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Acomb First School is a small, half form entry school in rural Northumberland. As we grow we would like the Skills Builder programme to grow with us, instilling the essential skills in our children's lives and work across the curriculum. We felt it was a great fit with the ethos of the school and compliments the school values. In addition to this, the data and evidence shows that children and young adults with these skills will progress further in life. We chose to incorporate and be involved with the Skills Builder Programme to ensure that our pupils develop the core skills required to thrive in a world that has endless possibilities. We wanted to give children the opportunities to develop their skills, learn about careers, and empower them to learn through inspirational experiences ensuring all children are equipped with skills for life. Skills Builder is integral in equipping children with the essential skills that will give them the tools to succeed. We have fully embedded the values of Skills Builder into our school community and ethos.
Overall impact
The Skills Builder programme has had a transformational effect across Acomb First School. Teachers now routinely incorporate Skills Builder language and icons into their inputs. Whether it’s Listening, Creativity or Aiming High, children immediately recognise the skill and understand how to succeed. The framework breaks down these lifelong skills into manageable, progressive steps.
A particular highlight has been our Skills Builder Challenge Day focused on Politics, where the entire school came off timetable to engage in activities such as campaigning, debating, and voting. This immersive day gave pupils the opportunity to develop Speaking, Listening, Teamwork, and Leadership skills in meaningful, engaging contexts. The pupils’ enthusiasm was tangible, and they confidently explained the skills they were using throughout the day.
Our children now speak with confidence about the essential skills and how they apply to their learning and future goals. This has been evidenced through:
Pupil presentations to governors Contributions to lessons and assemblies Conversations with our School Improvement Partner Reflections captured in their Challenge Day work and transition booklets Parental knowledge and engagement with the programme has significantly increased. Parents are now aware of the Skills Builder framework through:
Regular updates in newsletters Curriculum information on our website Termly showcase events The inclusion of individual Skills Builder comments in every pupil’s end-of-year report Governor understanding and involvement have also grown, with governors receiving:
Regular updates at Curriculum and Full Governing Body meetings Presentations from staff and pupils First-hand experience of Skills Builder during school visits and Challenge Days Our work is increasingly reaching the wider community, including local businesses and linked organisations. By embedding Skills Builder language into our work with employers, we help children see the real-life application of essential skills. These shared references ensure focus during careers-based discussions and enterprise projects.
Our Headteacher also represents the school at NECA (North East Collaboration of Academies) termly briefings and regional education conferences, where she speaks about the impact of Skills Builder and actively promotes it to other schools. This advocacy has led to the adoption of the programme at Beaufront First School, following a school visit to Acomb where they saw the programme in action and were inspired by the depth of integration and impact.
Keep it simple
Essential skills are embedded in medium-term planning, the School Development Plan, and our Behaviour Policy. A minimum of one weekly discrete skills lesson is taught in every class. Pupils reflect on their skill use in lessons using sentence stems like: “I’ve shown good teamwork today because…”
We celebrate progress through monthly assemblies, where children from each class are awarded certificates for demonstrating each essential skill. These awards are proudly displayed in our hall’s “Acomb Skills” area and shared on social media. Children have selected famous figures to represent each skill and inspire their peers.
Parents have access to information about Skills Builder via newsletters, Tapestry, Facebook, our Skills Builder Policy (available online), and through regular curriculum workshops.
Importantly, every pupil’s end-of-year report this term included a personalised Skills Builder comment, giving parents a clear picture of their child’s progress and engagement with the essential skills.
We are also proud to be part of the Transition Project with Hexham Middle School, which ensures continuity of essential skills development as children move to the next phase of their education. As part of this project:
We send evidence of pupil progress, including Skills Builder Passports, Y4 transition booklets, and Challenge Day reflections. Hexham Middle School staff attend our showcase events, where they see firsthand how pupils have developed and demonstrated their essential skills. Progression across the curriculum is captured and evidenced using examples from whole-school Challenge Days and enterprise projects, highlighting how children apply their skills in real, purposeful contexts.
