Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Mrs Tominey, Mrs Irwin and two Primary 7 learners visited St Andrew’s Primary in Falkirk on Wednesday 25th September. Cathedral Primary is now into year two of working in partnership with the Falkirk school. Last year, Cathedral teachers supported several teachers in St Andrew’s to introduce our Active8 approach to their classrooms. This year, pupils and teachers from the two schools will be collaborating to further develop and improve learning spaces which support high-quality adult-led, adult-initiated and learner-led learning.

Part of the visit on 25th September involved our two Cathedral learners carrying out a learning walk with St Andrew’s pupils and their Head Teacher, Mr Short. Drawing on the way we’ve developed and improved learning spaces here in Cathedral, our learners provided St Andrew’s Primary with some helpful feedback and several new ideas to try out.

Cathedral looks forward to welcoming staff and pupils from St Andrew’s Primary after the October holidays for a similar learning visit.

As readers will be aware from our regular newsfeed posts about Smart School Council, pupil voice is central to continuous change and improvement here at Cathedral Primary. One of our House Captains, along with Mrs Duffy, had the opportunity to represent the voice of Cathedral pupils beyond the school building on Wednesday 25th September by attending the North Lanarkshire Pupil Conference in Airdrie Town Hall. The Children’s Commissioner, Nicola Killean, was the keynote speaker and the various activities gathered the views of pupils from across the local authority on things that matter to them about school. This information will be used to help shape North Lanarkshire’s ongoing work on the curriculum.

Well done to House Captain, Oliver, for being such a great ambassador for Cathedral Primary!

Primary 2a (the first of our three Primary 2 classes to pay a visit) made the short journey to Motherwell Heritage Centre on Tuesday 24th September to enjoy a workshop related to their current class topic, Knights & Castles. The children learned about the different jobs and roles in a castle, tried on a variety of medieval costumes, found out about the various foods eaten at a banquet, handled chainmail and armour, and discussed the features of different castles. The children were very eager learners and showed their usual Cathedral manners and behaviour.

Cathedral select girls football team excelled at the NLC Active Schools football tournament on Tuesday 24th September, winning four and drawing in one game across their six matches. Coach Willie was exceptionally proud not only of the girls’ football skills but also their exceptional behaviour and sportsmanship. Well done, Team OLGA!

These Primary 4 learners combined computer coding with their literacy work on Tuesday 24th September. The children programmed their current spelling words to appear on microbits and were very proud to show off their digital technology skills to Mr Young. Well done!

I can use the signs and charts around me for information. (MNU 0-02a)

 I am learning skills and strategies which will support me in challenging times, particularly in relation to change. (HWB 0-07a)

Over the past week in Cathedral Nursery Class, our young learners have been developing their independence and learning how to keep themselves safe when using a variety of resources in and out of nursery.

Our new-starts have been developing an awareness of nursery rules and routines and these young learners now know which group they belong to and the symbol and colour that relates to their group. This has helped each child gain a sense of belonging and begin to build good relationships with their friends and key adult.

The children have led their own learning by bringing in leaves, pinecones and berries they have found on their way to nursery. Staff have responded to this by providing materials and resources to further develop the children’s knowledge about autumn.

We have introduced and implemented our Childsmile oral health programme and the children have quickly learned to match the colour and symbol for their group chart to the ones on their toothbrush.

Cathedral school choir sang at a special Mass in Glasgow University Memorial Chapel on Friday 20th September to mark the 25th anniversary of the School of Education. The main celebrant was Archbishop Nolan.

Under the direction of NSSP Choral Director, Mr James Greechin, the choir led the music of the liturgy beautifully. Music included the hymn ‘Be Thou my vision’, a sung psalm, ‘Anima Christi’ during communion and a rousing ‘Hail Redeemer, King Divine’ to conclude the celebration.

Each and every choir member was perfectly turned out in their uniform and were an absolute credit to the Cathedral school community. It certainly was a very proud moment for parents and carers, Mr Young and the other Cathedral staff who were there to support the children.

This Primary 7 learner, whose current class topic is Amazing Africa, was very proud to show-off his version of a traditional Maasai necklace to Mr Young on Thursday 19th September. This type of jewellery, from east Africa, is traditionally worn by the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania.

The second of our Active8 Family Learning workshops took place on Thursday 19th September. Mr Young’s presentation provided an overview of the approach, including information on Cathedral’s ‘overarching pedagogy’, which ensures an appropriate balance of adult-led, adult-initiated and learner-led learning across each week. Parents and carers received input on how to talk to their child about their learning at home before heading to their child’s classroom to see Active8 in action and learn alongside their child.

Here’s a snapshot of the positive feedback from this week’s Family Learning:

What I think about Active8

“Great idea to get children actively involved in the structure of each day’s learning”. P6

“Brilliant, great way to engage the children and make learning fun.” P6

“I think it sounds amazing and allows everyone’s learning needs to be met”. P3

“Seems like Orla doesn’t get a chance to be bored. She really enjoys learning.” P3

“She feels she is learning about things she is interested in.” P6

“It makes learning more fun. It helps me to be more involved in their learning.” P6

“I think it’s really good and teaches children responsibility. I wish this was something I’d had in school.” P5

What my child thinks about Active8

“ Joshua likes that he gets to choose what he wants to learn and when.” P3

“Orla finds Active8 interesting and learns new things independently.” P3

“She really enjoys this way of learning and finds it helps and encourages her.” P3

“My child thinks Active8 is a very fun and smart way of learning and it makes learning easy.” P3

“Lucas enjoys it very much. He likes the fact he can choose.” P6

“Eva thinks it’s good for controlling her own learning and time management.” P6

Mrs Campbell’s junior choir club got off to a rousing start after school on Wednesday 18th September. The first song the children learned was ‘All God’s creatures got a place in the choir’, accompanied by an enthusiastic Mrs Campbell on guitar. We just can’t get enough singing here at Cathedral!