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Forest Hall School is an inclusive secondary school for students in Years 7–11, committed to ensuring every young person is well prepared for their next steps. Alongside academic achievement, we recognise the importance of developing essential employability and life skills that will help students succeed in further education, apprenticeships and future careers.
We joined the Skills Builder Accelerator programme to provide a clear, structured framework for developing these essential skills. The programme has helped us embed skills into the careers programme, giving students regular opportunities to develop and reflect on key skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and leadership.
Overall impact
The Skills Builder Accelerator programme has had a positive impact across the whole school community. For students, it has increased confidence, self awareness and understanding of the essential skills needed for education, employment and everyday life. They are now better able to recognise and talk about the skills they are developing through lessons, careers activities and enrichment opportunities. A particular highlight has been achieving the Skills Builder Bronze Award, recognising our commitment to developing essential skills across the school. We have also seen students grow in confidence during employer encounters, workplace visits and presentations, where they have demonstrated the communication, teamwork and problem solving skills they have developed through the programme. These experiences have strengthened our relationships with employers and partners, helping to create meaningful opportunities that prepare students for their futures.
Principle 1: Align
Essential skills are displayed on the Careers board and in Year 9 Form rooms. Updates about learner involvement with Skills Builder were also shared with parents to achieve continuity, providing suggestions of activities they can do at home to develop their child's skill set. We plan for internal events to reference essential skills, such as skill launch assemblies with Year 9 learners and collapsed timetable day workshops. Year 9 learners have been recognised for their skill development through certificates and postcards.
Principle 2: Plan
All Year 9 learners have regular and planned opportunities to learn and practice their essential skills. Communication on Skills Builder has been sent home which includes way to support.
Principle 3: Measure
Year 9 form tutors use formative assessment to inform their teaching of essential skills. Learners access the Benchmark platform during Skills lessons and observations from this engagement highlight that this is boosting learner independence and accountability. Staff also using reflective questioning during their skill sessions to assess progress during lesson time.
Principle 4: Teach
Year 9 form tutors directly teach essential skills to learners. They have two timetabled slots each week for skill teaching. Staff use the short lessons during this time along with other Hub resources. Skill workbooks used, student Benchmark platform used and participation in skills workshops. We also use the great selection of short lessons, and the careers explorer tool, to facilitate discrete sessions.
Principle 5: Practise
The language of essential skills is used across subjects delivered by Year 9 Form Tutors to Year 9 learners. Learners have also been encouraged to link the essential skills to their option selections to identify which skill(s) they will need to prioritise. Workshops include the opportunity to use these skills too.
Principle 6: Apply
Students enjoy lots of experiences to apply the essential skills. This year students have engaged with the RISE programme and taken part in an Employer's Fair to meet a range of employers. Each learner had a booklet to support them their interactions and for Year 9 learners, the booklet gave them prompts to discuss essential skills with prospective employees. There is a rich and extensive careers programme for learners to head out to places of work. For Year 9 learners specifically, they visited the KPMG offices in London and presentations were delivered around the essential skills. Learners completed work related projects which they had to present back on. Year 9s also had a whole day WEX opportunity at Gulliver's land to apply their skills to different jobs across the theme park. Forest Hall School also planned three dedicated career collapsed timetable days in December, March and July which all provided opportunities for students to apply their skills in real world contexts. These opportunities will include mock interviews for Year 10s and an employer-ready day.
What's next
Building on our success, our next step is to introduce the Skills Builder Framework to students in Years 7–9. This will allow us to develop essential skills from the start of secondary school, giving students more time to build confidence, reflect on their progress, and recognise the skills they are developing.
We also plan to continue embedding the Skills Builder Framework across our careers programme, ensuring students have regular opportunities to apply these skills in real world contexts through employer encounters, workplace experiences and enrichment activities. By expanding the programme across more year groups, we aim to create a consistent approach to skills development and ensure every student is well prepared for their future education, employment and training.
