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.
Harrison College is a specialist post-16 institution based in Doncaster, offering a unique business and enterprise provision for young people aged 16–25 with ASD and/or SEMH needs. Our learners often come from mainstream settings but require tailored support including small class sizes, 1:1 interventions, and access to safe, quiet spaces to thrive.
We’ve built an inclusive environment that places no limits on achievement, regardless of background. Located on a business park, our setting reinforces employability, with learners surrounded by real businesses, encouraging everyday conversations about careers and the world of work.
Our five-day-a-week study programme is designed around the Skills Builder Framework, focusing on core transferable skills such as Communication, Teamwork, Leadership, Problem Solving, Creativity, and Self-Management. This is delivered through qualifications including Functional Skills, BTEC Work Skills, ICDL, and Personal Finance, as well as bespoke industry-linked courses from Level 1 to Level 5.
We joined the Skills Builder Accelerator to further embed structured, meaningful skill development into every aspect of our provision. One learner captured the impact perfectly: “When we started learning through skills, I finally understood it. I could see how what I was doing in class could actually be used in a real job… It made everything feel more real, and more important.”
Supported internships are based on each learner’s career goals and begin only when they are ready. Learners are guided throughout the process, and to date, we’ve maintained a high success rate into employment, apprenticeships or further education
With our an inclusive, work-focused curriculum, Harrison College empowers learners not just to succeed in education, but to thrive in life and employment.
Overall impact
The Skills Builder Accelerator programme has had a transformative impact at Harrison College. For teachers, it has embedded a shared language and consistent approach to essential skills across teaching, planning, and CPD, enabling more focused instruction and targeted interventions. Students have gained a clearer understanding of how their learning connects to real-world employment, boosting confidence, engagement, and readiness for life beyond college. The wider community, including parents and local employers, is now more actively involved in supporting skill development through reports, placements, and events.
A particular highlight was our conference on skills and neurodivergence, attended by 120 employers, which showcased student achievements and helped raise awareness of the value of inclusive employment. Another standout moment was a learner saying, “I could see how what I was doing in class could actually be used in a real job” a testament to the real-life impact of embedding essential skills deeply across the curriculum.
Keep it simple
At Harrison College, the essential skills are deeply embedded across every aspect of college life. We’ve integrated the Skills Builder Universal Framework into key policies such as our Curriculum Intent Plan and Education and Skills Policy (T&L), ensuring that all staff consistently use the language of essential skills. Skills are referenced in lessons, interventions, careers guidance, supported internships, target setting, and staff development.
To build awareness, we use regular staff briefings, a central Padlet platform containing our Skills Handbook and CPD resources, and bespoke displays in all classrooms that highlight the skill steps aligned to activities. We’ve also hosted a successful conference on skills and neurodivergence in the workplace, attended by 120 local employers, which showcased the impact of the essential skills on our learners.
Students are recognised and rewarded through a token system, skill-specific certificates, and end-of-year prom awards that now include four new essential skill categories. Skills progression is reported to parents, with communications consistently referencing the framework. Skills are also embedded in staff professional development, performance reviews, and recruitment.
This whole-college approach ensures that essential skills are visible, valued, and celebrated—building a shared language and culture around what really matters for success in life and work.
Start early, keep going
At Harrison College, all learners, regardless of age, stage, or starting point, have regular, planned opportunities to learn and practice essential skills. Our entire curriculum is built around the Skills Builder Framework, with skill development embedded into lessons, interventions, supported internships, and wider enrichment activities. This ensures that every student, across all courses and levels, accesses consistent and structured skills education.
Our study programme includes project-based learning and live employer-led challenges, providing real-world contexts for applying skills like Teamwork, Communication, and Problem Solving. The skills are also central to 1:1 support, target setting, and personal development sessions, ensuring personalised and meaningful learning for each student.
Staff actively model the skills through CPD and use them in performance reviews and professional reflections. Employers from our network are also engaged, giving feedback on the skills during internships and through participation in our college-led conference on skills and neurodivergence.
Parents are regularly informed of their child’s progress via reports that include skill development, and recognition is shared through certificates and home communications. This joined-up approach ensures students build skills progressively and purposefully, with support from the full college community—including staff, families, and external partners.
Measure it
At Harrison College, we use a range of tools and approaches to understand and monitor the essential skills of our students. One of our key tools is the Skills Builder Benchmark, which is used by both staff and students for self-reflection and target setting. We have developed a comprehensive central spreadsheet that tracks each student’s progress step-by-step and provides an overall skill score. All staff contribute to and regularly review this spreadsheet, using it to inform planning, professional development reviews, and interventions where needed—such as targeted support through our ‘Communication Academy’.
