Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

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 Cathedral prevents and deals with bullying behaviour.

Cathedral’s first school value is Love and we are proud that bullying incidents are rare within our school community.

An anti-bullying poster competition took place in 2023 and the winning designs are displayed throughout the building.

Winners of anti-bullying poster competition revealed

‘Bullying drills’, which remind Cathedral pupils what to do if they are being bullied or witness bullying, as well as outline the consequences of all bullying behaviour, take place at the beginning of each term.

On those rare occasions when a Cathedral pupil makes a poor choice and bullies another member of our school community, this is dealt with meticulously, in line with our anti-bullying policy. This policy can be accessed via the link below.

Bullying information leaflet for parents and carers

Cathedral anti-bullying policy March 2023

Mrs Shevlin and the Rights Respecting Schools Committee ran a competition last term to create Cathedral’s very own Rights Respecting Schools mascot. The winners from each stage were announced at a special assembly on Thursday 22nd February and each pupil received a certificate. There was huge excitement when Niamh from Primary 7 was announced as the overall winner and an actual 3D replica of her design was revealed to the boys and girls. As you can see below, Niamh’s fantastic Rory, the Rights Respecting Rhino now has pride of place in our trophy cabinet.

Well done to Niamh, and please watch this space for further news of our Rights Respecting Schools journey as we continue to embed the UNCRC articles in the life and work of Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class.

Rights Respecting Schools

“I can talk about and interpret pictorial representations of data collected.”

This week in the kitchen area, the children have been using visuals and signs to share their understanding and help them plan and make day-to-day choices. They have also been creating their own shopping lists and charts to add to the kitchen area.

“I can show how to care for others in a variety of situations.”

Elsewhere in the playroom, the children have been working as a team to construct a variety of models. They have been very good at following health and safety rules to keep themselves and others safe whilst also developing their understanding of caring, sharing and building positive relationships with their peers.

“I can listen when others speak.”

In the cabin, the children have participated in group games such as ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ which have developed their listening and turn-taking skills. These skills were further developed when the children had the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings in small group situations.

Many Cathedral pupils turned up to school in their Rainbow, Brownie and Guide uniforms on Thursday 22nd February to celebrate World Thinking Day. This simple gesture reminded the girls that they’re part of a huge family – the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) – with World Thinking Day being an annual opportunity to connect with millions of Guides across the globe and celebrate the amazing things they do. The theme for 2024 is Our World, Our Peaceful Future.

This Primary 2 pupil recently made a very touching gift for Mr Young. The framed picture features a beautifully drawn image of Our Lady with the ‘Memorare’ handwritten below. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and kindness!

THE MEMORARE

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.

This star writer from Primary 3 popped along to Mr Young’s office with a classmate on Wednesday 21st February to share a fantastic piece of writing. His class have been exploring a text called ‘The Magic Shell’ during their recent Talk for Writing lessons and worked their way up to writing their own independent piece, inspired by the original text. Well done to our Star Writer, whose story you can read below.

As part of our recent Smart School Council work on celebrating diversity across our school and campus, Cathedral and Firpark Primaries are inviting pupils to submit a favourite recipe which reflects their family’s heritage, culture or a particular family member’s dietary needs. House Captains will select recipes from the various entries and those chosen will feature in a special ‘Ca-Fi Connections’ cookbook which will be on sale during the summer term.

Cathedral Primary has given pupils a deadline of Monday 26th February to submit their favourite recipe. The above pupil was quick off the mark and has already submitted her family’s recipe for Irish Champ. Delicious!

As part of their current ‘Children in the past’ topic, Primary 1 pupils have enjoyed the opportunity to make their own wooden-spoon puppets in the Playzone. The children showed lots of creativity adding hair, facial features, clothes and accessories to their puppets and developed a number of skills along the way including measuring, cutting and gluing. Now it’s time to use the skill of imagination and bring the puppets to life! Well done to our Primary 1 learners!

This Primary 2 pupil spent part of her recent long weekend painting this beautiful picture for Mr Young. She blended different shades of blue paint to create the striking background before painting the trunk and branches of a tree and adding paper leaves. The tree can, of course, be seen all around Cathedral Primary and Nursery and signifies that we are all connected and continually growing together as a community of faith and learning. The painting also features our school values of Love, Connection, Perseverance and Growth. Mr Young was  very touched by the beautiful gift, which will be given pride of place in our upstairs Meeting Room.

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 personalised support.

Cathedral Primary is committed to providing high-quality personalised support so that all of our young learners achieve success and reach their full potential.

At classroom level, our ‘Active8’ approach to organising learning and teaching across each day allows teachers to provide differentiated teaching input to groups and individuals. This means that teaching input is carefully matched to each child’s ability and learning needs. Cathedral pupils have frequent opportunities to discuss their learning with their teacher, who helps them to set next steps.

Beyond the classroom, our ‘A Team’ provides targeted support to pupils to address gaps in their learning or support them in aspects of literacy or numeracy they are struggling with. Please click on the link below to access our ‘A Team’ leaflet:

A Team Parent info February 2024

Cathedral also offers several Health and Wellbeing interventions including ‘Seasons for Growth’ and ‘Cool Connections’.

Pupils with specific additional support needs have a GIRFMe plan which is reviewed and updated in partnership with pupils and parents/carers three times a year.

Of course, key to ALL personalised support is Cathedral staff knowing each and every pupil as an individual, responding quickly to changes in their circumstances and removing any barriers to their learning as soon as these arise.