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Maplefields is an all through specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health setting from Year 1 to Year 13. We initially participated in the Accelerator programme to support our implementation of Skills Builder across the school and now our practice is fully embedded as Skills Builder forms one of the ‘Golden Threads’ of our curriculum. At the start we were particularly interested in exploring the idea of Skills Builder being linked to our students' Education Health Care Plans and then relating them to individualised targets as this allowed for a consistent framework with shared language to be used across the whole school for all students. Another element of using Skills Builder was to support the reinvigoration of our Careers programme (which we renamed ‘Informing Futures’) at Maplefields and using the eight essential skills to explicitly link to our whole school curriculum drivers of Communication, Healthy Relationships, Independence and Self-worth. After doing some research into Skills Builder and looking at other specialist settings, it gave us confidence in being able to integrate this into our existing systems and being able to track students’ progress with this. We have now been using Skills Builder as part of our curriculum for a number of years.
Overall impact
Skills Builder fundamentally changed the language we are using across the school when discussing students' targets. This is on all levels, giving students much more ownership over their targets and a more thorough understanding of them and how they relate to skills. The strategy meetings have supported leaders to look at development areas and allowed for tailored staff training to effectively implement changes across the whole school. The Skills Builder Hub has supported teachers and teaching assistants with resources and confidence to use those resources. Linking Skills Builder to the EHCP targets has allowed us to really focus and make everything secure, from the EHCP long term outcome right down to the short-term incremental targets. The highly recognisable icons have supported students and staff to think of creative ways of linking daily school life to the eight essential skills. The Essential Skills are on display in every classroom, including specialist areas and are present on our school agreed Teaching and Learning Slides that are consistently used in every classroom in every lesson. This has also now been extended to our vocational offerings and in the wider community through volunteering and work experience. All evidence is then collated using our school assessment system.
Keep it simple
The Skills Builder framework was set up to work alongside our existing assessment system and staff training was provided. This supported end of term reports that were shared with students and their parents. Assemblies were designed to focus on Skills Builder; celebrating children's use of skills as part of the assembly. All children's EHCP targets are linked and referenced to the eight essential skills drilling down into the individual steps themselves, becoming medium and short-term targets that are linked to the long term EHCP outcomes. Across the whole school these targets are displayed on students’ desks. Displays are in all classrooms and specialist classrooms to bring awareness that this a whole school approach and is intertwined with our teaching and learning strategies. Medium term lesson planning templates have a box for referencing skills and then these are annotated to show given opportunities. This has been added into the curriculum policy and assessment policy.
Start early, keep going
Explicit Skills Builder sessions have been designed and implemented on to the timetable in Primary and Secondary on a regular basis, with Primary being of first focus and therefore having a 15-minute daily Skills Builder session whereas Secondary has one 15-minute session per week but is showcased through practical strategies relating to Employability, Life Skills and Vocational options. These opportunities build upon the eight essential skills consistently and are then reinforced during lesson time through explicit reference and links to learning. The termly report that goes home to parents shares this information and any progress made and next steps for development. Due to the Skills Builder targets being linked to each individual's Education and Health Care Plan outcomes, these skills are being constantly referenced and assessed at every opportunity at Maplefields Academy.
Measure it
There are three formal assessment points throughout the academic year, whereby we measure progress against the eight essential skills and their EHCP targets which are linked to Skills Builder. The school also assesses against the Skills Builder criteria that has been uploaded to our assessment system and then teachers assess at the same three formal points. This then allows us to triangulate progress towards Skills Builder outcomes in terms of academic lessons as well as EHCP outcomes. Reports are then sent home to parents. Teachers are accessing resources from the Skills Builder Hub and teachers have been creative in their response to this, using extra-curricular opportunities such as trips, visits, work experience and volunteering to exemplify this, which is then evidenced on our school assessment system in the form of a pictorial record. Rewards are firmly embedded at Maplefields are explicitly linked to the skills. These are assessed every lesson and recorded on individual target sheets.
Focus tightly
Primary classes have a regular 15-minute slot everyday which focuses on particular skills. Areas for development are identified through the Skills Builder Assessment criteria on our assessment system and then teachers plan opportunities to develop those areas. As a school we felt that it was vital to provide earlier opportunities for students to engage with these skills and develop an understanding of these skills in relation to the world of work through our Informing Futures programme. Secondary have it as part of their Assembly Rota and it also plays a role in key times, which are a daily session for class staff and their form to look at student development. Secondary also have one dedicated Skills Builder session a week for reflection and next steps. At the end of every timetabled lesson, students are given the opportunity to reflect on their short-term Skills Builder targets that are linked to their EHCP outcomes. Students' daily target sheets and their desk top targets, alongside the classroom displays, are all used to support this work.
Keep practising
The medium-term planning document has the eight essential skills icons on there and teachers annotate on their planning to identify which skills have been included in their topic and focus during that term on a weekly basis. Extra-curricular opportunities such as work experience, volunteering, trips and visits are used to raise awareness of students using the essential skills. The reward system has been refined to fully utilise the eight essential skills during weekly enrichment activities which highlight which skills students will be working toward in that enrichment session, allowing students to gain rewards through exemplifying different skills. The essential skills are reflected upon in every timetabled lesson as part of the high quality first teaching model at Maplefields whereby teachers relate the concepts of their lessons to the real-world and therefore to the skills.
Bring it to life
Maplefields runs the full National Curriculum but as a special school we identify methods for delivering concepts and then applying them in practical and real-world contexts. Evidence of this can be seen in MAPLE’s challenge days that are designed for students to build on their essential skills in practical ways and with students they would not ordinarily work with across school in order to foster relationships. Employability and Life Skills lessons, alongside vocational options for Motor Vehicle Studies, Construction and Duke of Edinburgh provide further opportunities for students to practise their skills in the real world. The aim is always to find a pathway to the next step in their education journey whether it be college, Post 16, apprenticeships or the world of work. KS4/5 students then have the opportunity for work experience or volunteering out in the local community and Maplefields works with employers regularly to build these links. Students who attend offsite provisions or experience education in a different context, have their EHCPs shared, along with their Skills Builder targets, which are regularly assessed and commented on by the provision. Residentials, work experience in and out of school, including the Maplefields Job Hub, provide further opportunity for real life outcomes.
What's next
Maplefields continues to be an outward facing school and we celebrate how Skills Builder has been implemented and intertwined as part of our practice with visitors and other schools. This continues to be something that we wish to be part of. Parental engagement has improved with regular reports explicitly referencing Skills Builder and the school Newsletter also referencing the essential skills throughout. The next step in this regard would be to continue to develop our shared language alongside our Curriculum Drivers as part of Parent/Carer groups and workshops to enable Parents/Carers to reflect on how this links to future employment options and Skills in the real-world specifically to enable our Parents/Carers to understand how the curriculum is interlinked.
