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.
James Elliman Academy is a three-form entry primary school in Slough, serving 722 pupils who are aged between 5-11. Our involvement with Skills Builder directly supports our Academy Development Plan priorities, particularly Priority 7: Personal Development and Well-being, where we aim to provide a range of enrichment opportunities for children so that they can learn skills that will prepare them for their future life and work, in order to develop aspirations based on their interests, talents, and dreams. This also connects to Priority 2: Curriculum, where we ensure our curriculum is relevant and linked to sustainability, the use of AI and digital literacy, equipping our pupils with the essential skills they need for their future.
Overall impact
We have been using Skills Builder in James Elliman Academy for a number of years and have adapted the programme to suit our school. We have mainly focussed on the toolkit and certificates provided by the programme, but used our own monitoring systems to track achievement and progress. We have looked at the activities presented in the Skills Builder programme to help us understand how to teach the skills in lessons. We related these to our curriculum, so we use our lessons to teach the skills with teachers focusing on the Skills Builder language. The children have enjoyed working on the skills in the lessons and look forward to receiving the skills certificates. They are working through the steps at their own pace and we can see the difference in the children’s confidence, in how they have improved in their behaviour, communication skills and tackle tasks. It has definitely made a positive contribution towards our teaching and their learning.
Keep it simple
The Principal Mrs T Johal will introduce a concept like ‘Diversity’ and the skills from Skills Builder that would be associated with it, at the beginning of each half term. This is done six times in the year, each with a different concept, so all skills would be covered throughout the year. At the end of each half term all classes in year groups report back in the form of a slide presented to the rest of the school of how children have worked on the concept of Diversity using the Skills Builder toolkit. An example to share would be Year 4; they used their skill of leadership in leading discussions in Science where they explained how an electrical circuit is put together and works.
Start early, keep going
In each class the children have a display of all the different skills, with a description to help children focus on what the skill is. Teachers use these posters to focus on a skill when the children are working on activities. In planning for each subject across the curriculum we have added a box where particular Skills Builder skills are listed to work on in lessons. Teachers have been given the tool kit to be able to help them understand the steps in each skill, so they can assess their children according to that. For Year 6, we target the Intermediate milestone; across the foundation subjects, children routinely work in mixed-ability groups to ensure that all children achieve the same high-quality learning outcome. This creates an inclusive environment where students must practice Adapting (Step 6: Supporting others and Step 7: Encouraging others). Higher-attaining students adapt their language to teach peers, while others are encouraged to persist. Year 6 worked on the adapting skill when studying Martin Luther King’s- I Have A Dream.
Measure it
At James Elliman teachers from Year 1 to Year 6 assess formally on the James Elliman grid, every half term. This is after having an assembly at the beginning of each half term that introduces the concept and skills. The skills certificates are printed out and given to the children and recorded on the grid that each teacher has in all year groups. We use the step descriptors in Skills Builder Framework to benchmark where students sit.
Focus tightly
The skills are embedded in the planning across all subjects in all year groups. The teachers will get children to practice specific skills in each lesson based on the skills listed in the plans. An example; in Year 4 in the Art plan where the Adapting skill was listed in the plan and worked on. The children adapted their work, step 3 & 4 of Adapting, as they came across challenges where the colours did not always show a difference between the shades. The children kept working calmly and solved the problem by checking the knowledge on the teacher’s prompt whiteboard and their knowledge descriptors to help them to create their fruit pictures.
Keep practising
The skills are embedded in all the planning across all the subjects. In all year groups, teachers will get children to practice specific skills in each lesson. One example I have added is above in Art where the planning for the skills to be taught are written in the last box of the plans. All other subjects at James Elliman Academy are also planned in the same way with a skills box filled in, so teachers know what skills to teach in that subject across the years.
In Year 2, while studying Christianity in R.E and studying a text in Reading, Year 2 focused on the speaking skill steps 1-3 from the tool kit.
In Year 3, skills steps in Speaking and Creativity have been focused on across the curriculum. The teachers used the skills toolkit to help identify the step the children were working on between step 1-4.
For the Speaking skill in Year 3, the children work on group projects and use their speaking skills to talk about and share their learning about the bones in a skeleton, in Science, with the rest of the class. (Step 4)
In PSHE the Year 3 children studied and practiced the skill of creativity, where they created their garden of dreams using a variety of resources such as cardboard box, coloured paper, pipe cleaners etc. (Step 4)
Bring it to life
Project work is used in James Elliman to bring skills alive. An example to share, where a project was used to bring the skills to life would be when the Year 6 children were given a Bric-a-Brac Fundraising Project to do. Students had to manage a fundraising campaign for a school Bric-a-Brac sale. They designed and manufactured real items - including stuffed toys, purses, bracelets, and bookmarks. This brought Problem Solving to life as they completed Step 6 (Analysing options) to determine resource costs and Step 8 (Researching) to figure out assembly methods. The real-world outcome of raising money gave their structural problem-solving a clear purpose.
What's next
At James Elliman we are now looking at using the Skills Builder programme more in relation to using the programme's method of recording the skills steps for each child before the skills certificates are given out. We are also looking at picking out particular lessons to work on skills at certain times of the year to help in the practice of those skills. This will help our children to become more confident and achieve success in their learning.
