This week the children have taken their knowledge of the parts of a pirate ship outdoors and created a chalk pirate ship. They drew the different parts of the ship and named the following to develop their vocabulary: crow’s nest, sails, Jolly Roger flag, stern, anchor, helm and steering wheel.Our Christmas concert rehearsals are well underway and we would like to take this opportunity to invite you all to join your children and staff after the concert for a cuppa and a piece of festive cake. Please see the poster on the nursery door which provides further details of what we have planned.
This week we have also been creating a super Christmas surprise for all of our children. The children and staff have been working hard all week and all will be revealed to the children soon.
The last group of House Captains visited Our Lady’s High School on Tuesday 29th November to finish off our new Smart School Council suggestions box. OLHS staff will fit the hinges over the next day or so and then the box will be delivered to Cathedral Primary later this week. We can’t wait to see the finished box and start using it to gather suggestions on how to improve our school!
Sixty-four Primary 7 pupils received the Sacrament of Confirmation in Our Lady Good Aid Cathedral on Monday 28th November. The cathedral was packed with family and friends for the Mass, celebrated by Bishop Toal, and each and every child participated attentively and prayerfully throughout the liturgy. The children’s beautiful singing of the hymns made a special contribution to the prayerful atmosphere.
Over the past two weeks, the children have continued on their pirate journey. They have been listening to the story of ‘My Granny is a Pirate’ and ‘Pirate Treasure’. From these stories, they have been learning what it’s like to be a pirate and the jobs they do. They have used their imagination to create stories based on the day and life of a pirate. Outdoors, they have been scrubbing the decks, playing cannon ball target practice, walking the plank and have even been on a Pirate scavenger hunt.
Primary 5 pupils took to the stage on Friday 25th November for a fantastic Learning Showcase all about their class topic on Germany. There was barely an area of the curriculum left out of the children’s showcase, with geography, history, drama, music, dance, PE and technology all making an appearance in the vibrant presentation. There was even a countdown in German and a mention of pretzel making in class! The finale of the showcase featured Gabriel (Primary 5b) performing a convincing reenactment of the moment back on 31st December 1989 when David Hasselhoff sang “Looking for Freedom” to a crowd at the Berlin Wall.
Many congratulations to those Primary 6 pupils who were successful in their interviews to become Nursery Buddies. 
Mr Young did a double take this week when he walked past the newspaper stand at the back of the church. Much to his surprise, a Primary 7 Cathedral pupil was looking back at him from the front cover of the latest edition of The Scottish Catholic! As you may have read in a newsfeed posted a number of weeks ago, Cathedral Primary was chosen for this year’s Catholic Education Week photoshoot and it was one of these photos used on the cover of the magazine. 
Three more House Captains visited Our Lady’s High School on Wednesday 23rd November to continue work on our special Smart Schools
Council suggestions box. With the support of OLHS staff, the children made excellent progress and the box is now only one more session away from being finished.
Over half of the Cathedral pupils participating in the North Lanarkshire Active Schools Cross Country trials on Thursday 17th November qualified for the next event. Congratulations to all pupils who took part and many thanks to Mrs Tominey and Mrs Murphy (Nursery) for coaching our cross country team.
Primary 7 hosted a very successful coffee morning on Friday 18th November, raising a fantastic £938.32 for school funds. This money will go directly towards subsidising the Primary 7 residential trip to Lendrick Muir later in the year.