Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

There was a FREAKISHLY good atmosphere in the hall on Tuesday 24th October for our Halloween discos. Costumes across all stages were absolutely fantastic and the boys and girls had a great time showing off their spooky dance moves. Three ghosts were even spotted lurking in the Leadership Team office!

Many thanks to the Fundraising Committee for organising and co-ordinating the discos, to the amazing DJ and to all those teachers who gave of their own time to come along and join in the fun.

As part of Come Clubbing @ Cathedral, Primary 7 pupils recently completed Young Leaders training with our resident Active Schools Co-ordinator, Fiona Russell. The Young Leader Award is a great introduction to leadership, giving young people aged eleven and over the knowledge and skills to organise and lead small games and activities that can be used as a part of club sessions. Primary 7 engaged in a three-week training programme and were awarded certificates on completion of the module. 

Young leaders are now delivering daily lunch time clubs to our Primary 2 and 3 pupils. Our current lunchtime clubs are: 

• Football Skills 
• Multi Sports
• Team building  
• Traditional playground games

Many congratulations to our Young Leaders. We wish them every success delivering sessions and inspiring our younger pupils!

John McLaughlan, a former trainer with Hearts Training Camp and Celtic Football Club, was in Cathedral Primary on Friday 13th October to share his expertise with a keen group of Cathedral players. Mr McLaughlan complimented pupils on showing ACE (Attitude, Commitment, Enthusiasm) throughout the coaching session.

Joseph commented: ‘Coach was great at sharing next steps and how to improve.’

Elliot said: ‘Excellent training session!’

Many thanks to Coach Willie for arranging this fantastic opportunity for Cathedral pupils.

Primary 5 pupils visited Motherwell Heritage Centre on Wednesday 11th October to developed their sketching skills. The children began by sketching fruit and vegetables and then had the opportunity to study and sketch a range of artefacts. These included an old clock, a 1990s Motherwell FC shirt and an ice skating boot. The boys and girls are looking forward to applying and further developing their art skills during the course of Primary 5.

Primary 2 pupils visited Motherwell Heritage Centre on Tuesday 10th October to discover more about their home town. The children found out that Motherwell’s name originates from a well (the Lady Well) which was dedicated to Our Lady, patron of Cathedral Primary. Our young learners had the opportunity to compare old and new maps of the town and also made their own maps showing their journey to school. They also looked at old photographs of Motherwell and compared these with how it looks today.

As always, Heritage Centre staff were thoroughly impressed by our pupils’ manners, enthusiasm and hunger to learn new things.

Parents and carers play a vital role in helping their child maximise their potential and flourish in school. Taking the time to talk to their child on a regular basis about their learning is an important part of this.

Here at OLGA Cathedral Primary School, teachers use stampers and highlighter pens to give pupils high-quality feedback on their learning so that they know what their strengths are, as well as their next steps. ‘Milestone Moment’ stickers are also used to show key points in each child’s learning journey.

Cathedral Primary is introducing a new way for parents and carers to talk to their child about their recent learning and this will be launched at this coming Thursday’s Parents Evening. Please click on the link below to view a copy of the leaflet which will be waiting with your child’s jotters when you arrive at their classroom on Thursday.

Parent – pupil dialogue sheet

(Please bear in mind that some aspects of our new approach to marking and feedback may not have been fully introduced to some of our younger pupils this side of the October holidays).

There was a packed hall on Friday 6th October for the Primary 6 Learning Showcase. Drawing on their recent classroom work, the children delivered a captivating presentation on the Commonwealth, the role Tobacco Lords played in the development of Glasgow and, very importantly, the dark side of Glasgow’s wealth in times past due to the city’s involvement in the slave trade. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the children sang ‘Something inside so strong’, but it wasn’t long before the boys and girls had everyone smiling again when they encircled the entire audience and sang a vibrant rendition of ‘Children of the World’.

Well done to each and every P6 pupil and many thanks to Mrs McCarthy, Mrs McCue and Miss Degnan for inspiring and bringing out the absolute best in their young learners.

Our next Learning Showcase will be delivered by our Primary 3 pupils and takes place on Friday 17th November.

Our whole school community joined parents and parishioners in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral on Tuesday 3rd October for a special Mass to formally welcome our new Primary 1 pupils to the Cathedral family. The Mass opened with a rousing rendition of ’If I were a butterfly’, complete with actions. After the homily, Fr Lamb prayed a special blessing over the children and, once back in school, each child received a hand-made box containing a rosary and welcome message from our Primary 7 pupils.

Each and every Cathedral pupil participated in the Mass attentively and prayerfully and practically lifted the roof with their enthusiastic singing of the closing hymn, ‘This little light of mine’!

To mark International Coffee Day, Primary 5 pupils spent Friday 29th September extending and applying their recent learning with a Starbucks themed day. Learning activities included maths calculations using the Starbucks menu, tapping into their senses to write descriptive pieces about the sights, sounds and smells of a coffee shop and learning about the importance of Fairtrade coffee. The day concluded with teachers stepping into the role of baristas and helping the children prepare some delicious hot chocolate.

What fantastic inter-connected learning and a great way to round off the week!

As part of Priority 1 in this year’s Annual Improvement Plan, new ‘skills mats’ have been developed and introduced across all classes. Unique to Cathedral Primary, the mats have already enhanced the children’s ability to identify and articulate the skills they are using and developing during learning activities.

Why not ask your child each evening which skills they used and developed in school that day? You’re sure to be impressed by their language of learning!