Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

There was a great turnout for the first of our ‘Talk for Writing’ family learning workshops on Tuesday 23rd January. Mrs Tominey and Miss Cameron delivered a presentation on the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach and then several Primary 4 and Primary 7 pupils read some of their own compositions to demonstrate how they had used an original text to support their ideas and writing. The session finished with the opportunity for parents and carers to visit their child’s classroom to see ‘Talk for Writing’ techniques in action and enjoy reading the pieces in their child’s Taught Writing jotter.

Many thanks to Mrs Tominey and Miss Cameron for preparing and delivering the workshop and a special thanks to the six P4 and 7 pupils who helped bring the presentation to life.

This ‘Talk for Writing’ family learning session will be repeated for parents and carers of P3a, P3/4, P4b, P5/6, P7a and 7c pupils on Tuesday 30th January at 9.15am.

This eager learner from Primary 4c was recently inspired by Mr Young’s speedy recitation of the six times table and committed himself to practise at home until he was just as speedy! He succeeded in just a few days and was really proud to show off how quick he was to Mr Young. Well done marvelous mathematician!

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 how your child’s learning is assessed.

Please click on the link below to access our ‘How is my child’s learning assessed?’ leaflet:

Parent assessment leaflet

The current focus of Smart School Council is celebrating diversity across our school, nursery and campus. Following the pupil consultation last term, our Action Board has been updated to take forward the children’s ideas.

A special ‘Diversity Day’ has been scheduled for Friday 3rd May and, this term, we’ll be working in partnership with our friends from Firpark and Clydeview Primary Schools to produce a cookbook which celebrates diversity across our campus. Watch this space to find out how you can submit a favourite family recipe!

The morning of Wednesday 17th January might have started off a chilly minus 8 degrees, but it didn’t stop these Cathedral pupils from wearing their shorts to school. It’s quite common in Cathedral Primary for boys to wear shorts as part of their uniform from their first day in Primary 1 all the way up to the very last day of Primary 7. What a hardy bunch we are!

This Primary 7 pupil recently took part in a swimming gala and walked away with an impressive four medals:

• Gold for butterfly
• Gold for front crawl
• Silver for back crawl
• Bronze for breaststroke

Many congratulations on your remarkable achievement! Definitely one to record on your Rose Trainer Achievement Award card.

Children who turn 5 between 1st March 2024 and 29th February 2025 should be registered for primary school THIS WEEK.

Registration for August 2024 will take place Monday to Friday (15th – 19th January) from 1.30 – 2.45pm each day. Parents and carers should come to the main entrance and will be directed to the dining hall.

A birth certificate and a current council tax notice must be produced at the time of registration.

Information for parent/carers about registration their child for Primary 1 can be obtained by visiting https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/primary-school-registration-p1

Information on submitting a placing request can be obtained by visiting https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/placing-requests

Information on submitting an early entry request can be obtained by visiting https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/early-entry

Primary 3b spent the afternoon of Friday 12th January being budding filmmakers. Using the ‘StikBot Studio’ app on their iPads, the children worked with playdough to create fantastic animations of a story they recently enjoyed in class: ‘Baboon on the Moon’. Mr Young was very impressed with the children’s movie-making skills and thoroughly enjoyed watching the children’s animations.

As we look ahead to our inspection from HMIe, which is likely to take place between now and the summer holidays, we are introducing a new weekly feature to our website newsfeed, starting today (Friday 12th January). ‘Friday Focus’ will provide Cathedral parents and carers with important information relating to our upcoming inspection to ensure they are as prepared for the visit as pupils and staff.

This week focuses on the four main Quality Indicators which we will be inspected on:

1.3  Leadership of change

2.3  Learning, teaching and assessment

3.1  Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion

3.2  Raising attainment and achievement

Cathedral Primary has developed pictorial overviews which summarise our school community’s self-evaluation against the above Quality Indicators: these were sent out to all parents and carers via the school app on Friday 12th January. These accessible documents mean that everyone involved in the life and work of our school – staff, parents/carers, our partners and even our older pupils – have a clear understanding of how good Cathedral Primary School is.