Employment

Primary 5/6 completed an interdisciplinary Languages Employability Award – Green project, focused on UN Global Goals 12 (Responsible Consumption) and 15 (Life on Land). The project began with a block of outdoor learning at Malls Mire woodland, led by the charity Urban Roots, where pupils spent six full days exploring local biodiversity. A visit to the Viridor recycling plant helped deepen their understanding of sustainability, recycling, and the importance of protecting natural habitats. 

Linking language learning with employability, pupils explored how being multilingual opens career opportunities. They completed an online quiz to identify their employability strengths and engaged in classroom discussions about jobs where language skills are an asset. As part of their language learning, pupils researched lesser-known animals in Malls Mire and learned their names in both French and Polish. Polish was included to support a New-to-English pupil, who began the year reluctant to speak but became actively involved through peer collaboration, helping others with pronunciation and building confidence. 

Pupils then applied for various job roles, such as tour guides, advertisers, logistics managers, and team leaders, using their identified strengths to guide applications. Some submitted written applications while others recorded video pitches. After roles were assigned, pupils worked in teams to plan an interactive session for Primary 2/3, including activity stations and a sustainable scavenger hunt using reclaimed house slates (instead of laminated paper). Each slate featured an animal image, its French and Polish names, and a QR code linking to videos made by P5/6 pupils demonstrating pronunciation and sharing fun facts. 

This event gave pupils real leadership experience and allowed them to showcase their language and employability skills in a meaningful way. Following the event, the class returned to Malls Mire, where Nicole, the Urban Roots leader, gave a talk about how speaking seven languages has supported her career. Pupils were able to ask prepared questions and see first-hand the value of language learning and how this directly impacts employability.  

Finally, the slate trail was installed in Malls Mire, creating a lasting community resource. A short video of the project was shared with families via SeeSaw. The project was engaging for all learners and demonstrated the power of languages in real-world contexts, supporting employability, confidence building, and environmental stewardship through outdoor learning. 

This is an excellent project from Toryglen Primary School – congratulations! It is a great example of a really well-integrated approach to employability, sustainability and multilingualism, developing learners’ language skills, leadership and global citizenship in a very well thought-out project. 

The verification team all felt that this project aligns very well with the 2 Sustainable Development Goals chosen and demonstrates really strong partnership working with the two organisations involved.  

The inclusion of Polish here is a great, and clearly highly successful, way to actively involve and support a New-to–English learner, and all of the team commended this. 

We also loved the use of the recycled slates as writing material – this encourages sustainability and ensures that the project’s legacy will remain in the local area for others to engage with and enjoy. 

We are delighted to award this project a SILVER award because of the inclusion of two different classes within the same project. Congratulations again Team Toryglen!