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At Joseph Turner Primary School, we are committed to providing an aspiration-led curriculum that prepares our children not only for success in the classroom, but also for their future lives and careers. We chose to become involved with the Skills Builder Accelerator because we recognised the importance of developing the essential skills that underpin lifelong learning, personal growth and employability. By introducing these skills at an early age, we can help our pupils build confidence, resilience, communication and teamwork skills that will support them throughout their education and beyond. Skills Builder aligns closely with our vision of raising aspirations and empowering every child to thrive, regardless of the path they choose in the future. Through this approach, we are equipping our children with the tools they need to become successful, adaptable and ambitious members of society.
Overall impact
The overall impact of the Skills Builder Accelerator programme at Joseph Turner Primary School has been extremely positive for pupils, staff and the wider school community. The programme has helped create a shared language around the Essential Skills, giving teachers greater confidence in explicitly teaching and recognising skills such as Listening, Teamwork, Problem Solving and Creativity across the curriculum. As a result, these skills are no longer seen as an add-on; they have become an integral part of daily learning and school life.
For pupils, the impact has been particularly evident in their ability to identify, discuss and apply the Essential Skills both in and beyond school. Children regularly reference the skills independently and are beginning to transfer them into real-life situations. A memorable example came from a Year 3 pupil who explained that he and his cousin were planning to use the Essential Skill of Teamwork during a visit to the local swimming baths so that they could overcome the challenging inflatable obstacles together. This demonstrates how deeply embedded the language and concepts have become.
There have been many highlights, including whole-school Challenge Days such as Crash Landing, where pupils spent an entire day applying Essential Skills to investigate an alien crash landing in the school field. These immersive experiences brought the skills to life and generated enthusiasm and engagement long after the event.
Keep it simple
At Joseph Turner Primary School, we have embedded the Essential Skills throughout school life to ensure that pupils, staff and families share a common understanding of their importance. All pupils are taught using Skills Builder, and the language of the Universal Framework is consistently reinforced in classrooms, staff meetings and assemblies. Essential Skill icons are displayed in every classroom, throughout halls and communal areas, on lesson slides, and within EYFS floor books. We have also launched the programme through whole-school assemblies and continue to hold regular assemblies focused on the individual skills.
To further raise awareness, we focus on a different Essential Skill each month, with dedicated display space in classrooms and a whole-school art display board showcasing all eight skills. Skills are celebrated through adapted assembly certificates, with parents and carers invited to share in pupils’ achievements. Staff regularly recognise and reward the use of Essential Skills in lessons, using verbal praise and stickers in pupils’ books that identify and recap the specific skill demonstrated.
Parents and carers are kept informed through monthly newsletter features that explain the skills and how they can be supported at home.
Start early, keep going
The development of Essential Skills begins early and continues throughout a child’s educational journey. Skills Builder has been implemented across the whole school, from Nursery through to Year 6, ensuring that every pupil has regular opportunities to develop and apply the Essential Skills appropriate to their stage of learning. The skills are embedded in daily lesson slides and classroom practice, making them a consistent part of pupils’ educational experience.
To ensure progression, explicit weekly teaching time has been ring-fenced for Skills Builder lessons across all year groups. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the programme has been adapted to meet the needs of younger learners, with a focus on fewer skills over a longer period of time to allow children to develop a secure understanding before moving on.
Parents and carers are also involved in the journey. Through regular communication, including monthly newsletter features and celebration assemblies, families are made aware of the Essential Skills being developed and are encouraged to reinforce them at home. This whole-school approach ensures that all learners, regardless of age or stage, have the opportunity to build the skills they need now and in the future.
Measure it
We use the Skills Builder Hub to measure and track the development of pupils’ Essential Skills across each class. At the start of implementation, pupils completed a baseline assessment to provide an initial picture of their strengths and areas for development. Following the teaching of each skill area, further assessments are completed through the Hub, enabling staff to monitor progress over time and gather measurable data on pupils’ personal development.
This approach allows us to identify trends, celebrate improvements and pinpoint areas where additional support may be needed. The assessment data provides valuable insight into how effectively the skills are being embedded and developed across the school. It also helps teachers plan next steps and tailor opportunities for pupils to practise and strengthen specific skills.
