Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Mr Young was very impressed to encounter this Primary 3 learner and his mum out for an evening jog when he was heading for the train on Monday 22nd September. Mr Young felt a wee bit shown up by the athletic pair but quickly checked his own Fitbit and found out he’d walked over 13,000 steps (5.7 miles) so far that day… not too bad! Nevertheless, well done to Cathedral’s running duo: keep up the impressive fitness regime!

The Depute Head and a class teacher from St Columba’s Primary School, Oban, made an incredible 200 mile round trip on Monday 22nd September to see and experience Cathedral’s Active8 approach for themselves. Mrs Campbell and Miss MacGregor were joined by Mrs Neillie, Depute Head Teacher of Glendale Primary School, Glasgow, and Mrs Lettis who is supporting the development of play and enquiry in North Lanarkshire.

After getting an overview of Active8 from Mr Young, our visitors spent the morning in Winners Wynd, seeing for themselves how Cathedral’s Active8 approach works in practice. All four visitors were extremely impressed with the engagement, enthusiasm and independence of Cathedral learners and are looking forward to taking what they saw, heard and learned back to their own schools.

You can read more about Cathedral’s Active8 approach by clicking on the link below:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/nl/olga/active8/

After working collaboratively for a number of days in Cathedral’s Investigation & Innovation Hub, Primary 3a learners tested out their Viking longships on Friday 19th September. Almost all groups’ longships, which were laden with Vikings, supplies and pillage, successfully floated, with only a few requiring some minor modifications. Great teamwork, Primary 3a!

You can read more about Cathedral’s Investigation & Innovation Hub by clicking on the link below:

Investigation & Innovation Hub |

These Primary 6b learners popped down to Mr Young’s office on Friday 19th September to show off their incredible creation. One of their class’s ‘Explore and Extend’ activities was left open-ended, inviting learners to access the ‘continuous provision’ in their learning street and make a model of their choice. Inspired by their recent class novel, ‘The Borrowers’, the girls carefully read the description of the Borrower’s house before gathering various materials to design and construct their impressive 3D model, complete with table, chairs and miniature food. What creative learner-led learning!

An audience of family and friends were transported to sunny Brazil during Primary 5’s Learning Showcase on Friday 19th September. The performance was jam-packed with fascinating information about the South American country and included signing, dancing and (as always) lots of humour throughout. There were chuckles around the audience when one pupil took to the front of the stage to play the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer! The audience left with their feet tapping when the showcase concluded with vibrant music and dance from the Rio carnival.

Well done to Primary 5 on such a fantastic Learning Showcase and many thanks to Mrs Irwin, Mrs Devanney and Mrs Loose for all their hard work preparing our young learners for their big day.

Forest adventures continued for Cathedral’s nursery learners on Thursday 18th September. The children used a new tool to safely whittle their marshmallows sticks. They also had fun comparing stick sizes and were able to place them in order of size.

The tight-rope was a popular activity and helped the children improve their balancing and co-ordination skills. Before lunch, our young explorers embarked on a nature walk, looking for different shapes and colours of autumn leaves which they gathered to take back to the nursery to use in the art area.

Lunch was a little different this week as the children gathered at the fire area to learn about how to stay safe while using the fire to toast our sandwiches. The cheese toasties got mixed reviews but the marshmallows scored high on Trust Pilot!

Our young learners have now mastered the two verses of the forest song and are showing signs of improvement in sharing and taking turns. Next week sees the final week for this cohort and parents/carers will be invited to join the children in the forest to see first-hand the skills and knowledge the children have gained.

Under the watchful eye of Cathedral’s Active Schools Coordinator, Fiona, Primary 7b embarked on their Young Leaders training on Thursday 18th September. The Young Leaders Award gives 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 will engage in a three-week training programme before leading lunchtime clubs for younger Cathedral learners.

Cathedral girls’ football team participated in the Firpark Football Festival on Thursday 18th September. Our young sportswomen played eight games, winning five, drawing in two and only losing one match. Super scoring was on display, with an amazing twenty-three goals across the team! Most importantly, the girls’ commitment, passion and positive attitude shone through throughout.  Well done Team OLGA!

Primary 3a were engaged in some exciting Viking-themed learning in Cathedral’s Investigation & Innovation Hub on Thursday 18th September. Our young learners worked in their co-operative learning groups to plan, design and build their own version of a Viking longship.  They were tasked with building a ship which will successfully float while holding people, weapons and any loot the Vikings might pillage and plunder! Primary 3a are excited about testing their ships to see how they fare, which will then allow them to evaluate and modify their designs.

Our first artwork to appear in the 2025/26 Cathedral GOMA (Gallery Of Magnificent Art) online exhibition comes from Primary 1/2. Our young learners’ beautiful self-portraits feature the use of pattern and colour and bring a burst of colour to Discovery Drive.

Watch this space for more masterpieces from Cathedral’s talented artists.