Back to school for Glasgow housebuilding team

A team from housebuilder Springfield Properties recently visited a school in Glasgow to give the children there a glimpse into working in the construction industry.

Land manager Sandra Lindsay, surveying manager Stuart MacGregor, architectural technician Allan Young, project manager Graeme Stewart, marketing assistant Dale Ashelford and HR advisors Diane Kemp and Jaide Johnston represented the company as part of the World of Work Week, and they spoke to youngsters aged eight- to 12-years-old at Sunnyside Primary School.

This visit is one of a series undertaken by Springfield employees in the past few months explaining their roles within the company and the various avenues available to school leavers to Viewlands Primary School and St Madoes Primary, both in Perth, and Calderbridge Primary School in Wishaw.

Teacher Karen Richardson explains what inspired her to invite the team: “As part of World of Work Week, pupils had been learning about a variety of jobs and careers whilst taking part in related tasks such as writing CVs and preparing for interviews. We have had visits from a variety of professions including lawyers, surveyors, recruitment specialists and staff from Springfield Properties. The pupils found each of the talks from the Springfield employees highly engaging and informative – especially as each person explained clearly the career path they had taken to reach their current role.”

Some of the pupils were very excited by what they saw. “Andrew McKillop, a P6 pupil, was certainly inspired,” adds Richardson. “He asked [architect] Allan for the name of the software he uses to design houses. The next day, Andrew was excited to tell me he found the software on-line and had already designed a house himself. We are extremely grateful to Springfield for spending so much time with us at Sunnyside Primary and for making the talks interesting and informative. It was great fun for the children.”

HR advisor Johnston says: “These talks are a great opportunity to demonstrate to children there are many different routes available to them once they finish school. There are apprenticeships, work placements, they can attend university, or get a job and continue to study alongside that. It was so much fun speaking with the kids at Sunnyside Primary. They were so engaged and asked such great questions. They really had us thinking! We hope they enjoyed learning about our roles and the various routes we took to get to where we are now.”