Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Each month, Cathedral Primary focuses on one of the wellbeing indicators displayed in the above wheel. In class, learners reflect on and assess their own health and wellbeing and complete their individual wellbeing wheels.

September’s wellbeing indicator is SAFE. Please use the prompts below to talk to your child about this indicator. This will help them complete their wellbeing wheel in school.

Nursery and Primary 1

• I feel safe in my classroom.
• I feel safe in school. 
• I feel safe when I’m not in school. 
• I can name the emergency services. 
• I know what to do when I need help. 
• I know how to help others. 
• I have people who help me when I am sick, in danger or need to learn. 
• I can work safely when using different equipment. 
• I know that medicines can be harmful. 
• I know how to cross the road safely. 

Primary 2 – 4

• I feel safe in my classroom and in school.
• I feel safe when I’m not in school.
• I know how to contact the main emergency services.
• I have people who help me when I am sick, in danger or need to learn.
• I can handle equipment safely.
• I know how to safely store different types of food.
• I know that medication can be used to help with illness but can be harmful too.
• I know how to cross the road safely.

Primary 5 – 7

• I feel safe in my classroom and in school.
• I can perform basic First Aid procedures.
• I know how to contact the emergency services and give full details of the incident and location.
• I know about the risks associated with the use of substances, alcohol and cigarettes.
• I know that taking risks can affect my life in different ways.
• I have someone that I can talk to if I am worried about my safety.
• I am learning about respect for my body and know what behaviour is right and wrong.
• I can handle food and kitchen equipment safely and hygienically.

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:

“Dear young people, aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less.”

The design will be sent for production and installed in the coming weeks.

Our first Cathedral Pupil Parliament theme of the session is Our Learning & Teaching, with a specific 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 ‘What changes or improvements would you like to make to your learning street?’.

House Captains met on Wednesday 27th August to discuss the results and update our Action Board which helps Cathedral continually drive forward change and improvement for all of our learners. Our Cabinet Secretaries for Learning will carry out an inspection of learning streets with Mrs Mellon and Mr Young next week to agree on how Cathedral learners’ suggestions will be actioned.

You can find out more about Cathedral Pupil Parliament by clicking on the link below:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/nl/olga/smart-school-council/

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.

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 Cathedral Pupil Parliament and restructured to help Cathedral pupils learn in a real-life way about how Scotland is governed.

Cathedral Pupil Parliament will continue to give EVERY Cathedral pupil a voice and, under the leadership of our twelve elected House Captains, help drive forward further change and improvement in Cathedral Primary.

Cathedral Pupil Parliament will be organised in a similar way to the Scottish Parliament, with our House Captains forming the Cabinet and leading our six Directorates:

• Learning
• Faith
• Health
• Equality
• Sustainability
• Finance

Every Cathedral pupil will continue to participate in a fortnightly Class Council meeting when a particular topic will be discussed. Everyone’s views and ideas will be recorded electronically and sent to our House Captains for discussion. Based on this information, our Cabinet Secretaries (House Captains) will form short-term committees to take forward current projects and priorities.

Cathedral Pupil Parliament will have its official launch at assembly on Monday 1st September. We’re very excited about this fresh look to pupil voice and pupil leadership here at Cathedral!

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.

You can find out more about Cathedral’s ‘A Team’ by clicking on the link below:

Personalised support |

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.

The final major project to mark Cathedral’s historic year is to work with Motherwell Heritage Centre to fill and bury a time capsule. Our birds-eye ‘150’ photograph is sure to be included!