It was Primary 6’s turn to learn in Cathedral’s new Investigation & Innovation Hub during the week beginning 25th August. The above group were set the fascinating challenge of designing a 3D model of a camel with adapted features to survive in the arctic. Each learner had a specific role such as ‘Chief Architect’ and ‘Testing Co-ordinator’ and there was great discussion, sharing of ideas and collaboration during the open-ended project.
The group’s final model included a thicker coat to shield the camel from the arctic weather, larger feet to enable it to walk across the snow and (just for fun), a colourful hat and scarf!
Following pupil consultation, ‘Smart School Council’ has been rebranded 
As part of the school’s ongoing 150th anniversary celebrations, Cathedral learners will plant 150 daffodil bulbs in the school grounds during the month of September. Goulding’s Garden Centre, Clyde Valley, very kindly offered to donate the bulbs and Mrs Findlay was delighted to pop down to collect them on Monday 25th August. Many thanks to Goulding’s for their generosity. We look forward to seeing a sea of yellow daffodils come the spring!
Mr Young came across this eager bunch of Primary 6 writers in one of Cathedral’s ‘A Team’ learning spaces on Tuesday 26th August. They were working with Mrs Findlay on improving their writing and were thinking about their compositions as a ‘hamburger’, with various different layers (main idea, details, conclusion). Mr Young was very impressed with the group’s focus, engagement, ideas and jotter presentation and looks forward to seeing their writing develop and improve in the coming weeks and months.
As part of Cathedral’s 150th anniversary celebrations, all 500+ members of the school community headed out into the sunshine on Monday 25th August to form a giant ‘150’ in the playground. A drone captured a fantastic birds-eye photograph of Cathedral’s enthusiastic learners and dedicated staff.
A well-established fixture of Cathedral’s weekly assembly is the opportunity for two or three pupils to share an aspect of their recent learning journey with the rest of the school. Cathedral learners know that successful learning isn’t about getting everything right all of the time but about having the right level of challenge, learning from any mistakes we make along the way and persevering towards each ‘Milestone Moment’ when we have the chance to showcase what we can say, make, write or do.
Primary 7 were the first year group to use Cathedral’s new Investigation & Innovation Hub. Their challenge was to work in teams to design a kite and, after a week of designing, constructing and modifying, our young engineers headed out into the playground on Friday 22nd August to try them out.
Primary 1a learners visited Cathedral’s fantastic library for the first time on Friday 22nd August. Our eager readers each chose a book to enjoy in the reading wood before they voted for ‘The Baddies’ by Julia Donaldson to be read aloud by Mrs Laird.
Primary 7 were the very first stage to visit Cathedral’s new Investigation & Innovation Hub on Tuesday 19th August, which has been set up to help take forward Priority 1 in this year’s School Improvement Plan. The hub is an exciting new space for Cathedral learners to collaborate in investigation, enquiry, problem solving and open-ended projects with the aim of developing the four creativity skills:
Our August – December Family Learning programme has now been finalised. The first ‘universal’ parent workshop, for Primary 1 parents and carers, will focus on phonics and literacy. This takes place on Tuesday 9th September. This is only a few weeks away, so please make a careful note of the date in your diary.
