Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Throughout the week beginning Monday 25th April, Mr Young, Mrs Campbell and Mrs Duffy visited Primary 4 – 7 classes to observe learning and teaching. These visits were part of the school’s ongoing quality assurance calendar and, on this occasion, focused on a literacy or numeracy group lesson, with the remainder of the class accessing their learning independently via the class ‘Active8’ task board.

The learning provision observed across all classes was of a high quality and, in line with the self-evaluation document, ‘How good is our school? 4’, we were delighted to be able to grade Quality Indicator 2.3 (Learning, Teaching & Assessment) ‘Very Good’. This is a credit to our dedicated and hard working team of teachers and, of course, to our enthusiastic and equally hard working pupils.

On Wednesday 27th April, Cathedral Primary Fundraising Committee met in person for the first time since the pandemic began. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Fundraising Committee has continued to support the school, including donating £1000 towards our new library, continuing to provide Christmas presents to Primary 1 pupils and paying for treats for our Halloween parties.

With very few opportunities to fundraise over the past two years due to COVID-19, funds are now running low. However, the treasurer shared the good news that there is enough money to provide spending money to all Primary 7 pupils heading off on their residential trip next week as well as sufficient funds to pay for their leavers’ event in June and their new high school ties. The committee also plan, as they have done over the years, to provide a Cathedral polo shirt to all new Primary 1 pupils starting in August.

The committee discussed ideas for the 2022/23 session and a Family Night is being planned for September. Pupil-led coffee mornings, which were so popular before the pandemic, will also be back up and running.

Keep an eye out for the Fundraising Committee stall at Parents’ Evening on 31st May to find out how you can support the fantastic work they do. The money the committee raises really does make such a positive difference to Cathedral pupils!

On Tuesday 21st April, Cathedral school choir resumed after a break of two years due to the pandemic. It didn’t take the fifty or so Primary 5 – 7 pupils long to get back into the swing of things and the children enjoyed learning two new hymns to sing at next month’s First Holy Communions.

Cathedral Primary has a strong musical tradition and is well known for its school shows and success at the Glasgow Music Festival. It’s great to see the choir back up and running, particularly with such healthy numbers.

Following updated COVID-19 guidance from North Lanarkshire Council, the summer term begins with the easing of many of the restrictions which have been in place for the past two years. As well as being able to resume whole-school assemblies and school Masses, Cathedral Primary and Nursery will be able to welcome parents and carers  back into the school building this term. We are particularly delighted that an in-person Parents Evening can go ahead on Tuesday 31st May and that we will be able to have parents and carers in the school building for our Nursery – Primary 1 transition sessions.

Of course, the pandemic is not over and it is vital we remain cautious, regularly review our risk assessment and maintain such things as good hand hygiene. However, after the many challenges of the past two years, it certainly is encouraging to see the easing of restrictions as these changes will allow our school community to begin the journey back to some sort of normality in the weeks ahead.

Important dates for the summer term can be accessed by clicking on the link below:

Dates for your Diary Summer Term 2022

Cathedral Primary was bursting with creativity and colour on Friday 1st April when pupils donned their Easter bonnets to raise money for our Lenten charities, SCIAF and Missio. The children’s ideas were utterly incredible and the Laudato Si’ Committee had an almost impossible task choosing a winner from each class.

Pupils from our four learning streets showed off their bonnets in a special parade and the twenty winners each received a prize of an Easter egg.

Local artist, Bill Stewart, visited Cathedral Primary on Friday 1st April to draw the caricatures of thirty lucky pupils. The children were delighted with their personal pieces of artwork and there was huge amusement back in classrooms when they showed off their caricatures to their friends.

As well as adding lots of fun to April Fools Day, the caricatures raised £300 for SCIAF, specifically to help those impacted by the war in Ukraine.

Bill, who has been creating personalised caricatures for over 30 years, is available for commissions and family events. He can be contacted by email using the address greatface@hotmail.co.uk or by telephone on 07944460491.

Primary 5c WOW-ed an audience of Cathedral pupils on Tuesday 29th March with an outdoor dance performance inspired by the topic of climate change. The children had worked with ‘Y Dance’ over a number of weeks to create their routine and even made their own life-size mythical monster which played a central role in their performance.

There was great excitement in Cathedral Primary on Monday 28th March when Ross MacKenzie, author of ‘The Nowhere Emporium’, visited the school for the official opening of our new library.

The morning began with a special launch event in the hall for Primary 4 – 7 pupils at which Ross read from his brand new book, ‘The Colour of Hope’. Given that the book has yet to be released, pupils and staff were absolutely thrilled when Ross gifted two copies of the book for our new library. The children then had the opportunity to ask Ross some questions to discover more about what it’s like to be an author and then one pupil from each year group became the lucky winner of one of Ross’s books, personally signed by the author.

After the proceedings in the hall, the entire school formed a walkway in the playground for Ross, a life-sized Book Bug and an entourage of pupils to walk through. The procession finished up at the new library where Ross cut the ribbon, accompanied by the cheers of 100+ pupils from Winners Wynd. Ross was the first to enter and explore our fantastic new library and was delighted to encounter a special ‘Ross MacKenzie’ display just inside the door, created by Primary 7 pupils. Pupils then had the opportunity to get their personal copies of Ross’s books signed.

The design of our new library was co-ordinated by our twelve House Captains, in partnership with Caledonian Furniture in Cumbernauld. Scotia Books, Kilsyth, worked with the school to select and supply a wide range of brand new top-quality fiction and non-fiction books for the children to enjoy (of course, all of Ross MacKenzie’s books can be found on the shelves!). The new space includes an infant ‘reading wood’, a dedicated reference section down the centre of the room and comfortable, grown-up seating for older pupils.

The school has invested in an electronic cataloguing system so that books can be scanned in and out. The library is also ready for the introduction of ‘Accelerated Reader’ in August which will allow pupils to complete a quiz on the books they have read and will also provide the facility for each class teacher to monitor and track their pupils’ reading for enjoyment.

The photographs below give a small glimpse of the fantastic new space, housing literally thousands of brand new books, which Cathedral pupils will be able to explore and enjoy for many, many years to come.

On Friday 25th May, Cathedral pupils gathered together as a community of faith to pray for all those impacted by the war in Ukraine. As a reminder that Jesus walks with us through times of pain and suffering, Primary 7 pupils led the children in reflecting on each of the Stations of the Cross.

In the lead up to the prayer service, pupils from across the school contributed to a special wall display. Younger pupils created a rosary in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, while Primary 7 pupils wrote their own personal prayers onto large letters which were put together to form the message, ‘PRAY FOR UKRAINE’. Calum’s prayer read:

‘Dear Lady of Peace, let us pray for peace in Ukraine, that no more children have to leave their homes or men have to die for their country. We pray for you to intercede and help leaders make the right decisions to stop the horrors of war.’  

The makeover of Cathedral Nursery garden is now well underway, thanks to all the donations we have received. Over the past few weeks, the children have been busy learning the names of garden tools and how to use these safely. They have also been transporting the soil into the new planters, ready for planting. The boys and girls have worked together as a team to spread and rake the new bark and have even had a wee hurl in the wheelbarrow!

The whole Cathedral school and nursery community is looking forward to the garden bursting into life during the spring and summer months.