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ACE Schools is an Alternative Provision in the Southwest, providing education for students with a wide range of additional needs, in several sites across Devon and Cornwall. As a school, we are proud to support all our students' personal development and believe that Skills Builder is fundamental in securing equity for our students; a level playing field, explicitly exploring the essential skills required to be successful, in whatever pathway they choose, both at Post-16 and in a wider life context. We have built a culture at ACE which supports students' self-esteem, builds self-worth and confidence in the skill sets they already possess, as well as those they can develop further. Our staff are fully committed to ensuring that students have access to the education, support and opportunities they should expect from their time at school, taking a student-centred approach in everything we do, focussing on the individual needs of every young person, wherever possible. The ACE Careers programme has now evolved to become the ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ strand of our 3-strand curriculum, structured around our whole school strategy and vision, with three core objectives: ‘Employability, Experience and Opportunity’. Our vocational and work experience programme is built into this; all students are encouraged to take up a vocational placement or a work experience/shadowing opportunity to further practice and develop their essential skills – a core part of the process. We recognise and understand the value and importance of personal development, centred around knowledge, exploration and accessibility. ACE is committed to providing the right environment, care and support that young people need to access their skills and unlock their talents, centred around raising aspirations, broadening prospects and further developing key essential skills for the workplace and the wider community.
Overall impact
At ACE we have embedded essential skills learning and development across all curriculum areas, and at all satellite sites, over the past 5 years. Essential skills are mapped across all curriculum areas, where key objectives and outcomes associated with academic progress are correlated with the acquisition of skills. An inclusive approach to Skills Builder has been successful at connecting students, no matter their ability, by utilising every aspect of learning to incorporate the teaching and practice of essential skills. Students are aware of how they can make progress, coupled with understanding how to demonstrate these skills in a range of situations, making secure links between their skill sets, learning and qualifications, and recognising the benefits of skills, both in the classroom and in the wider community. Our PE and LOTC (Learning Outside the Classroom) curriculum, alongside the careers programme, support the Key Principles of ‘Practice’ and ‘Bringing it to Life’, encouraging a direct correlation between qualifications and the acquisition of skills. Work Experience opportunities and our vocational programme support ‘practice’ in a wider context and students are making progress, whilst gaining key insights into the range of skills required by employers. Confidence in ability continues to grow, which is reflected in higher than UK average destination figures, demonstrating the value students feel; the skills they have and how they can continue to grow and succeed after leaving school. Success can look and feel very different for individual students, and we are now witnessing a range of success stories, through a variety of post-16 pathways. Our goal is to ensure that every student, at every stage of their developmental journey, maintains belief and is ultimately successful in their endeavours, no matter what their background or social circumstances.
Principle 1: Align
Skills Builder is an integrated part of our whole school agenda and as such is built-in to all training and development for staff. Skills Builder has become the key tool when assessing the ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ (PfA) strand of the 3 strand-curriculum at ACE, and is therefore linked to our data tracking systems. As we have a high turnover of staff (Learning mentors and TAs supporting students in small groups; one-to-one and two-to-one) it is imperative to include regular CPD, utilising the HUB training sections about ‘Adopting a common language’ and how to deliver skills learning across all key stages. This is scheduled to take place each week, ensuring new staff can learn about it in a timely manner, getting up to speed as quickly as possible with the key principles and associated resources. Consistency is key, as it ensures that any staff who may be unfamiliar with Skills Builder, have the opportunity to discover, discuss and subsequently plan and implement skills learning, utilising the resources on our digital Skills Builder HUB, after the first few weeks of joining us.
Principle 2: Plan
We deliver education to all Key Stages and therefore enjoy using the Early Years resources to support experiential learning in Key Stages 1 and 2. In Key Stages 3 and 4, students are more focused on their Next Steps and so the integration of skills learning and development is reflected in all curriculum areas, in both an academic and a practical way. All subject leaders have cross-referenced the essential skills in their units of work, accessing the relevant outcomes alongside the acquisition of skills. An inclusive approach is very much a key focus, as so many of our students join us at various times of their educational journey. Therefore, it is paramount to assess each as an individual, considering their personal circumstances and assessing their skills on an individual basis. This is a bespoke approach, which targets specific development for every student. The essential skills are included in every aspect of our 3-strand curriculum: in every curriculum subject area, the skills are explicitly referenced in resources and icons are included to ensure that every student can make correlations between their subject learning and skills development. Common skills language is also consistently used in most specialist interventions, and a focus on Adapting and Planning are key here. Every aspect of the PfA strand of the curriculum is centred around skills practice and development, ensuring that students can access a range of experience and opportunities to strengthen their learning, progress and ultimate success, in whatever form that takes.
