Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School

Wednesday 8th May saw another fabulous day for Primary 7 at Lendrick Muir. Activities including archery tag, a nature walk and trail biking, which finished with a dip in the river! The children were joined by Mrs Findlay and Mrs Shevlin for their evening meal before after-dinner beach volleyball provided an energetic and fun end to Day 2 of the trip.

The first day of Primary 7’s residential excursion to Lendrick Muir finished off around the campfire on Tuesday 7th May. The children had spent the day trail-biking, bungee trampoling and some Cathedral learners had even overcome their fear of heights on the Leap of Faith! Pupils and staff alike are looking forward to a good night’s sleep to prepare them for another action-packed day tomorrow.

As you may have read in a newsfeed post back in December (see below), Andrew Dickson, a Cathedral parent and international trade specialist within the Scottish Space Programme, along with his colleague, Derek Harris from Skyrora, delivered an exciting presentation on space to Primary 5a, 5b and 5/6 pupils. At the end of the presentation, the children were set the challenge of designing and building their own rockets. These two budding scientists were selected as the winners and were recently awarded a prize of a space-themed Lego kit. Well done to both of you!

Cathedral pupils fascinated by space presentation

Allergy Awareness Week 2024 took place from the 22nd to the 28th April. The week aims to raise awareness about allergies and offer help and support to those living with allergic conditions. Allergies are very much real and affect more people than we may think. It might be as small as a minor rash or as severe as a complete immune system shutdown. Either way, allergies are something we all need to take seriously.

One of our Primary 3 learners, who has a number of severe allergies, took the time to make a video during Allergy Awareness Week to educate the Cathedral school community about allergies and what to do if someone suffers an allergic reaction. Please take a few moments to watch this very important video.

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There was an impressive turnout for our final coffee morning of the year on Friday 26th April. The event, run by our Primary 5 pupils, gave the usual opportunity for parents, families and friends to enjoy a catch up over a cuppa and a cake, as well as the chance to win one of our raffle prizes. The coffee morning raised a fantastic £739, which will go directly to enhancing the learning experiences of Cathedral pupils.

As always, many thanks to the fundraising committee for organising and co-ordinating the event.

Primary 6’s current class topic is the Egyptians and, following some careful research, these two learners worked together to create their own pyramid. The girls were able to talk confidently about the skills they used, which included researching, designing, measuring and collaborating. Well done!

These Primary 1 pupils popped along to Mr Young’s office on Tuesday 23rd April to share their latest reading book, ‘Rat-a-tat-tat’, with him. The young learners utilised lots of their phonics and reading skills – including bucket loads of expression – when they read the fun story to Mr Young. Well done, everyone!

These two young gymnasts appeared at Mr Young’s office on Friday 19th April to show off their recently awarded medals: one for freestyle, the other for acro. Well done to both of you!

As we continue to look ahead to our inspection from HMIe, which may take place before the summer holidays, our final Friday Focus provides details for parents and carers on what Cathedral’s inspection will entail.

MONDAY

The inspection team will arrive at the school around 12.30pm.

The Managing Inspector will meet with the Headteacher and the local authority Improvement Officer. The discussion will focus on the school’s self-evaluation and other supporting documentation submitted in advance of the inspection, and on the school’s approaches to safeguarding. The discussion is also likely to involve planning for inspection activities during the remainder of the visit.

While this meeting is taking place, the remainder of the inspection team will begin inspection activities, including class visits.

During the afternoon, the Chairperson of the Parent Council usually meets with an inspector and/or the inspection team’s lay member.

Where a lay member is part of the team she/he may also meet with children (P4 upwards) and focus groups of parents, from Monday afternoon onwards, until they leave the school, usually by the end of the day on Tuesday.

TUESDAY

The priority for the inspection team is to get into classes to observe learning and teaching.

The lay member will continue to engage with parents through looking at aspects of their partnership activities with the school, and with focus groups of pupils.

Usually, at the end of the day, a session will be organised to allow staff to engage individually in professional dialogue about features of their work that they wish to share with members of the inspection team.

WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY/FRIDAY

Inspection activity – class visits, meetings and focus groups – continue.

At the conclusion of the inspection activity, which could be anytime between Thursday morning and Friday morning, a meeting will be arranged to discuss the findings with the Headteacher. A representative from the education authority may also attend. During the meeting, inspectors (including the Care Inspector where inspections have included a nursery class) will share pre-quality assured gradings of the Quality Indicators for the school with the Headteacher, who is asked to keep these confidential, sharing only with the education authority and the senior team within the school, until the draft letter of inspection findings is received.

The Headteachers will share high level messages and key strengths and aspects for development with staff as soon as possible after the visit is complete.

A more detailed outline of what Cathedral’s inspection will look like can be accessed via the link below:

THE INSPECTION PROCESS