Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Good attendance makes a HUGE difference to your child’s progress and attainment. Every school day really does count!

Our overall pupil attendance dipped to a worrying 92.6% in December. However, as February arrives, we are delighted to say Cathedral’s overall pupil attendance has bounced back to an encouraging:

94.0% 

Although this current rate is in line with Cathedral’s attendance target for this session, our aim is to see our overall pupil attendance sitting above 95% by June 2025. Attendance for the second week of January 2025 was an impressive 96.33%, so this goal is most definitely achievable!

Many thanks to all parents and carers for your support in helping us maintain high pupil attendance across Cathedral school community. A helpful leaflet about attendance percentages can be accessed via the link below:

Attendance table

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

Primary 1

• I share my ideas during Smart School Council.
• My teacher asks me about my learning. 
• I help the teacher to make decisions about my learning. 
• I often tell the teacher what I think about my work. 
• I can make and keep good friends. 
• I show respect to myself, others and school property. 

Primary 2 – 4

• I share my ideas during Smart School Council.
• My teacher asks me about my learning. 
• I help the teacher to make decisions about my learning. 
• I can contribute to self and peer-assessment with respect. 
• I can make and keep good friends. 
• I show respect to myself, others and property. 
• I can listen to the ideas, thoughts and feelings of others. 

Primary 5 – 7

• I share my ideas during Smart School Council.
• I take on responsibilities in class and beyond, such as buddying.
• I regularly discuss my learning with my teacher. 
• I help the teacher to make decisions about my learning. 
• I can contribute to meaningful self and peer-assessment. 
• I have personal skills that help me to manage my relationships. 
• I show respect for myself, others and property. 

Cathedral school community, alongside families and parishioners, gathered for a special Mass in the school hall on Friday 31st January, the Feast of St John Bosco, to formally mark the opening of the 150th anniversary year of our school and parish.

The Mass, celebrated by Bishop Toal and Fr Lamb, was a joyous occasion filled with music beautifully performed by Cathedral school choir under the direction of Mr. Greechin. A stunning floral display, generously donated by a parent, adorned the altar as a ‘thank you’ from Cathedral pupils to their teachers and helpers.

Provost Kenneth Duffy and Convener of Education, Councillor Michael McBride, attended the Mass and presented commemorative 150th anniversary medals to pupils and staff. The medals, featuring the school badge on one side and an image of Our Lady on the reverse, are a tribute to Cathedral’s rich and proud history. A particularly special moment came when three generations of the McGuire family received their medals: Mary (87), who attended the school in the 1895 building; her son Martin, educated in the 1950s/60s building; and Martin’s daughter, Sophie, a current Primary 7 pupil.

The Mass marked the first of many exciting events planned for Cathedral’s special year. A major highlight of the year will be Mass in the Cathedral on Tuesday 20th May when a Mass setting, composed by Mr Young and dedicated to Cathedral pupils and staff, will be sung during the liturgy. Following the Mass, stones from the 1895 building will be dedicated in their new location within the Cathedral grounds, and an exhibition on the school’s history, curated by Primary 7 pupils, will open in St Bride’s Hall.

The full programme of events for both our 150th Anniversary and the Jubilee Year can be accessed via the link below:

150th Anniversary & Jubilee programme

MNU 0-11a I have experimented with everyday items as units of measure to investigate and compare sizes and amount in my environments, sharing my findings with others.

LIT 0-14a I use signs, books or other texts to find useful information and I use this to plan, make choices or learn new things.

Well-being indicator: NURTURED

Our young learners have been making their own homemade soup using some common vegetables that we find in shops. The children considered and talked about  health and safety, including the importance of good hygiene within the Cathedral Café area. Our learners used a variety of cooking equipment, some for the first time. Many of the children used these independently, demonstrating themselves as successful learners and confident individuals.

The children have shown independence using the Smart Board to access videos to develop their fitness and discover ways they can keep their bodies active. The children have also been very active in our outdoor area, experimenting with everyday items to make obstacle courses and take part in group games. Our young learners are beginning to find ways to describe or show how their bodies feel after exercise.

Learning experiences this week have created opportunities for the children to feel confident to express their thoughts and opinions. They have enjoyed listening to ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and have been developing an understanding of the sequence of the story. Our young learners have used a lightbox and counters to design and create their own versions of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.

