Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Here in Cathedral, pupils write independently for short bursts EVERY day of the week as this allows learners across the school to apply what they’ve been learning in phonics, spelling and taught writing lessons. Mr Young was extremely impressed when he popped into a Primary 1 class just after the 9 o’clock bell on Thursday 14th March and found Cathedral’s youngest learners starting off their day with independent writing. Well done, Primary 1, on your super sentences, super spelling, super letter formation, super punctuation and super enthusiasm for your learning!

A team of Cathedral pupils took part in the North Lanarkshire cross country finals at Wishaw Sports Centre on Wednesday 13th March. The course was over a distance of 1.5km and the Cathedral team gained a 10th, a 24th and a 30th out of the hundreds of competitors. Well done, everyone!

Primary 3 pupils currently have the opportunity to participate in a lunchtime football run by Motherwell Community Trust. The eight-week club, overseen by Coach Ellie, is supporting our young learners to develop their football skills and teamwork.

The Cat in the Hat (times 5!) appeared at Mr Young’s office on Friday 8th March. Primary 1 had been very busy colouring, cutting and gluing in the Playzone to create their fantastic masks of the well-known book character and had just as much fun showing their completed creations off! Well done, everyone!

All Primary 4 – 7 classes had the opportunity to visit the recently-refurbished Motherwell library during the week of World Book Day… and what an incredible week it’s been. The highlight for pupils, staff and parents was definitely the fantastic new immersive room. The fully immersive, 360-degree pod with sound, smell and interactive elements transported Cathedral pupils back to the time of the dinosaurs, under water to swim with sharks and even to the beaches of World War II Dunkirk. What an incredible resource to have within walking distance of our school!

Mr Young was very impressed when he popped along to the sign language club on Thursday 7th March. The children were very confident signing the entire alphabet, which also allowed them to sign their own individual names. Our young learners have been learning to sign a song, which they’ll perform to the rest of the school at assembly before the end of term.

Well done, boys and girls, and many thanks to Miss Tyrell for running our BSL club.

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 our Catholic ethos, which is central to the life and work of Cathedral Primary School.

Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School has educated the children of the parish since 1895 and we are justifiably proud of our long history and rich heritage.

‘From the first moment that a student sets foot in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment, one illumined by the light of faith and having its own unique characteristics.’
(Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education)

As a Catholic school, faith is the bedrock of Cathedral Primary and permeates the school’s day-to-day activities and routines, no matter how ordinary or apparently ‘unspiritual’ these may be. We constantly strive to ensure Gospel values inform and underpin everything we do, for only in doing so can Cathedral Primary successfully fulfil its call to be an authentic Christian community where faith is not only taught and spoken about, but lived and experienced.

All teaching staff, both current and prospective, are required to subscribe to the Charter for Catholic Schools in Scotland and must be granted approval from the Diocese of Motherwell before taking up post in Cathedral Primary School.

Of course, Cathedral welcomes pupils and families of other faiths, and of no faith at all, and this diversity makes a valuable contribution to our school community.

Please take the opportunity to explore the various pages in the ‘Faith’ section of our website.

This group of Cathedral learners spent part of their interval on Thursday 7th March gathering items from around the yard to make their own prayer space for the season of Lent. What a creative and thoughtful addition to our playground!

As part of our week-long programme of reading events, Cathedral pupils enjoyed a variety of book-related activities on Thursday 7th March to mark World Book Day.

Primary 7c got out into the sunshine for ‘Picnic ‘n’ Poetry’, when they had the opportunity to enjoy reading poems together along with some tasty snacks.

Meanwhile, down in Primary 1, the children enjoyed colouring and cutting card in the playzone to create fantastic book character masks.

Our last round of visits to Motherwell Library, this time for Primary 7, take place on Friday 8th March.

This eager bunch of Cathedral citizens are currently making bracelets and earrings to sell to neighbours and family friends. All money raised (around £30 so far) will go to the SCIAF Wee Box campaign. Well done team on being so creative in your Lenten almsgiving!