Principle 3: Measure
We have incorporated baseline and progress data collection from the HUB into our MIS system to highlight the importance of measuring success. This means that regular tracking – every half term – reflects the progress a student is making, ensuring that we can assess and evaluate individual development, to both celebrate with the students, parents and carers, as well as target future planning. Weekly emails containing data collections and current benchmarks for students at each satellite base, are sent out weekly to all staff, as an ongoing update of individual progress, which regularly informs the focus for planning on an individual and small group basis. As our school operates across multiple sites, offering a range of support dependent on the cohort, it is necessary to encourage a range of different approaches to delivering Skills Builder, other than in assessment and tracking, as described. However, Lead teachers on site, can decide how they record day-to-day skills practice, whether in a specific Skills Book, or in a passport, or workbook. Regular records of practice are captured in photographs, which are included in books, but also on interactive displays, especially in our primary settings. Alternatively, records for older years are often recorded as part of their post-16 pathway focus, including evidence and evaluations supporting vocational and work experience placements.
Principle 4: Teach
Most of our WRAP sites, supporting students on a one-to-one/two-to-one basis, have a timetabled PSHE focus morning on a Friday, where pupils can engage with a particular skill(s) each half term. This is in addition to curriculum subject learning, where they can explore their own personal successes in skills learning that week. At our permanent exclusion site, we focus in on essential skills learning in both PSHE/Citizenship lessons, as well as in dedicated tutor time, dedicating one session each week to a specific focus skill(s) for that half term. Each session encourages students to self-assess and to complete the relevant Steps in their passports, allowing them to home in on the most relevant Step(s) for them, that week/half term. Other areas of our education offer include Outreach, where individual students will focus on the key areas needed to strengthen and build confidence and resilience, so that they can begin to explore how best they may be able to rejoin school, attend college or an apprenticeship, or society in a wider context.
Principle 5: Practise
Multiple opportunities to practise and embed essential skills present themselves each week, as we have a comprehensive LOTC curriculum. This looks slightly different at various sites, but includes either a weekly, or a daily am/pm session in the community. This allows students to be able to access a range of activities, designed to assist regular practice, with often excellent results. The PE curriculum also allows for specific and targeted practice, linked to both the curriculum outcomes, as well as practical strengths encouraged to develop and reinforce skills development. All careers’ opportunities include interactions with new people, various environments and associated essential skills within a full range of industries and sectors in our local community. This encourages students to develop interpersonal skills, focusing in on Planning and Adapting to new environments. Working as part of a wider team that may not know them as well as their teachers or learning mentors, means that they must implement Problem Solving to build their confidence in Leadership, using Creativity where needed to adjust to the expectations of the workplace.
Principle 6: Apply
Our vocational programme is comprehensive and begins from Year 9. Work experience and work shadowing opportunities begin in Year 10/11, dependent on when the student joins our community, often from another educational setting or after being out of education completely. Leadership and Teamwork is automatically reinforced through attendance at a vocational placement regularly, often one to two days each week from Year 9, and/or a work experience placement, which usually takes place over a number of weeks from Year 10. Students can build confidence, self-esteem and eventual familiarity from a work shadowing placement, moving to a more practical, hands-on approach to the workplace, once they are ready to do so. Employers are always supported with access to the 2.0 Skills Builder framework, which supports them in allowing them to structure a placement around the essential skills, as part of the planning and evaluation process. We are proud of our destination figures, exceeding the National average for a number of years, and feel sure that the relevance of Skills Builder in our school, and across our learning platforms, satellite sites and all learning environments, whether in the home, or in the community, have most certainly contributed to this.
What's next
We will continue to embed Skills Builder across our whole school, in every aspect of our 3-strand curriculum, for all students. We will strive to ensure that every student who attends ACE, leave us with the knowledge and understanding of their greatest assets, skills and talents so that they can continue to evolve and learn who they are, and where they most align within the workplace and wider society. Building confidence and self-esteem, to encourage informed decisions about their future, whether that is returning to mainstream, moving onto a designated Special School, or leaving us for their post-16 placement, will continue to be paramount and a positive driver for all staff and students who work within our school. For it is the commitment to our students that drive us to further develop our own skills, for the benefit of all.
