Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Primary 7 pupils gathered in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral on the evening of 22nd June to celebrate their Leavers’ Mass and Graduation. In his homily, Fr Mark spoke of the children being at an important crossroads in their lives and encouraged them to have the courage to follow Jesus in the years ahead. The music was led beautifully by the school choir, accompanied by Mr John Pitcathley on the organ.

At the beginning of the graduation ceremony, Mr Young encouraged the children not to waste their time and energy either trying to stand out or fit in, but to discover the unique person God has created them to be and learn to be happy and content in their own skin. This was followed by the presentation of graduation bags containing certificate, hoodie, mortar board, Pope Francis Faith Award and high school tie before awards for Academic Excellence, Sportsmanship, Citizenship and Wider Achievement were announced.

The children rounded off the occasion with a specially written song to the tune of ‘I’m a believer’. There was then time for photographs and socialising in the cathedral grounds, including mortar boards being ceremoniously thrown up into the air.

Cathedral school and parish communities wish all of this year’s Primary 7 pupils every success in the future.

To mark the end of their time in Cathedral Primary School, P7 pupils enjoyed an afternoon of fun together at their ‘C in the Park’ music festival on 23rd June. A live DJ kept the beats going throughout the afternoon and the children had the opportunity to get their face painted, visit the tattoo parlour, grab a drink at the cocktail bar or just chill with their friends. A pizza delivery kept the children’s energy levels up… just as well as the event finished with a massive water balloon fight!

The photos below give a glimpse into the fun had by all.

The weather was glorious for this year’s sports which took place on 20th and 21st June.

The two-day event began with a vibrant  opening ceremony which included an impressive routine from the school’s cheerleading team before each ‘country’ processed out to the pitch to their national anthem. Leonard the Lion, the main character in a story book written by P7 teacher, Mrs Rimmer, made a guest appearance, and the samba band from St Aidan’s High School entertained the children as they headed off to compete in the various events.

Children across all stages showed incredible effort, enthusiasm and sportsmanship in Day 1’s various events. Day 2 saw the children participate in traditional races including sprints, three-legged and egg and spoon.

The House which emerged as this year’s winner was DOUGLAS. Well done to Douglas House and to each and every pupil for participating with such enthusiasm.

As we approach the end of another school year, I have pleasure in sharing the 2021/22 School Improvement Report with you. This report outlines how we have taken forward the priorities in this year’s School Improvement Plan and the ways we have used our Pupil Equity Fund to improve outcomes for Cathedral pupils. It also sets out some of our next steps as we continue on our improvement journey. An updated Improvement Journey Timeline can also be accessed below, providing a useful visual diagram of the various developments and improvements over the past two years.

Cathedral Primary SIR June 2022

Improvement timeline

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges to Cathedral Primary School and Nursery Class. However, it has also brought opportunities, providing time and space to review and develop our curriculum, including the development of new progression pathways, strengthen our universal offer in literacy and numeracy, and put in place robust systems to gather data on attainment and use this to inform learning and teaching and improve outcomes for pupils. As we emerge from the pandemic, Cathedral Primary and Nursery Class finds itself in a strong position, with a shared ambition across the entire school community to be outward and forward looking in the months and years ahead.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank Cathedral staff for their commitment and hard work throughout this year, parents, carers and parishioners for their on-going friendship and support and, of course, Cathedral pupils for being such engaged and enthusiastic learners. There’s never a day goes by when I don’t feel privileged to be Head Teacher of such a very special school community!

Head Teacher

Our nursery children, along with their parents and carers, had an absolutely fabulous time on their recent trip to Briarlands Farm. The children were so excited to see and name the new born calf (Cathy), feed the lambs, count the newly laid eggs and explore all the fabulous nooks and crannies that the park had to offer from climbing on Nessie, bouncing on the pillows, go karting, tractor ride, mazes, and the fairy trail! Once back in the nursery, the children were full of stories about their trip.

A big thank you to all the parents/carers who left such positive feedback in the floorbook.

The first of our annual football awards ceremonies took place on Thursday 9th June. Resident coach, Willie McBirnie, led the proceedings and this year’s guest speaker was David Clarkston from Motherwell Football Club. David spoke to the children about his own journey from youth to professional football and then onto his current coaching position with Motherwell.

The Primary 5 player of the year went to Matthew, the Primary 6 trophy to Isaac and the Primary 7 trophy to Kaden. Emmanuel in Primary 7 was this year’s winner of the Willie McBirnie ACE Award, with ACE standing for Attitude, Commitment and Effort.

Well done to each and every one of our football players for their excellent attitude and high level of commitment and effort this year and, of course, to Willie for giving so generously of his time each week to coach Cathedral pupils.

As a ‘Laudato Si’ school, Cathedral pupils are invited to respond to the call to be good stewards of God’s creation. As part of our on-going ‘Laudato Si’ work, Primary 7 pupils gave the school grounds a thorough spring clean during the week beginning 6th June. Our playground is surrounded by thick vegetation which is notorious for trapping litter, but the children pulled together to reach even the most difficult of areas. Well done, everyone, on your fantastic teamwork!

All those boys and girls beginning Primary 1 at Cathedral Primary in August had their second induction visit on Wednesday 8th June. While their parents received a presentation on the Cathedral Curriculum from Mrs Campbell and Mrs Duffy, the children enjoyed an exciting adventure trail around the school with their new Primary 7 buddy. This gave them the opportunity to visit lots of different spaces including the dinner hall, the library, the playground and even Mr Young’s office where they each received a gold sticker.

The children finished off in their new Primary 1 classroom where they had their height measured and added their name to the chart. We have absolutely no doubt that the boys and girls will have grown in both centimetres and even more confidence by the time they start the big school on 17th August!

Mr Young, Mrs Duffy, Mrs Tominey and Miss Cameron spent the day in Glasgow on 26th May at a ‘Talk for Writing’ training event, led by the inspirational Pie Corbett.

Cathedral Primary is committed to using the latest and best approaches/resources and ‘Talk for Writing’ most definitely falls into this category. The approach supports children to imitate the language they need for a particular type of writing orally, explore the features of high-quality model texts and then use all of this rich learning to write their own version. The focus is on short bursts of quality daily writing rather than the traditional weekly ‘taught writing’ lesson.

‘Talk for Writing’ will be introduced and gradually rolled out from August. We’re confident it will not only reinvigorate and strengthen the teaching of writing in Cathedral Primary but also raise pupils’ attainment in this area.

It’s been 50 years since the last person walked on the moon and Primary 5 pupils had the opportunity to visit Motherwell Heritage Centre during the week beginning 23rd May to participate in a workshop about our nearest solar system neighbour.

The children had the chance to see real moon rock and took part in several practical activities to learn more about the science behind the moon landings which took place between 1969 and 1972.

The Heritage Centre is running a special Moon Activity Day on Friday 27th May from 12.00 – 4.00pm with moon-themed activities for children of all ages. Entry is free and booking is not required.