Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

A group of Primary 6 and 7 learners worked with the Tackling Poverty Team on Monday 24th February to explore how the cost of living is affecting them and other families and suggest what the council could do to help. The team were very impressed with the children’s insight and ideas around the three questions:

• How is the cost of living affecting you?
• How does the cost of living affect the wider community?
• What can we do to help?

Cathedral Primary recognises that these are challenging financial times for many of our families. If you are having difficulties, please take a few moments to read the leaflet below to find out what help is out there in North Lanarkshire.

https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/NL%20Money%20Worries%20Leaflet.pdf

Please continue to pray for Pope Francis, as he remains in hospital:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/nl/olga/2025/02/23/please-pray-for-pope-francis/

Loving and Merciful God,

We come before You in prayer, lifting up Your servant, Pope Francis, in his time of need. You are the Source of all healing, and we ask You to surround him with Your loving presence, granting him strength and recovery. May Your divine grace rest upon him, restoring his health and filling him with renewed vigour to continue leading Your Church with compassion and wisdom.

We place Pope Francis into Your hands, trusting in Your eternal care. May he be comforted by the love of the Church and the prayers of all the faithful. We ask, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that his recovery be swift, and his spirit be strengthened in Your peace. May Your will be done in his life, O Lord, and may Your healing power be with him always.

We offer this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Here at Cathedral Primary, Friday afternoon is often an opportunity for truly learner-led learning (rather than simply adult-initiated). The above Primary 7 learners spent part of the afternoon of Friday 21st February in their learning street’s Creation Station using the available materials to make intricate paper sushi. They told Mr Young that they intend to extend this learning next week by using their knowledge of electrical circuits to make a conveyor-belt for the sushi. How innovative!

In the same learning street, the learners below headed to the technology zone and used some of the construction materials to build a fantastic space station, complete with fighter jets. Great imagination! Great teamwork!

Motherwell is twinned with the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt and our Primary 5 classes are currently enjoying learning about the geography, language, traditions and culture of Germany. These Primary 5 learners (with some Primary 4 pupils looking on with great interest!) turned their hand to a bit of tailoring on Friday 21st February when they worked together to make Lederhosen, the traditional leather breaches worn in southern Germany. Our learners were able to talk about the skills they were using and developing: designing, measuring, creating and working as a team. Meanwhile, just inside the classroom, another group of Primary 5 learners were making pretzels with their teacher. There’s NEVER a dull day in Cathedral!

Primary 4 hosted another successful coffee morning on Friday 21st February. As always, it was great to see the hall filled with families and friends enjoying a catch up over coffee and cake. There was also the added treat of a performance from our Gie it Laldie choir. The event raised a fantastic £630 for school funds.

Many thanks to Primary 4 and the Fundraising Committee for organising and running the coffee morning. The next coffee morning, which will be run by Primary 6, takes place on Friday 2nd May.

Mark Huang, a good friend of Mr Young, lives 6000 miles away in Hong Kong and he got in touch on Thursday 20th February to let Mr Young know that Cathedral Primary and the forerunner of the school he attended in HK have something in common: they’re both 150 years old!

Six French and Irish De La Salle Brothers made the long and arduous journey to Hong Kong 150 years ago, establishing St Joseph’s College in 1875: the exact same year our parish school opened its doors for the first time. What a special connection, as well as an important reminder that we’re part of the Universal Church which continues to flourish and change lives for the better.

https://www.lasalle-lead.org/lead-stories/150th-anniversary-lasallian-mission-hong-kong

Hong Kong in 1875

Hong Kong today

Cathedral Primary was absolutely delighted to receive a copy of a motion lodged in the Scottish Parliament by Clare Adamson MSP, Motherwell and Wishaw, on Wednesday 12th February:

The Parliament congratulates Cathedral Primary School on celebrating the 150th anniversary of the parish and school; recognises what it sees as the importance of this milestone in highlighting the longstanding role that the school and parish have played in the education and spiritual life of the community; commends the dedication of teachers, staff, parents, and parishioners who have contributed to the school’s rich history and continued success, and wishes Cathedral Primary School and the parish every success in the years to come as they continue to inspire and support future generations.

Following a generous donation of £9135 from local charity, Forgewood Holdings, Cathedral learners returned to school after the February break to find our brand new 150th Anniversary Theatre installed in the playground. The performing arts have been an important part of Cathedral’s curriculum for many years and this latest addition to the school grounds provides a fantastic new performance space for learners to use during breaks as well as for their class drama lessons. We look forward to seeing the stage come to life in the weeks and months ahead!

We’ve all been there:

“What did you do in school today?”

           to which your child replies “Nothing!”

Of course, as a Cathedral parent/carer, you already know there’s NEVER a wasted day in our vibrant school community and that EVERY morning and afternoon is filled with enjoyable and challenging learning experiences to engage your child and help them reach their full potential across the curriculum.

As we arrive at the February break, Mr Young encourages parents and carers to dip into our ‘Talking to your child about their learning’ leaflet and select one or two prompts to have a short chat with their child about their recent learning. The leaflet can be accessed via the link below:

Talking to your child about their learning

Motherwell is twinned with the German town of Schweinfurt and Primary 5 learners took to the stage on Friday 14th February for a fantastic Learning Showcase all about their recent class work on Germany. There was barely an area of the curriculum left out of the children’s showcase, with geography, history, drama, music, dance, PE and technology all making an appearance in the vibrant presentation. There was even a countdown in German and a mention of pretzel making in class! The finale of the showcase featured Jude (Primary 5a) performing a convincing re-enactment of the moment back on 31st December 1989 when David Hasselhoff sang “Looking for Freedom” to a crowd at the Berlin Wall.

Well done to each and every one of our Primary 5 learners for their outstanding performance and many thanks to Mrs Devanney, Mrs Burns, Mrs McMillan, Mrs Irwin and Miss Graham for all their hard work getting the children ready for the day.