Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

These five Primary 4 pupils approached Mr Young earlier in the term to ask if they could make and sell loom-bands for charity. The orders came flooding in and the children managed to raise an incredible £120 pounds, all of which will be donated to St Andrew’s Hospice. Well done, team!

Cathedral Primary choir joined pupils from St Brendan’s and St Bernadette’s Primary Schools in the cathedral on Thursday 7th December for a special carol service. The combined choir, connected through the National Schools Singing Programme, led the congregation in a number of well-known carols, with Cathedral pupils having particular responsibility for singing ‘Of the Father’s love begotten’: something they did beautifully. The choir was conducted by Mr James Greechan, NSSP Choral Director for Motherwell Diocese, and accompanied on the organ by Mr John Pitcathley.

Cathedral pupils turned up to Ambition Avenue in their droves on Wednesday 6th December for the first Christmas story-telling session of the season. Led by Mrs McCarthy and Primary 6b, the children had the opportunity to cosy up around the decorations and enjoy listening to ‘The Christmas Star’s Big Shine’. The session even included a selection of carols performed by Cathedral’s very own Christmas boy-band, ‘Gingerbread Bros.’!

This fun, festive lunchtime activity will continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout the rest of term. There are certainly lots more stories for Cathedral pupils to enjoy in the days ahead!

The young learners from Cathedral Nursery got our festive celebrations off to a great start on Tuesday 5th December with a performance of favourite Christmas carols. The children kicked-off with Jingle Bells, retold the story of Santa getting stuck in the chimney and introduced a new carol to the audience called ‘Pull, pull, pull the cracker.’ The concert finished with a dance-off between the children and the grown-ups to ‘Feliz Navidad’ before families enjoyed a cuppa and festive nibble in the dining hall.

Well done to our nursery children and many thanks to staff for preparing the children for their show.

To help our school and parish community prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, Mass will be celebrated at 8.15am in the gym hall every Tuesday and Friday throughout the season of Advent.

All pupils, staff, parents and parishioners are very welcome to attend.

‘This time of Advent is a time of waiting for the Lord, who will visit us all on the feast of Christmas, but also, each one, in our own hearts.’ (Pope Francis)

Cathedral pupils were recently asked via their Smart School Council class meeting how we can celebrate diversity across our school and campus. As always, the children came up with fantastic ideas and, on Tuesday 28th November, our twelve House Captains met with Mr Young and Mrs Duffy to collate these into common themes for our Smart School Council Action Board.

Our four Diversity projects are:

• Create a new welcome display at the school entrance which celebrates Cathedral’s diversity. This will include an ‘inspirational quote lucky dip’;
• Include a dedicated monthly ‘celebrating our diversity’ slot at assembly;
• Plan and hold a Diversity Day next term. This will also include the development and launch of a Cathedral cookbook;
• Use our class ‘showcase walls’ to highlight and celebrate Cathedral’s diversity. These will be ready for Parents Evening in March.

Mr Young would like to thank Cathedral learners from across the school for coming up with such great suggestions. The above four projects will be taken forward and actioned by our twelve House Captains over the coming weeks.

Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral was packed with family and friends as sixty-five Primary 7 pupils received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Monday 27th November. Each and every pupil participated attentively and prayerfully throughout the liturgy and the children’s beautiful singing of the hymns added to the prayerful atmosphere.

Many thanks to Bishop Toal and Fr Lamb for celebrating the liturgy, to parents and families for accompanying the children on their on-going faith journey, to Miss Cameron, Mrs McLaughlan, Mrs Shevlin and Mrs Findlay for preparing their classes for the sacrament, and for all those – from the school and from the parish – who worked so diligently behind the scenes to ensure everything ran smoothly on the night.

We continue to keep all those pupils who were confirmed in our prayers.

We love celebrating wider achievements here at Cathedral, with pupils having the opportunity to record them on their personal ‘Rose Trainer Achievement Award’ card. The above three Primary 7 pupils were recognised for their impressive football skills during the recent Motherwell Community Trust awards ceremony, including for ‘Players’ player of the Year’ and ‘Coach’s Player of the Year’. Well done, girls!