By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
We are an 11-18 school in Gloucestershire, serving a community with higher levels of deprivation. We believe that every individual in our community is unique and valuable to God, which drives our vision: Jesus told his followers, "You are the light of the world" - Matthew 5:14
Our curriculum and pastoral care are built around our Christian values of love, peace, justice, respect, reconciliation and service to others. Our vision and values are a source of hope for our students, families, and the local community.
We got involved with the Accelerator programme as we believe that building essential skills will support students to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve the academic and non- academic outcomes they are capable of, giving them the tools to manage the transition into their post-school route of choice and reduce the likelihood that they will drop out. We also felt that building essential skills was important so that students have the capabilities and mindsets to take up opportunities we offer to them in school, including extracurricular clubs and work experience. For our students, we saw a particular need to build their speaking skills and this is what we focused on.
Overall impact
It has been really positive for students to focus on considering and building their skills early in their school journey. Many students put themselves out of their comfort zones by practising their speaking skills, giving them a confidence boost about what they can achieve.
Keep it simple
In science lessons in year 7, Skills Builder was put in place to build students' abilities to speak confidently, to lead and to adapt to change. The language of universal skills was built into lesson starter slides and the skills builder logo used throughout. In addition, in year 7-10 careers drop down mornings, the language of essential skills and the logos were used to talk to students about skills for the future, by both school staff and visiting employers.
Start early, keep going
We have started with year 7, with an explicit focus and teaching in science lessons, but through the careers drop-down mornings have included references to skills from year 7 to year 10.
Measure it
Students do some self-reflection on their progress, and during the year 8 drop-down morning with Network Rail, students completed some skills assessments and then considered what types of jobs align with those skills.
Focus tightly
Year 7 have had explicit teaching regularly throughout this academic year, and there is a plan to look at how personal development and enrichment benchmarks can be achieved next year with activity delivered with a skills/careers lens (for example speaking confidently so as to succeed in a job interview).
Keep practising
All staff will receive careers CPD next year and be supported to further embed careers in the curriculum, and this will include references to building skills through Skills Builder and access to skills builder resources.
Bring it to life
We have brought skills to life through careers drop-down days where employers spoke specifically about what skills they needed and used in their day - day work. In addition, in 1:1 sessions, students are encouraged to think about and talk about their skills, how these will help them generally with their transition into further work and study in the future, and what careers align well to those skill sets.
What's next
To progress, we will roll out the skills builder resources to the wider staff team and plan ways to build essential skills through our personal development programme.
