HWB 0-44a I am aware of how friendships are formed and that likes and dislikes, special qualities and needs can influence relationships.
Our young learners have had a great week, forming new friendships, building on their existing knowledge and learning new things. We have welcomed back our returning children as well as welcomed some brand new learners. This has been a great opportunity for our pre-school learners to take on “buddy” roles, giving them a sense of responsibility and helping our new-starts feel welcomed, nurtured, respected and included within our nursery community.
As part of our daily nursery routine, we have introduced a soft start/end to the day both in the morning and afternoon. Children are invited to join in “nurture” time, gathering a cosy blanket and collecting a healthy snack which a group of our young learners have prepared. This has helped each child feel a sense of connection with their keyworker and group and has given the children the opportunity to share important news with one another, as well as talk about what they have learned in nursery that day.
This Primary 5 learner approached Mr Young recently with a thoughtful and inspired suggestion. There has been a large Pope Francis picture and quotation in the main stairwell for a number of years and he wondered if we could have a similar Pope Leo XIV picture and quotation in one of the other stairwells. Mr Young got straight onto it and shared the design with the learner on Friday 29th August. It reads:
Our first Cathedral Pupil Parliament theme of the session is 
focus on pupils co-designing learning spaces with their teachers. At their Class Council meetings on Monday 25th August, pupils across the school were asked 
This athletic Primary 3 learner ran the North Lanarkshire 5km in Strathclyde Park on Sunday 24th August and was very proud to show off his medal to Mr Young. Well done on your fantastic achievement! It’s definitely one to add to your Rose Trainer Achievement Award record card!
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.
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.