies, discussing the importance of handwashing and brushing our teeth to stay clean and healthy.

A fun paint activity helped the children understand how germs spread and why washing hands with soap is so important. They practised washing their hands thoroughly, learning how long to wash, why soap matters, and the importance of drying hands properly.

With Rabbie Burns Day approaching, we have also been learning about Scottish traditions, exploring Scottish words, traditional clothing such as kilts, and enjoying Scottish rhymes. The children loved sharing their knowledge and discovering more about Scotland’s rich heritage.

Our Primary 1 learners have reached an exciting milestone — writing their own sentences independently! On Thursday 15th January, these two enthusiastic writers were eager to share their work. This wonderful achievement highlights their growing confidence and understanding of how words come together to form sentences. As you can see, they are already experts at using capital letters and full stops!

Excitement filled Primary 6b on Wednesday 14th January as this year’s Minecraft Build Battles officially got underway. Supported by the NLC Digital Team and Minecraft Education Esports, Cathedral learners will take part in structured gaming sessions designed to develop problem‑solving, creativity, teamwork and digital skills.

In the coming weeks, pupils will work together to tackle a series of build challenges within Minecraft worlds, becoming part of the wider Build Battle learning community. Cathedral’s young designers are eager to showcase their talents and aim for a place in the NLC Build Battle Final 2026.

A fantastic opportunity for our learners to collaborate, think creatively and have great fun along the way.