Employability

This year, Mintlaw Academy has delivered a broad and engaging S1–S3 language and cultural learning programme, strengthened through internal collaboration and external partnerships. A key highlight was a visit from a German children’s author, involving readings, Q&A sessions and creative workshops coordinated with the Goethe-Institut and school staff.  

Cross-curricular initiatives were central to the work in their submission. Doric Week brought together multiple departments to explore North-East Scots language and heritage, while European Day of Languages featured a wide range of interactive pupil activities. Learners also took part in the GCHQ National Language Competition, developing teamwork and problem-solving skills.  

Staff engagement was strong, with participation in multicultural activities and informal professional learning. Enrichment opportunities, including the Arabic Mobility Project and Holocaust Awareness study, have further deepened cultural understanding.  

Feedback has been highly positive, with increased learner engagement, confidence and curiosity, and plans in place to expand future opportunities 

The verification team commended this submission for its range of activities and languages, including learned, home and heritage ones. The team also felt that the interdisciplinary work in their Doric project was really exciting and would have loved to hear more about the role of language learners within that part of their work. This could be a possible future expansion of Mintlaw’s multilingual work, collaborating with a Doric cultural organisation or local partner.    

We were intrigued to know more about some of the activities mentioned, such as the German Holocaust Awareness project, and definitely the Traitors activity! It would be good to know more about the specific multilingual focus in these projects, and how they fit into an overall strategically planned approach to multilingualism.   

We really liked the strong staff participation in a range of activities, giving a clear lead to learners on the importance of language learning. It is great to see the enthusiasm held by all at Mintlaw Academy for participating in a wide range of externally-organised activities across languages, such as the GCHQ competition and the Arabic Mobility Project.    

It was good to see that feedback from staff and pupils so far this year has been positive, and that there has been an increase in engagement, curiosity and confidence in language learning and cultural understanding. We also welcomed the future plans, particularly that of expanding partnerships to add to the current one with the Goethe Institut. We would be especially pleased to see partnerships with cultural/heritage organisations relating to languages like Doric and Arabic that feature in this submission.  

In order to develop Mintlaw Academy’s programme and ethos of multilingualism, we feel that it would be beneficial to take a strategic overview of activities and devise an overall plan, perhaps with a unifying project name, that would allow the school to clearly promote a positive awareness of multilingualism and of engagement with cultural organisations. This approach, together with a wider range of multilingual/multicultural partnerships, could enable a future submission to qualify for a Silver or even a Gold award.   

Mintlaw Academy is now the simultaneous holder of not just two Bronze original SLEA awards, but now a third, for SLEA – Multilingual; well done again, Team Mintlaw!