Schools across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire have benefited from our North’s teams pledge to support the communities in which we build.
Our North team have conducted several talks to pupils and donated a combined £1,330 to schools in the past academic year. This year saw our much-loved Easter egg hunt for school pupils move from Cults to Westhill. Pupils can find numbered eggs in local businesses for a chance to get an Easter treat for correctly finding them all. We also make a donation to a local school in the area for every completed form handed in.
We have donated more than £3,000 to Cults Primary School during the Easter egg hunt’s time in the suburb. This year, we donated £530 to our catchment school in Westhill, Elrick Primary School after 106 local pupils took part in the egg hunt.
Other monetary donations we’ve made to local schools in the past year include £600 to Milltimber Primary School for its new sensory garden and £200 to Cults Primary School for additional classroom items.
We have also gifted art supplies to a pupil from Milltimber Primary School, who recently won a competition to name a sculpture, located at a new playpark at our landmark Oldfold Village development.
Ebony Taggart, who has just moved up to P5, suggested the horse statue at Oldfold Village should be called ‘Oldfold Spirit’, after she was inspired by the history of the site, which once housed horse riding stables.
We also awarded art supplies to runners up from each class and also made a donation to cover the cost of arts supplies used to decorate the school’s CLAN BookBench after we were paired with Milltimber Primary School for the trail.
In June this year, we committed to a £500 sponsorship of Milltimber Primary School’s annual relay race. The race raised funds to purchase playground equipment.
Steven Skinner, a teacher at Milltimber Primary School, said: “We can’t thank your team enough for their support over the previous school year, from the generous monetary donation to our sensory experience, to giving our pupils a chance to become a part of the Milltimber development through the sculpture naming competition, it was a brilliant end to the school year.”
As part of our Community Pledge, we also have two presentations we can deliver to schools to support the curriculum. Stay Safe, Stay Away teaches children about the dangers of playing around construction sites and Land to Life shows children the full lifecycle of bringing new homes to life, from submitting planning applications to unveiling the showhome.
Representatives from our North team visited Westhill Primary School to talk to children about the homebuilding industry and how homes in their local community have been brought to life through the Land to Life talks, as well as Elrick School to talk through Stay Safe, Stay Away, and reiterate the potential hazards of construction sites, and why they shouldn’t be played in.
Jenny Anderson, Acting Head Teacher at Elrick Primary School, said: “Since Burnland Meadows launched, you have gone above and beyond to be involved with our school community – from having team members come in to speak to pupils about safety and career opportunities, to the monetary donations made which have been able to allow us to purchase additional educational equipment to support our pupils.
“The Easter egg hunt was thoroughly enjoyed by many of our pupils and a fantastic way to help showcase some of the wonderful local businesses on our doorstep. Our ongoing relationship with you has been incredibly beneficial, for that we’re so grateful, and excited to see what the 2025/26 school year holds.”
We are committed to bringing added value and meaningful benefits to the communities in which we build through Community Pledge, not just through the homes created, but by investing and enhancing in the very essence of what brings a local community together. The Community Pledge can comprise donations and school engagement plus other activities such as volunteering and much more.
Samantha Leckie, Marketing Manager at Cala Homes (North), said: “Being involved with the local community is at the heart of Cala and everything we do. Schools play such an important role in our communities and can often be a factor in homebuyers deciding where they’d like to live.
“The Stay Safe, Stay Away and Land to Life talks are a great way of not only stressing the importance of not treating building sites like playgrounds, but also highlighting the variety of job roles involved in building homes, and what our different teams do throughout the lifecycle of creating new homes".
“They are always fantastic sessions, and the children are incredibly enthusiastic and engaged – we are looking forward to hosting these talks at the schools closest to our upcoming developments, such as Raemoir Park in Banchory, and Conglass Brae in Inverurie. I would like to say a massive thank you to the schools we have partnered with during the previous school year for allowing us to work with and support them, and we are looking forward to building on these relationships and creating new relationships with more schools during the current academic year.”
