It’s been another exciting year here at Cathedral and our 2023/24 Improvement Plan has helped our school and nursery community drive forward change to improve outcomes for our learners. Cathedral’s Annual Improvement Report can be accessed via the link at the bottom of this post. However, here are a 
few highlights of our improvement journey this year:
- Our curriculum, delivered through our Active8 approach, has continued to provide engaging and challenging learning experiences for Cathedral pupils.
- Staff have worked together to further improve learning and teaching, providing pupils with high-quality learning spaces, experiences and interactions. This is something we’ll continue to do through one of next year’s improvement priorities.
- Our new approach to marking and feedback, the introduction of ‘Milestone Moments’ stickers and our bespoke ‘skills mats’ have equipped Cathedral pupils with the language of learning and ensure they are clear about their strengths and next steps.
- We’ve embedded ‘Talk for Writing’ approaches from Primary 1 – 7 and, across all stages, at least 86% of our learners now reach or exceed their expected milestones in writing.
- The Schools Singing Programme, funded by Motherwell Diocese, has given our Primary 4 learners weekly access to high-quality music lessons and supported our choir to go from strength to strength.
- To ensure we are outward looking, we have worked in partnership with St John Paul II Primary, Viewpark, and St Andrew’s Primary, Falkirk, as part of this year’s improvement journey.
- We‘ve invested in 60 new ipads for our Primary 1 – 3 classes and North Lanarkshire digital and computing progression pathways are ensuring pupils across the school develop increasingly sophisticated digital skills.
- Our ‘Attainment Team’ has continued to deliver a range of targeted interventions, supporting a rise in attainment in literacy and numeracy across the school and helping Cathedral Primary make positive headway in closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
- We’re making good progress in returning attendance to pre-COVID levels, with overall pupil attendance now over 93%.
Cathedral’s Annual Improvement Report, which provides detailed information on the school’s improvement journey over the past twelve months, can be accessed via the link below:
A team of Cathedral staff headed to George Square on Sunday 16th June to cheer Mrs Loose over the finish line. As Cathedral families and friends know, Mrs Loose was inspired to run the Glasgow 10km by her dear friend and colleague, Mrs McCarthy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this year. Both Mrs McCarthy and Mrs Loose have been blown away by people’s generosity and kind messages. 
Our pre-schoolers graduated from Cathedral Nursery Class during a moving ceremony on Friday 14th June. Our young learners were joined by their families and friends to share memories of their time in nursery and look ahead to their exciting futures. The ceremony concluded with the children placing their shoes in the Class of 2024 box and being presented with their new school tie in return. Whether staying here at Cathedral or moving on to a different school, we wish all the boys and girls every 
Bag2School gives families the opportunity to clear out unwanted clothes, contribute to saving the environment and, at the same time, raise money for school funds. Cathedral’s most recent donations of clothes were collected on Thursday 13th June. The money raised will go directly into school funds to support and enhance the learning of our amazing pupils. Many thanks to parents and carers for your donations!
Primary 4 travelled to Glasgow by train on Wednesday 12th June to visit the city’s Science 
Centre. As well as exploring the various exhibits, our young scientists discovered more about space in the centre’s state-of-the-art planetarium. Delivered by a live presenter, the children went on a fantastic journey through the solar system, into the Milky Way and beyond! The children also met a real-life NASA astronaut who told the children about his experiences in outer space.
Cathedral’s annual football awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 12th June. Resident
coach, Willie McBirnie, led the proceedings and this year’s guest speaker was John McLaughlan, former Hamilton Accies player and current coach and Development Officer with Hearts. John spoke about the qualities clubs look for in their young players.
Those families who live close to the school may be aware that a brand new park has opened on Roman Road, the design of which Cathedral pupils were directly involved in. Our Primary 4 pupils have now been asked to create a sign for the park and some of the children visited the fantastic new facility on Tuesday 11th June
Cathedral pupils danced the night away at our two Shorts & Shades discos on Tuesday 11th June. There were some very cool summer outfits and lots of equally cool dance moves around the hall!
Primary 3 pupils enjoyed a fascinating trip to New Lanark on Tuesday 11th June. As well as the opportunity to explore the former 18th Century cotton mill village on the banks of the Clyde (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the children had three different workshops.
As part of this term’s World War II topic, Primary 7 pupils had the opportunity to choose an area of interest to delve deeper into. On Friday 7th June, the children showcased their learning to other classes in an impressive range of ways including models, PowerPoints, posters, leaflets and displays of authentic artifacts. The children will be setting up their exhibition again on Friday 21st June as part of their Learning Showcase.
