What is the Accelerator programme?
The Accelerator is a year-long strategic partnership designed to embed a consistent, professional approach to essential skills from Key Stage Three through to Sixth Form.
By the end of the first year, you will have:
- Strategic leadership - a trained ‘Skills Leader’ equipped to drive and sustain school-wide change.
- A consistent standard - a shared language for essential skills across KS3, KS4, and Post-16, creating a cohesive journey for every student.
- Measurable progress - robust data to support Personal Development, inclusion reporting and Gatsby Benchmarks.
- National recognition - a Skills Builder Award, showcasing your school’s commitment to excellence and student outcomes to parents, employers and inspectors.
How the Accelerator programme works
As part of a selected cohort of UK secondary schools, you will work alongside a dedicated Skills Builder Education Associate to translate national guidance into a manageable, whole school strategy.
This partnership provides 1:1 expert support from a qualified teacher, alongside full access to our curriculum and assessment model. By combining specialist staff training with peer learning opportunities, we ensure your team can confidently track every student’s progress against a proven national standard - without adding to teacher workload.
What could you do on an Accelerator programme?
The programme is designed to be flexible, allowing you to align the Universal Framework with your specific 2026-27 goals.
You might use the programme to:
- Strengthen curriculum design - align departmental plan and enrichment programmes with the Universal Framework to ensure a cohesive, school-wide strategy for learning.
- Meet Gatsby Benchmarks - seamlessly integrate essential skills into your approach to careers-related learning.
- Support Work Experience - help students articulate their strengths during work experience programmes and interviews.
- Embed oracy and communication - use the Framework to provide a measurable approach to oracy, preparing students for the communication demands of university and apprenticeships.
- Drive inclusion and wellbeing - use our assessment tools to provide quantifiable evidence of progress for all learners, ensuring those with additional needs are equipped with the independence skills they need for life after school.
Students on an Accelerator Programme make twice the progress building their essential employability skills.
* Apply in the Spring term and be invited to get started early in Summer.
What is the Skills Builder Award?
- The goal is to equip your students with the essential employability skills they need to succeed in education, wider life and future employment.
- The Skills Builder Award recognises secondary schools who are delivering high-quality essential skills education.
- You will achieve an Award by embedding principles of best practice outlined in the Award Guide.
- You will work closely with your Education Associate in three Planning Meetings to develop and implement a manageable, long-term plan.
- Awards are dated for three years and reviewed annually by our team.
What Skills Leaders say about the Accelerator
What Skills Leaders say about the Accelerator:
What Skills Leaders say about the Accelerator
What Skills Leaders say about the Accelerator
How did the Accelerator fit into your strategy?
“The programme can really tap into some of those talents, aptitudes and skills that we may not see in the delivery of the regular curriculum.”
What’s been the impact for you?
“I found the CPD opportunities really helpful - particularly around leading change, changing the culture of the school and supporting colleagues.”
How have the training and support been?
“We don’t often have opportunities to work throughout the whole education sector…The Skills Builder network opens up a whole range of different organisations.”
“One of the great things is that you get to share good practice with other schools which is invaluable.”
What’s been the impact in the classroom?
“I think the programme has had a really positive impact on the teachers here. It wasn’t until we started the programme that we realised it was what we’ve always been looking for.”
How have you found the tools and resources?
“Everything that you need is there and there are a lot of resources on offer… all of the resources are high quality. Everything you need to successfully implement the programme in your school is there for you.”
What would you say to people thinking of applying?
“Whatever your starting point, whatever your history is with skills education… I would really urge you to look into the programme.”
“The help, support and guidance you get is invaluable. You are not alone. The support and everything is in place.”
“Go for it! It’s not an add on and it’s not extra work. It has massive benefits for both students and staff. For us, it fits like a glove.”
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Get the prospectus, tips on applying and latest updates on funded places in your area - click here
Still have questions? Email us at accelerator@skillsbuilder.org and we will be in touch
Skills Builder Partnership
The Skills Builder Partnership brings together 900+ education institutions, employers and leading organisations around a common approach to building eight essential skills. Central to our approach is our rigorous progression framework, a set of underlying principles and a complete suite of tools and teaching materials.
The Skills Builder Framework
The Skills Builder Universal Framework is the national standard for teaching essential skills. It breaks each skill into teachable steps, supporting progress for all ages and abilities - including those with special educational needs. The Universal Framework was developed by Skills Builder with the Careers and Enterprise Company, Gatsby Foundation, Business in the Community, EY Foundation, CIPD and the CBI.
The Skills Builder Principles
Refined over a decade, the Skills Builder Principles outline best practice in teaching essential skills for learning and life. The six principles will form the basis of your strategy, and your success in embedding them will be recognised with the Skills Builder Award.