Start early, keep going
Each year includes an Enterprise Project ending with a showcase and a Challenge Day. For example, Key Stage 1 recently explored The Great Fire of London and curated a showcase for parents and carers. The project involved cross-curricular learning in history, art, and design, and culminated in children presenting their knowledge and creations - demonstrating skills such as Speaking, Creativity, and Teamwork.
Meanwhile, KS2 pupils worked in collaboration with Eggar and Northumbria University for their showcase. They investigated real-world environmental issues and used their Problem Solving, Leadership, and Speaking skills to propose and present sustainable solutions to a panel of experts - bringing their learning to life in an authentic and inspiring way.
Measure it
Every term, teachers update the Skills Builder Hub to inform next steps. We tailor the discrete weekly lessons to cater for individual needs of our pupils. As part of our Skills Builder lessons, teachers enable children to assess themselves against the framework and reflect on their own progress. Skills Builder passports are used for KS2 to record children’s progress. Our hub report provides useful data to monitor the teaching and learning of the skills and ensure support is in place where needed. At the end of Y4 the children complete an Acomb Skills booklet all about their skills builder and employer experiences at our school which is then passed up to their Middle School.
Focus tightly
Each lesson has a Skills Builder focus that the pupils reflect on at the end of each lesson. A weekly discrete lesson is delivered to the pupils based on the needs of the class. The Skill of the Month format provides the overall structure for a year. Subject leaders have designed their curriculum so that the skills are incorporated and referred to in lessons. From the Skill of the Month overview, weekly lessons, projects and assemblies are mapped out over the year enabling a consistent whole school approach. Weekly timetables have a dedicated 15 minute slot to ensure that the Skills Builder skills are taught explicitly. The headteacher has created a range of resources to support with this.
Keep practising
We have built essential skills into our curriculum and this is evidenced on planning documents. We have engaged in Skills Builder Challenge Days. We have also framed our 'extra curricular offer' through the essential skills - for example, "to improve on your teamwork, why not try the following clubs..."
Our Subject Leader teams work on different aspects of the curriculum. Part of this work includes curriculum monitoring and ensuring that the skills are visible in their curriculum area. We ensure this is in place through curriculum walks, class displays and discussions with the children. All extracurricular activities run by Acomb staff have been linked to a Skills Builder skill so that it can be referred to throughout the session. This is communicated to Parents to give them the option to sign up to an afterschool or lunchtime club in the knowledge it will be working on those skills amongst others. Everyone really benefits from the day off timetable to complete a Skills Builder Project. The children and teachers are fully immersed in the project and feel a great sense of pride at their finished projects whatever they may be. Employer engagement projects provide the opportunity to work on specific skills and the steps they are currently focussed upon improving. Steps and specific skills have been mapped by teachers across these projects.
Bring it to life
One of our Skills Builder curriculum strengths is our partnerships with local businesses. These include working with Wheelbirks Farm, Northumbrian Water, and our most recent partnership with Hextol Tans Cafe, a community kitchen project. Our curriculum enables children to work with professionals in their field and to have hands-on experiences of these businesses. This takes the form of working with business owners in school and in the workplace. Last year, at the farm, children learned about the importance of ethical farming. Working with Hextol Tans, the children designed and made their own menu with taster items to share at an end of year project. In Key Stage 2, the children worked with Northumbrian Water to find out about the importance of renewable energy and how their local area may look in the future as they used creative problem solving to find solutions to the energy crisis. This year KS1 have worked with Elliot Architects, The Harrison Foundation and Green Roof Structures with learning related to the Great Fire, building and sustainable futures. Key Stage 2 this year worked with Eggar to learn about the 3 main sectors of the economy and how these link to a local factory. They also developed geographical skills throughout this project. The skill steps have been mapped on to these projects to ensure children are making progress in the selected skills. Often we have visitors in to talk about their jobs, either in an assembly or class visits. They are encouraged to refer to the skills they use and how they use them. Every class has access to a bank of Skills Builder workshop questions to ask visitors during trips, talks and workshops to encourage them to find out more about the skills in real life context. The visits include professional athletes, authors, scientists and environmentalists.
The challenge day was another fantastic opportunity to bring the skills to life. Children demonstrated significant gains in progress within the skills as a result of this focussed day.
What's next
Provide support for other schools
Share the impact of our work more widely
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