We also share this skills data with parents and employers through regular reporting, and integrate it into EHCPs to ensure alignment with individual support plans. For internship placements, we cross-reference student skill levels with the Careers Explorer Tool to ensure students are matched to placements where they will thrive. This is supported by skills-based applications, interviews, and target setting. Teaching assistants access the data to provide consistent and informed support, and we track skills weekly in lessons, reporting progress formally each half term. In Year 1 and 2, students use Skills Passports for self-reflection, and we are exploring further use of the Hub to enhance our tracking systems.
Focus tightly
At Harrison College, we give our students regular, focused opportunities to build their essential skills through direct instruction. All teachers explicitly teach these skills in various ways, including tutorials, lesson starters, 1:1 sessions, and intervention workshops. We use the expanded Skills Builder framework to break down each skill into manageable steps, allowing us to target specific areas of development.
Essential skills are fully embedded into our curriculum and planning, forming the backbone of our teaching and learning approach. Our comprehensive assessment tracker helps ensure teaching is pitched at the right level and highlights students who need additional support. Intervention workshops are then delivered to help those learners progress.
We’ve embedded skills teaching into our lesson observation proforma, with separate sections for 'including' and 'explicitly teaching' the skills. Staff best practice is shared and celebrated in meetings and collaborative planning sessions, helping us continuously improve our approach. Our assessment spreadsheet includes direct links to the Skills Builder "Build It" pages, supporting staff with practical strategies and guiding conversations around next steps. For our Year 1 and 2 learners, we’re introducing two Skills Builder tutorials each week, giving them structured time to track, reflect on, and build their essential skills.
Keep practising
At Harrison College, we provide our students with regular, meaningful opportunities to practise their essential skills across all areas of college life. These skills are fully embedded into the curriculum, with skill-based learning objectives included in every lesson. We ensure that essential skills are not only taught but also practised through a wide range of activities, including project-based learning, where the skills are integrated into teaching episodes, lesson objectives, and assessment criteria.
Before students undertake key elements of a project, we run targeted workshops to support specific skill steps—for example, practising clear group communication before delivering a presentation to a local primary school. Our curriculum mapping is step-specific and continuously reviewed to reflect learners' progress and areas for development. This ensures each opportunity to practise a skill is purposeful and well-timed.
Essential skills are also a core part of our extra-curricular offer. Activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh expedition include reflection on key skill steps, with discussions built into the programme to reinforce learning. We place a strong emphasis on reflection in all settings, encouraging students to identify how they’re using and developing their skills. We are also working on building further consistency in mapping skill steps to key project moments.
Bring it to life
At Harrison College, we actively help our students see how essential skills apply in wider life by embedding them into real-life experiences, projects, and employer encounters. These skills are at the heart of our careers programme, project-based learning, enterprise challenges, and themed drop-down days. Students regularly take part in exciting collaborations with local schools and businesses, such as designing an exhibition with Doncaster Museum or delivering workshops at a conference. Before these projects, we support students to develop the relevant skill steps and provide structured opportunities to reflect and build on them throughout.
All students participate in work experience or internships, which have been redesigned with essential skills as the foundation for progress. During these placements, students, staff, and employers use a shared language around skill development. Employers receive detailed information about each student’s skill levels, and internship visits include observations focused specifically on how students apply their skills. This feedback is then shared with students, staff, parents, and employers, helping set clear, actionable targets.
We also run weekly Skills Builder staff meetings focused on skills, careers, and internships, supporting a joined-up approach across college. This structured and intentional focus is transforming how students view and apply their essential skills beyond the classroom.
What's next
Building on our successes with the skills builder accelerator, the next steps at Harrison College include deepening consistency and impact across our provision. We plan to:
• Enhance tracking systems: we will further integrate the skills builder hub and refine our assessment and tracking tools to provide more personalised insights and support for every learner.
• Develop employer partnerships: we aim to expand our network of employer partners, co-designing more real-world challenges and internships aligned with essential skill development.
• Strengthen parental engagement: we’ll increase communication with families through workshops and clearer guidance on supporting skill development at home.
• Embed skills across new courses: as we expand our curriculum, we’ll ensure new learning and learning pathways are fully aligned with the skills builder framework from the outset.
• Improve consistency in skill mapping: we’re focusing on more detailed and consistent mapping of skill steps across
