Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Following their class topic last term on The Scottish Wars of Independence, Primary 5 pupils enjoyed a fascinating visit to Stirling Castle on 26th April. The children had a guided tour of the historic castle which included encounters with people dressed in medieval costume, providing lots of interesting facts. The children were also able to view Bannockburn, the sight of the famous 1314 battle, from the castle walls. What a great way for the children to reinforce the learning they did in school.

Primary 5’s visit to Stirling was the first of our end of year trips. Next week will see Primary 7 head off to Lendrick Muir for their residential excursion and Primary 3 will be visiting New Lanark on Thursday.

Wider Achievements are integral to the Cathedral Primary curriculum and there is a dedicated section for pupils to capture their achievements on their Rose Trainer Achievement Award record card.

The above Primary 7 pupil recently travelled to Fife to take part in the All Girls Scotland Select Boxing Championship and won an incredible 9 out of 14 fights. Huge congratulations!

Mr Young has already signed her up as his personal bodyguard!

A BIG thank you to the parents/carers who attended the first PEEP workshop. This is an opportunity for parents/carers of pre-school children to work alongside their child to support their learning and transition to school. The workshop will run each Tuesday from 11.45am until 12.30pm. There is no obligation to come every week, but please drop in and see what’s on offer if you possibly can.

The children have been out and about observing the jobs that people do in the community. Some children have visited local charity shops, others have met the lollipop man, the postman, watched some builders at work and seen the bin lorry. This has led to a discussion about what happens to the rubbish and where it goes to. From this, the children have been exploring the 3: R’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. They have been learning to identify the symbol for recycling and have been encouraged to reuse these items through junk modelling. Their creations are displayed in the cloakroom.

The children have also had the opportunity to discuss the jobs their parents/carers do and a display of these is in the playroom. In the STEM corner they have been donning their hi-vis vests and hard hats to create a range of models from our new building materials. A range of building visuals have been displayed to inspire their creativity. The model of the week has to be the reindeer!

While exploring the local community, the children discovered some workmen using a digger and a dumper truck to remove soil from areas of the campus. The workmen were very helpful as the children brought round the wheelbarrow to collect soil for the nursery garden. We have started to plant some vegetables and the children will take on the role of gardener to take care of them and help them grow.

Cathedral Primary sends every best wish to all of our Muslim families today as they celebrate Eid. We hope you have a wonderful time on this special day!

Parents and carers who attended our Active8 Family Learning workshop before the Easter break caught a glimpse of the engaging, pupil-led learning which takes place in Cathedral Primary each and every day. During his learning walk in Ambition Avenue on Wednesday 19th April, Mr Young encountered two different groups of children extending and applying their learning through practical activities.

Learners in Primary 6c were making their own gromas. A groma, used by the Romans to survey straight lines and right angles in building projects, comprised of a vertical staff with horizontal cross-pieces at right angles. Each cross piece had a plumb line hanging vertically at each end. The above photograph shows four Primary 6 pupils showcasing their devices which they’ll use in the coming days to do some Roman surveying in the playground.

Meanwhile, in Primary 7b, pupils were following recipes from World War II to create a variety of foods eaten in Britain during the war. These included potato cakes and biscuits made with carrot. Mr Young and Mrs Duffy had the opportunity to try the children’s culinary creations and the verdict from both of them was… DELICIOUS!

Throughout the season of Lent, Cathedral pupils have joined their friends from Firpark Primary in a variety of fun Friday activities to raise money for charity.

This Lent, Cathedral pupils have raised an incredible £1950.00! This money will be divided equally between three charities:

• £650 to SCIAF
• £650 to Missio
• £650 to St Andrew’s Hospice

Many thanks to Cathedral families for being so generous in their Lenten almsgiving. The money raised by our school community will make a huge difference to so many people.

We wish all our pupils, families, staff and friends a blessed Holy Week and a very Happy Easter. See you on Monday 17th April.

Cathedral Primary was filled with colour and creativity on Friday 31st March for our annual Easter bonnet parade. Each class showed off their creations to the rest of the children in their learning street and Mr Young, Mrs Campbell and Mrs Duffy had the near impossible task of picking the winners.

In the end, a huge Easter egg bonnet was chosen in Ambition Avenue, a fantastic bubble gum machine in Winners Wynd, a whacky Easter creation, complete with bunny ears, in Brainbox Boulevard and a beautiful fairytale castle in Discovery Drive.

Well done to everyone who made an Easter bonnet and especially to our four winners who each received a prize of an Easter egg.

Primary 6 pupils completed an exciting homework project as part of this term’s topic on the Romans. The children were tasked with creating something (e.g. a model or mosaic) and writing something (e.g. a rap or play) and were assessed on effort, creativity, knowledge and presentation… along with some extra points for unique and special ideas!

Primary 6 teachers were blown away by the standard of the children’s presentations and their depth of knowledge about the Romans. Well done, boys and girls, for being such enthusiastic and committed learners!

Coach Willie organised an in-house football tournament on 30th and 31st March for Cathedral’s numerous avid footballers. The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed the friendly matches and all agreed it was a great way to round off the term.

As part of this term’s World War II topic, Primary 7 pupils had the opportunity to choose an area of interest to delve deeper into. On Thursday 30th March, the children showcased their learning to other classes in an impressive range of ways including models, PowerPoints, posters, leaflets, displays of authentic artifacts and even a video game.

Well done to Primary 7 for being such enthusiastic leaders of their learning.