Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

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!

Primary 3 pupils celebrated their First Reconciliation in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral on Tuesday 5th March. It was a beautiful, prayerful occasion and there was barely a dry eye in the church when the children closed the liturgy with their thanksgiving hymn, ‘I’m accepted, I’m forgiven’.

Congratulations to the boys and girls and many thanks to those members of staff who supported the children in preparing for the sacrament. We keep each and every one of them in our prayers as they continue on their journey of faith.

As part of her class topic on living and working in North Lanarkshire, this Primary 4 learner was set the challenge of constructing something in the technology zone which would help people in the local area. She showed great inventiveness when she decided to make a defibrillator which, in real life, gives a jolt of energy to the heart to get it beating again after a cardiac arrest. Well done!

As part of our Family Learning programme, Cathedral pupils had the opportunity to enjoy some fun reading activities with their parent/carer during the week of World Book Day.

For Primary 1 – 3 pupils, ‘Stay and Read’ sessions took place in the school building, with parents and carers (and grandpas and grannies!) being able to read a book alongside their child.

Primary 4 – 7 pupils made the short walk to Motherwell Library where they had the opportunity to read a book with their parent/carer as well as visit the library’s exciting new immersive room. This unique pod within the library is a fully immersive, 360-degree environment with sound, smell and interactive elements. Our young learners and their parents absolutely LOVED the experience!

Our current Smart School Council focus is celebrating diversity across our school, nursery and campus. House Captains updated our Action Board on Monday 4th March to help move things along to the next stage.

Lots of recipes for our campus cookbook have been submitted and House Captains will go through these and select the winning entries in the next week or so.

A link to this week’s Smart School Council meeting has also been sent out to all classes: Cathedral pupils and teachers will be invited to give their ideas and suggestions for our Diversity Day, which will take place next term.

A number of Primary 6 pupils went through their Buddy interviews on Friday 1st March. The children submitted an application form a number of weeks ago outlining their skills and qualities and were then invited to interview. The boys and girls answered the questions confidently before being accepted for the role of buddying our nursery children. The boys and girls will now be given training in preparation for beginning in the nursery playroom and outdoor area.

An audience of family and friends were transported to sunny Brazil during Primary 5’s Learning Showcase on Friday 1st March. The performance was jam-packed with fascinating information about the South American country and included signing, dancing and (as always) lots of humour throughout. There were chuckles around the audience when one pupil took to the front of the stage to play the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer! The audience left with their feet tapping when the showcase concluded with vibrant music and dance from the Rio carnival.

Well done to Primary 5 on such a fantastic Learning Showcase and many thanks to Mrs Irwin, Miss Degnan and Mr McMullan for all their hard work preparing our young learners for their big day.

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.