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At Holgate Primary and Nursery School, we serve an ex-mining community and a significant proportion of our children experience high levels of deprivation and financial challenge. Social mobility in Ashfield is extremely low ranking sitting in the bottom 20% of Local Authorities. This results in many of our children having limited experiences of what the wider world can offer them in terms of our rich and diverse society as well as the potential for achieving economic security. Therefore, a lack of aspiration for future prospective career paths and little knowledge of what interpersonal soft skills future employers will value, are key barriers we must address. It is our aim to enable all pupils to have the skills and experiences that they will require to be successful in the future. This year to focus on skills that pupils may not always have the opportunities to practise, we enlisted the help of the Skills Builder programme; this already linked with many opportunities we were providing for our pupils in the form of raising aspirations as one of our key drivers.Enabling pupils who have not had opportunity to think about the skills that they have and can develop, which are essential for everyday life, will have a big impact on our school community. Our main aim was to allow all pupils to have high belief in themselves and in turn aspirations for the future.
Overall impact
One of the greatest highlights of implementing the Skills Builder programme has been the increased awareness and enthusiasm for the Eight Essential Skills across our whole school community. The programme has closely supported our key school driver of raising aspirations by helping pupils recognise the importance of developing transferable skills that will benefit them throughout their education and into the workplace.
It has been incredibly rewarding to see pupils confidently and explicitly practising these essential skills in their lessons, extra-curricular activities and wider school experiences. Watching children grow in confidence, resilience and independence, while applying these transferable skills in meaningful contexts, has reinforced the positive impact that Skills Builder is having on both their current learning and their future aspirations.
Keep it simple
To begin with, our Skills Leader delivered high-quality CPD for all teaching staff to develop their understanding of the Skills Builder programme and to familiarise them with the Universal Framework. This ensured that the programme was implemented consistently across the school and that staff had the confidence to explicitly teach and develop the Eight Essential Skills.
The programme was then launched with pupils through dedicated key stage assemblies, introducing the Eight Essential Skills and explaining why they are important for success both in school and beyond. Visual displays were installed in the school hall and classrooms to provide a consistent point of reference and to reinforce the language of the framework throughout the school day.
To engage our wider school community, we share weekly Class Dojo posts linked to the skill currently being developed in school. These posts include practical activities and discussion prompts for families to complete at home, enabling parents and carers to support their child's development of the Eight Essential Skills and strengthen the connection between home and school learning.
Start early, keep going
Displays are prominently featured in the school hall and are tailored to be age appropriate. Widget-supported versions are used in EYFS, Key Stage 1 and The Hive to ensure that all pupils, including those with additional communication needs, can access and engage with the Eight Essential Skills. Skills Builder terminology is consistently modelled, practised and reinforced across the school, helping pupils to become familiar with the language of the framework.
All teaching staff received training on the Skills Builder programme and were encouraged to incorporate dedicated Skills Builder lessons into their timetables on a fortnightly basis. This has helped to ensure a consistent approach to developing the Eight Essential Skills across all year groups.
Parents and carers are also able to see how the essential skills are embedded within school life through our weekly Class Dojo posts and the Careers Education section of the school website, where information and resources linked to Skills Builder are shared.
Measure it
At the beginning of each half term, the Skills Leader encourages staff to complete a baseline assessment of the new essential skill that pupils will be focusing on. This provides a clear starting point and enables teachers to identify pupils' current level of understanding and development.
Following the delivery of the three Skills Builder mini-lessons for that skill, teachers are encouraged to reassess pupils using the Universal Framework. This allows progress to be measured over time, celebrates the development of pupils' essential skills, and helps to identify any areas where further support or teaching may be required.
Focus tightly
Each half term, one of the Eight Essential Skills is selected as the whole-school focus. At the start of the half term, teachers complete a baseline assessment using the Skills Builder Universal Framework to identify the step each pupil is currently working towards. This ensures that teaching is appropriately targeted and provides a clear starting point from which progress can be measured.
Skills Builder lessons are then delivered on a fortnightly basis through direct instruction, with these sessions clearly identified on teachers' timetables. This consistent approach ensures that all pupils have regular opportunities to explicitly develop and practise the essential skill. Over the course of the academic year, the focus rotates through all eight essential skills, enabling pupils to build and strengthen each skill progressively.
To celebrate pupils' achievements, our weekly whole-school celebration assembly recognises those who have demonstrated the half-termly essential skill. Each Friday, two pupils from every class receive a certificate in recognition of how they have applied the focused skill throughout the week. Their achievements are also shared with families through Class Dojo, reinforcing the importance of the Eight Essential Skills both at school and at home.
Keep practising
Throughout our school, pupils are provided with a wide range of opportunities to develop and apply all Eight Essential Skills, alongside the specific skill being taught each half term. While one skill is given an explicit whole-school focus, the remaining essential skills are continually embedded across school life to ensure pupils can practise and strengthen them in a variety of meaningful contexts.
Our extensive programme of extra-curricular activities, including sports, languages and craft clubs, provides further opportunities for pupils to demonstrate skills such as teamwork, leadership, creativity and adapting. Across the curriculum, teachers are beginning to deliberately plan collaborative learning experiences that encourage pupils to apply the Eight Essential Skills in a range of subjects.
In addition, pupils participate in Skills Builder Challenge Days, where they work together to solve problems and complete practical challenges. These immersive experiences allow pupils to demonstrate and develop all Eight Essential Skills in authentic, engaging contexts, helping them to recognise how these transferable skills can be applied beyond the classroom.
Bring it to life
Career-related learning is embedded throughout our curriculum and is an integral part of our Curriculum Vehicles. Across all subjects, pupils are encouraged to 'think like a professional', adopting roles such as a scientist, historian, geographer or engineer. This approach brings learning to life by helping pupils understand how knowledge and skills are applied in the real world, while highlighting the importance of the Eight Essential Skills in a wide range of careers.
Each year, we also hold a dedicated Careers Week, providing pupils with opportunities to meet and learn from professionals representing a diverse range of industries and occupations. Visitors share insights into their roles, explain the pathways they followed into their careers, and discuss the essential skills that are vital for success in their profession. This helps to broaden pupils' aspirations, challenge stereotypes and increase their awareness of the many opportunities available to them in the future.
Recent visitors have included an RAF weapons technician, a veterinary surgeon, hairdressers, a performing arts actress, a plastic surgeon, a physiotherapist and many other professionals. These encounters provide pupils with meaningful, first-hand experiences that strengthen the link between their learning in school, the Eight Essential Skills and future career aspirations.
What's next
Looking ahead to next year, we will be moving to a Skills Builder Digital Membership, enabling us to further strengthen the implementation of the programme across the school. We plan to create even more opportunities for pupils to apply the Eight Essential Skills through dedicated Challenge Days and meaningful experiences embedded throughout our broad and ambitious curriculum.
Building on the progress made this year, our aim is to embed the Eight Essential Skills even more deeply within our curriculum, teaching and everyday vocabulary so that they become an integral part of school life. We want pupils to understand the value of these transferable skills, recognise when they are using them, and apply them independently and confidently across a range of contexts.
To ensure the programme continues to be implemented consistently, all new members of staff will receive induction and training on the Skills Builder approach and the Universal Framework. This will enable us to build on the str