Our Skills Builder lead, Mr Weaver, has undertaken monitoring of Hub assessment data and has already identified areas where consistency and outcomes could be further improved. As the programme continues to develop, monitoring and analysis of this data will become an even more explicit part of our approach, helping to ensure that all pupils make strong progress in the Essential Skills and that the impact of the programme can be clearly evidenced across the school.
Focus tightly
Regular and structured opportunities are provided for pupils to develop their Essential Skills through direct instruction. Skills Builder lessons are embedded within whole-year group timetables, ensuring that explicit teaching is planned consistently across the school. All teachers and teaching assistants are actively involved in delivering these sessions, creating a shared approach and ensuring that the language and expectations of the Essential Skills are reinforced throughout pupils’ learning experiences.
The introduction of new skills is supported through whole-school assemblies, where a new Essential Skill is typically launched each month. In addition, 20 minutes of weekly time is dedicated to class assemblies, providing further opportunities to explore and celebrate the skills. While the whole school focuses on the overall skill theme, individual classes delve deeper into specific skill steps, enabling teaching to be tailored to pupils’ age and stage of development.
To support effective delivery, staff use the Skills Builder Hub and associated resources, including assessment tools that help identify the next steps in learning. This ensures that direct instruction is purposeful, progressive and responsive to pupils’ needs. Through this structured approach, all pupils receive regular guidance and opportunities to build the Essential Skills that will support their success both in school and beyond.
Keep practising
Pupils are given regular opportunities to practise and apply their Essential Skills across the curriculum and wider school life. The skills are embedded within everyday teaching, with Skills Builder icons referenced in lesson slides and learning activities across subjects. Subject leaders monitor planning and classroom practice to ensure that Essential Skills are consistently integrated and explicitly taught.
Pupils are encouraged to recognise and reflect on their use of the skills through formative assessment, including Skills Builder stickers in books. The skills are also highly visible through displays in classrooms and communal areas, helping pupils make connections between different aspects of school life.
We further develop these skills through immersive Challenge Days. For example, during our ‘Crash Landing’ day, pupils spent the entire day investigating a fictional alien crash landing in the school field. Throughout the experience, they applied essential skills to gather evidence, collaborate with others and draw conclusions.
The skills are also reinforced beyond the classroom through wider school activities and are increasingly referenced within extra-curricular opportunities. As a result, pupils can confidently talk about the Essential Skills they have learned and explain how they use them in different contexts, ensuring they become a natural part of everyday learning and behaviour.
Bring it to life
At Joseph Turner Primary School, we work hard to help pupils understand how the Essential Skills they develop in school can be applied in real-life situations. One of the key ways we do this is through whole-school Challenge Days, where all pupils spend the day off timetable applying skills to authentic and engaging scenarios. For example, our Crash Landing Challenge Day required pupils to investigate the arrival of aliens in the school field, using skills such as Problem Solving, Teamwork, Speaking and Creativity. The impact was significant, with children continuing to talk about and reflect on their learning long afterwards.
We also create links between Essential Skills and future careers through employer encounters across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Pupils explore different jobs and identify which Essential Skills are important for success in those roles. In Year 6, pupils further develop these connections through work experience opportunities following SATs.
Our OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) provision provides another valuable real-world context, with pupils applying skills while building dens, exploring woodland areas and engaging in collaborative play. Parents and carers are involved through newsletters and celebration assemblies, helping to reinforce the importance of Essential Skills beyond school and into everyday life.
What's next
Having been put forward for the Gold Award within just nine months of implementing Skills Builder, our next priority is to consolidate and sustain our success. We are proud of how quickly the Essential Skills have become embedded across school life and want to ensure this strong foundation continues to grow.
During the next academic year, we will lead the programme independently, without direct support from the Associate Programme, focusing on strengthening consistency across year groups, embedding the Essential Skills further within teaching and learning, and continuing to monitor their impact through assessment, pupil voice and wider school review processes. We will also build on our existing engagement with parents and carers, ensuring the language and value of the Essential Skills continue to be reinforced beyond the classroom.
Looking further ahead, our ambition is to achieve Flagship status. To support this, we will focus on developing stronger links with the wider community.
