Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Our three Primary 2 classes visited Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral during the week beginning 26th February to find out more about the interior of a Catholic church. Among other things, the children found out about the altar, the stained glass windows, the Stations of the Cross and the bishop’s chair (the cathedra). The children also visited the sacristy to see the vestments the priest wears to celebrate Mass. Many thanks to Fr Lamb for taking time out of his busy schedule to show our young learners around the cathedral.

Following a rigorous verification process, Cathedral Primary has been awarded Gold School Sport Award 2024 – 26. This is the third time Cathedral has been awarded gold.

The Gold School Sport Award is in recognition of Cathedral’s achievements in putting sport at the heart of our school’s planning, practice and ethos. The Gold Award also highlights that Cathedral has shown excellent practice across the core areas of the award and demonstrated an on-going commitment to increase Cathedral pupils’ opportunities and engagement in physical education, school sport and leadership and that we provide clear pathways to life-long participation in sport.

Many thanks to Mrs Duffy and our Active Schools Co-ordinator, Fiona Russell, for their ongoing work co-ordinating Cathedral’s various sports opportunities and helping our school community achieve Gold.

March’s wellbeing indicator is RESPONSIBLE. 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 can name some jobs in my local area.
• I can talk about the rewards of having a job. 
• I can help my teacher and other adults in the school. 
• I can control my behaviour in school. 
• I take responsibility for my actions. 
• I can find ways to solve problems.

Primary 2 – 4

• I can set and work on my own learning goals.
• I can talk about the skills needed for different jobs. 
• I can talk about the skills I have. 
• I can talk about the world of work. 
• I take responsibility for my actions. 
• I can recycle waste responsibly. 
• I can make decisions and explain them.

Primary 5 – 7

• I know how peer, media and other pressures can influence my decision making.
• I can describe what my rights and responsibilities are at home, in school and in my community.
• I know how to reduce and recycle waste.
• I am given opportunities to make connections between my own skills and the world of work.
• I can use my investigative skills to find out about different jobs/careers.

As we continue to look ahead to our inspection from HMIe, which is likely to take place between now and the summer holidays, this week’s Friday Focus is on Family Learning.

Each and every parent and carer plays a vital role in helping their child maximise their potential and flourish in school. To support them in this, Cathedral Primary offers a range of opportunities for parents and carers to get involved in their child’s learning and the life and work of the school. These are published in our Parental Engagement & Family Learning leaflet, which is sent out twice a year. The leaflets for the 2023/24 session can be accessed via the links below.

Aug-Dec-2023-Family-Learning-programme

Jan – June 2024 Family Learning programme

“I can show how to care for others”

This week, our young learners have been beginning to understand why caring and sharing with their friends is so important. They have been helping each other rearrange the physical area outside and have chosen their own equipment to improve their gross motor skills. Meanwhile, in our kitchen area, the children have been preparing their own delicious snacks which has developed their fine motor skills.

“I am becoming aware of simple cause and effect e.g. What happens when things are pushed and pulled.”

Some of our children have been exploring how various resources can or cannot balance whilst learning about the science behind this.  It has sparked their curiosity to experiment with a wider variety of objects such as feathers, sticks and stones.

“I can listen, watch and show interest while other people present and perform.”

Following the children’s interests , we have further developed our role-play area, creating a stage with show lights and curtains to perform to an audience. The children have enjoyed being part of a show and have also listened and watched with interest as part of an audience.

And, finally, let’s not forget our beautiful new nursery welcome sign!

Primary 2 have been learning about knights and castles in class this term and have had the opportunity to extend their learning in the playzone. These pupils had great fun designing a shield on Tuesday 27th February and were able to tell Mr Young about the skills they used: designing, drawing, colouring and cutting. The boys and girls also did some joint problem solving when they worked together to design a handle for the back of their shields. Impressive!

‘Read Write Inc. Fresh Start’, which is delivered by our ‘A Team’, is a literacy programme which develops spelling, reading and writing skills. This hard-working group of Cathedral pupils have just completed module 8 of the programme and are also successfully applying their skills in their literacy work back in class. Well done to you all: we’re so proud of you!

Primary 3 are currently learning about natural disasters. So far, the children have found out about earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and, most recently, tsunamis. The above learner spent part of his weekend creating a fantastic Lego model of a tsunami which he was eager to show off to Mr Young. Well done!

Back in our Primary 3 classrooms, the children studied ‘The Great Wave’ by Japanese artist, Hokusai, before producing their own artwork inspired by the original masterpiece.

This Primary 4 pupil demonstrated impressive maths skills on Monday 26th February. During his class’s outdoor learning, he practised his division facts for the 4 times table and made it all the way up to ‘200 divided by 4’. WOW!