These Cathedral learners made the short journey to Dunelm in Uddingston on Thursday 30th January to select a few finishing touches for the toilets in their learning street. The colours for the toilet walls were chosen by pupils and Chris, our painter, is making great progress freshening up the spaces which, up until now, had been functional but uninspiring. Watch this space for photographs of the great toilet transformations!

As part of their learning on Chinese New Year, these Firpark learners popped over to Cathedral Primary on Wednesday 29th January to scare their Campus Connection friends with their fabulous Chinese dragon! We wish all of our friends in Firpark and Clydeview, along with our Chinese families here in Cathedral, much happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.

恭喜发财 

Gong hei fat choy!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, Cathedral Nursery Class experienced significant and unprecedented challenges and changes during the 2023/24 session, with nine longstanding members of staff moving on from the establishment. However, the nursery section of Cathedral’s June 2024 Annual Improvement Report stated:

’A fresh team, comprising existing and new practitioners, will be in place for August 2024 and there is now the opportunity to look to the future with optimism and renewed vision’.

Recent developments and improvements have not only maintained high-quality provision during this time of change and transition but are ensuring Cathedral Nursery Class is building back better and stronger than ever. Whether a young learner, a nursery practitioner or a parent/carer, it’s an exciting time to be part of Cathedral Nursery!

Mrs McCoy, whose remit now includes a strategic leadership role within the nursery to help build the capacity of staff and support ongoing improvement, has been meeting and greeting parents and carers this week to gather feedback on how we’re doing and give them a copy of our ‘Building back better’ leaflet. This leaflet, which outlines recent developments and improvements in Cathedral Nursery Class, can be accessed via the link below:

Building back better

Following consultation with learners and staff across all classes in the initial weeks of term, along with feedback from parents and carers, we are delighted to publish Cathedral’s new Relationships and Behaviour policy.

Cathedral PS relationships and behaviour policy – Final

91% of parents and carers agree or strongly agree that the policy reflects the Catholic ethos and vision, values and aims of Cathedral Primary School; 96% agree or strongly agree that the policy takes a positive approach, with a focus on helping all Cathedral pupils to be the best version of themselves and to take responsibility for their actions. Below are several comments from parents and carers:

 “This is such an amazing project for the children. I am really happy to read that this has been done with the pupils as this is something we try to discuss at home.”

“The comments from the children are very powerful. A wonderful reflection of how to treat each other in a school. This is why Cathedral is an amazing school for our kids.”

“The genuine respect and care for and between the adults and children in the school is absolutely palpable.”

Cathedral’s strong Catholic ethos underpins all sections of the policy and the policy highlights that the starting point for establishing and maintaining positive pupil – adult relationships across our school community lies with the adults. For example, the first bullet point under the ‘My Rights’ section states:

‘All adults in Cathedral will be nurturing and build a positive relationship with me.’

This section goes on to state:

‘All adults will be trauma sensitive and will always try to understand why I might be reacting in a certain way.’

The responses of Cathedral learners during the consultation sessions were exceptionally thoughtful and mature, revealing a wisdom, insight and graciousness well beyond their years. Speech bubbles scattered throughout the policy contain direct quotations from our quite remarkable children. These include:

“God created us. He made us unique and special in our own way. When you feel good, you show love.”
(Primary 2 learners)

Many thanks to Cathedral learners, parents/carers and staff for your input in developing our new Relationships and Behaviour policy. TOGETHER, WE’LL ENSURE IT’S A LIVED REALITY ACROSS OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY!

The first of this term’s digital family learning sessions took place on Tuesday 28th January. There were three workshops across the day (Primary 5a, Primary 5b and Primary 5c), all beginning with a presentation from Mr Quinn on how digital can support literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. Our Primary 5 learners then had the opportunity to enjoy some computing science with their parent/carer which entailed using coding to create their very own game in which they could control the characters. Very impressive computing skills!

Our next digital family learning sessions, for Primary 5/6, Primary 6a and Primary 6b, take place on Tuesday 4th February. Please check out our current Family Learning leaflet for each class’s time:

Jan – June 2025 Family Learning programme

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.

After being given several months to fully settle into school life, Monday 27th January saw the first Primary 1 learners having the opportunity to sit on the Cathedral throne and talk about some of their recent learning. They both talked very confidently about a piece of writing they had composed and all the learning that had led up to this ‘Milestone Moment’. Well done, amazing Cathedral learners!