Our Skills Builder journey begins in the Early Years, where communication is at the heart of learning. Reception pupils are beginning to explore Step 1 of the framework through carefully chosen stories, role play and structured discussions that introduce essential skills in a meaningful and age-appropriate way. We are committed to ensuring that every learner is included. Pupils in our SEND provision focus on key foundational skills such as listening, following instructions and communicating effectively. These skills are explicitly taught and practised through personalised approaches that enable all children to experience success. As pupils move through the school, their understanding of the essential skills develops progressively through the Skills Builder Framework. The consistent language and structure support smooth progression from year to year, allowing pupils to build confidence and deepen their understanding over time. By starting early and maintaining a clear progression pathway, pupils develop the attitudes, behaviours and skills needed to participate fully in school life and beyond. Every learner is given the opportunity to grow, practise and achieve within an environment that values personal development alongside academic success.

Assessment remains an important part of our Skills Builder strategy. Teachers now routinely use the Skills Builder Hub to monitor progress and identify development areas for individuals, groups and classes. This provides valuable insight into skill development across the school and helps ensure that support is targeted effectively. Alongside Hub assessments, teacher observations, pupil voice and learning outcomes contribute to a well-rounded understanding of each child's progress. This allows staff to recognise strengths and identify appropriate next steps. This year, essential skills have been referenced within end-of-year reports. Alongside academic attainment and effort, teachers identify a particular strength for each pupil, which may include an essential skill demonstrated throughout the year. This helps raise the profile of the Skills Builder framework and provides families with a broader picture of their child's development, recognising the importance of skills alongside academic achievement. Monitoring also supports our Personal Development provision, enabling leaders to evaluate how effectively pupils are developing the wider skills needed to thrive in school and beyond.

This year, essential skills have continued to be taught through a combination of explicit teaching and curriculum integration. Whole-school assemblies introduce and reinforce key skills, helping pupils develop a shared understanding of what successful use of each skill looks like. Short Skills Builder Hub lessons are used to model and explore individual skill steps, providing pupils with clear examples and opportunities for discussion. Staff are increasingly confident in linking learning activities directly to the framework and making progression steps explicit. Staff development has remained a priority throughout the year. A whole-school training session updated colleagues on programme developments, future priorities and expectations for explicit teaching and assessment. Feedback was extremely positive, with staff recognising the value of the framework in supporting teaching, learning and personal development. This increased engagement has led to a member of support staff joining the Skills Builder team, helping strengthen capacity across the school. Following evaluation of our current model, we have refined our approach for next year. Speaking and Listening will remain a continuous whole-school priority, while one essential skill will become the focus each half term. This will support deeper understanding, greater consistency and increased opportunities for pupils to embed and transfer their skills.

Providing regular opportunities to apply essential skills remains a key strength of our approach. Year group curriculum overviews identify the focus skills being developed, ensuring that opportunities to practise are carefully planned across subjects. Throughout the year, pupils have applied their skills during enrichment events, leadership opportunities and curriculum projects. A particularly successful example was our 'No Pens Day', which focused on speech, language and communication. Pupils completed a range of collaborative activities designed to promote verbal outcomes and active participation, with Speaking and Listening embedded throughout the day. Pupils are becoming increasingly confident in identifying the skill steps they are working on and discussing how these support their learning. Skills language has become a natural part of classroom conversations and is now reflected consistently in displays, certificates and celebration events. The frequent opportunities to practise, reflect and revisit skills help pupils understand that essential skills are not isolated lessons, but tools that support them in every aspect of school life.

Real-world application is essential if pupils are to understand the value of their skills. This year, pupils participated in a highly successful 'Inspire Day', where 17 visitors from a diverse range of professions, including a vet, farmer and wildfire responder, shared their experiences. Visitors were provided with our Skills Builder visitor card and actively referenced the essential skills throughout their sessions. Pupils interviewed visitors about their careers and then created Career Top Trumps cards, linking job roles to the essential skills required for success. These discussions demonstrated pupils' growing understanding of how essential skills are used beyond the classroom. Our Essential Skills Curriculum Evening, The Great Expedition' was a highlight of the year. Families completed practical challenges linked to curriculum subjects and essential skills, collecting stickers in a passport as they progressed around the activities. Parent feedback was overwhelmingly positive and reflected high levels of engagement from both children and adults. Looking ahead, we are planning to strengthen links between essential skills, emotional wellbeing, British Values and behaviours for learning through a series of themed enrichment opportunities. A planned Democracy Challenge Day, linked to UK Parliament Week, will provide further opportunities for pupils to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills whilst exploring active citizenship and democratic participation.