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Derby Pride Academy is an alternative provision dedicated to providing high-quality support and education for its students, particularly focusing on preparing Key Stage 4 cohorts for post-16 opportunities and the workplace. Recognising that building essential skills is vital for their young people to succeed beyond school, the school sought to embed the Skills Builder Universal Framework 2.0. Working across Key Stages 3 and 4, the school aimed to integrate skill development into existing school practices, careers strategies, and curriculum models to create a clear path for student progression.
Overall impact
By dedicating time to staff training and appointing key contacts to champion the programme, Derby Pride Academy has successfully established a structured approach to skill development. The implementation of the framework has provided staff and students with a shared language, particularly around core communication skills like speaking and listening. By linking these essential skills to existing school values, such as oracy, and aligning them with wider reward systems, the school has created a supportive environment where student effort and essential skill achievements are routinely recognised and celebrated.
Keep it simple
The school launched the framework with students, teachers, and support staff to ensure everything was in place for the new academic year. To quickly embed a shared vocabulary, classroom spaces across the school display Skills Builder posters and visual cues. Staff are encouraged to incorporate skill icons into daily teaching materials, including lesson slide packs and worksheets. Additionally, leaders planned to integrate the framework's language into the existing behaviour and attendance reward system, introducing half-termly skill awards alongside dedicated Skills Champions for each focused skill.
Start early, keep going
Derby Pride Academy adopted a whole-school approach to skill building. While Key Stage 3 and Year 11 cohorts were among the first to be introduced, all students from Year 7 through to Year 11 access the framework simultaneously. The school recognises the unique context of its setting, including high turnaround around Easter, and purposefully planned full re-introductions post-Easter to ensure new arrivals received equal access to essential skill development throughout their time at the academy.
Measure it
Students were introduced to the essential skills during form time, where they completed a benchmark baseline reflection to assess their starting points. All Key Stage 3 and Year 11 students used the Benchmark tool to evaluate their strengths across the skills. Formative assessment is used regularly by teachers to inform their practice, with planned reflection points established throughout the year—including full baseline assessments at the start of the academic year and termly reassessments to measure progress over time.
Focus tightly
Dedicated time is built directly into the form time curriculum for explicit skill instruction, with short 20-minute sessions delivered weekly or fortnightly. To ensure effective delivery, introductory sessions and baselining were initially led by key contacts before form tutors picked up ongoing teaching. The school chose to tightly focus its explicit teaching on Communication (speaking and listening), explicitly aligning these target areas with broader institutional priorities, such as oracy.
Keep practising
To reinforce learning, medium-term curriculum plans have been mapped to identify where essential skills can be explicitly taught and practised across subjects. End-of-day reflection times with form tutors provide regular opportunities for students to record their skill usage in Skills Passports. Staff actively encourage students to demonstrate their skills in subject lessons, such as challenging them to prove their listening skills in class. English, PSHE, and wider enrichment activities were naturally identified as key areas to continually reinforce communication skills.
Bring it to life
Real-world application is central to the academy's provision. PSHE lessons explicitly weave skills into real-life contexts, complementing the school's existing enrichment programme, which includes practical real-world activities such as visiting local cafés to order food. Reflection sheets used after enrichment activities allow students to identify and circle the skills they applied. Furthermore, off-timetable days—focusing on apprenticeships and STEM—are planned to link all eight essential skills to real-world challenges.
What's next
Moving forward, Derby Pride Academy aims to fully consolidate the embedding of the framework across all year groups. The school plans to complete full student baseline assessments at the start of the upcoming academic year and maintain regular termly reassessments on the Hub. Leaders will continue to support staff in adding skill icons to all learning resources and will further expand the integration of essential skills into the school's behaviour, attendance, and reward systems.
