At Penketh High School, all learners are provided with regular, structured, and meaningful opportunities to learn and practise essential skills through our integrated approach to the Skills Builder framework. Every pupil receives a personal copy of the framework during their induction week, where each skill is explicitly introduced and modelled by staff. This framework, along with step-by-step descriptors from beginner to mastery, is also made accessible to pupils and parents via Microsoft Teams, ensuring transparency and shared understanding at home. During transition, Year 6 pupils are introduced to the skills in a way that’s both engaging and developmental, receiving stickers and certificates to celebrate early engagement. Throughout their time at school, all pupils participate in one-to-one meetings with their Personal Development (PD) Coach. During these meetings, each pupil is supported to set a personalised skill target, using the Skills Builder steps, which is then revisited in a follow-up meeting where pupils present evidence of their progress. Opportunities to develop these skills are woven throughout the school experience. In curriculum lessons and during form time, pupils regularly reflect on how they are applying their essential skills. Enrichment activities are explicitly linked to the Dual Curriculum, with pupils discussing the specific skills being developed through each club or experience. Wider school drop-down days include structured opportunities for pupils to reflect on their skills development and how it supports both academic and personal growth. Assemblies delivered by staff are themed around specific essential skills, reinforcing them in a consistent and community-wide manner. In addition, pupils participate in dedicated form time sessions focused on developing key skills based on identified year group priorities. We also run holistic reflection mornings where pupils review both academic and skills-based targets, making clear links between their progress and the personal development framework. This cohesive and reflective approach ensures that every pupil at Penketh is actively involved in their essential skills journey.

At Penketh High School, formative assessment of essential skills is an embedded and ongoing process that informs teaching, intervention, and wider provision across the school. Each pupil meets regularly with their Personal Development (PD) Coach to reflect on their skill development. Progress is tracked using an internal system aligned with the Skills Builder framework, which records each pupil’s stage of development from Beginner to Mastery over time. This data is reviewed consistently and used to identify trends across cohorts or year groups. Where the data reveals weaker areas, targeted provision is implemented to address these gaps. For example, when Leadership was identified as a commonly underdeveloped skill, we responded by introducing additional leadership opportunities through the Duke of Edinburgh Award, leadership-focused drop-down days, and roles within enrichment. This data-led approach ensures our provision is responsive to pupil need. Curriculum teams liaise with PD Coaches to align subject-specific teaching with skill development needs. For instance, the Modern Foreign Languages department focused on Speaking and Listening skills after identifying this as an area of development through the framework. Pupils in these subjects are then given the opportunity to reflect on their personal progress in these areas during class discussions and PD meetings. Departments also map essential skills within their schemes of work, ensuring they are not only taught but consciously assessed and revisited. Enrichment learning walks, conducted by PD Coaches, evaluate the quality of skills development beyond the classroom, and are supported by regular pupil focus groups to ensure learners can articulate how their enrichment activities contribute to their personal skill development. Recognition remains a key part of our assessment culture. Staff across the school—including teaching and support staff—reward pupils with postcards for demonstrating essential skills in real-time, capturing one-off but significant moments of application. As PD Lead, I meet bi-weekly with the Principal and report to SLT on progress, emerging patterns, and strategic recommendations. This is supported by the creation of case studies and pupil voice feedback to measure impact and ensure our approach remains dynamic and meaningful.

At Penketh High School, the explicit teaching of essential skills is embedded across all areas of school life. Staff use the Skills Builder Universal Framework to guide planning and ensure clarity and consistency in language across subjects and key stages. During our bespoke induction week, pupils are explicitly introduced to each essential skill through sessions led by staff. Throughout the year, staff continue to make these skills explicit in lessons, enrichment, and pastoral activities. In curriculum lessons, teachers reference the skill being developed—such as teamwork, problem-solving, or listening—using shared vocabulary from the framework. All enrichment sessions begin with a pre-populated slide that highlights the skills pupils will be using, how these relate to specific steps in the framework, and how they may link to future careers. Enrichment leaders complete a skills mapping document that identifies the essential skills within each activity and the expected level of development, allowing staff and pupils to track progression in context. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their skills during and after enrichment activities, considering which skills they want to develop further when selecting new clubs. Our Careers Lead also ensures that the essential skills are referenced in all workshops and activities involving external agencies. Visitors and employers are briefed on the framework and incorporate it into their interactions with pupils, making the connections between school, personal development, and employability clear and consistent. Essential skills are intentionally planned into curriculum and enrichment time. Departments map the skills into their schemes of work and highlight the steps pupils are working on, ensuring that the pitch is appropriate and based on pupil starting points. This is supported by the shared pupil/staff matrix and guidance on how to differentiate based on the framework’s progression model from Beginner to Mastery. Form tutors also deliver dedicated sessions focused on specific skills, based on year group developmental needs, which are reinforced through follow-up in PD Coach meetings. Curriculum provision is reviewed weekly as part of our quality assurance process. As part of this, departments formally present how they are embedding and explicitly teaching the essential skills, and how they are making use of the Skills Builder framework. These reviews are shared with SLT, ensuring a whole-school strategic approach to the planning and delivery of skills education.

At Penketh High School, all curriculum areas are expected to explicitly highlight the use and development of essential skills in their lessons. Teachers reference skills directly in lesson slides and discussions, with clear visual cues embedded in booklets, PowerPoints and classroom displays. This consistent use of the Skills Builder icons and language ensures pupils are aware of which skills they are practising and how they connect to the task. In curriculum lessons, pupils are regularly given opportunities to practise essential skills through a range of structured activities—for example, collaboration tasks that develop teamwork, or extended writing to build creativity and staying positive. After assessments, subjects such as Maths and Science require pupils to reflect on the skills they used during the unit, helping to build metacognition and ownership of their personal development. Form time and PSHE lessons also dedicate time to skills reflection, often prompting pupils to link their learning to the Skills Builder framework and identify areas for further growth. Additionally, each pupil has regular one-to-one discussions with their PD Coach throughout the year, during which they must give evidence of how curriculum and enrichment experiences have supported their progress on the skills matrix. Essential skills are embedded within curriculum planning documents across all departments. Staff have received CPD to support mapping the Skills Builder framework into their schemes of work, ensuring that each subject area identifies where key skills are being taught and developed. This planning ensures that skills are not treated as an add-on but are integrated into the structure of learning. Departments also use the shared skills matrix to ensure consistency and clarity in how skills are pitched and taught, aligned with the Universal Framework’s progression from Beginner to Mastery. As part of our whole-school quality assurance process, curriculum reviews specifically include an evaluation of how essential skills are being embedded. Departments present this to SLT, ensuring accountability and allowing best practice to be shared. Our extensive enrichment programme is built into the school day, with all pupils participating in two 45-minute sessions per week. Every enrichment activity is mapped against the Skills Builder framework, with staff identifying the specific skills and progression steps pupils will develop during each activity. These mappings are displayed at the start of each session using pre-prepared slides to reinforce the skills focus and links to future careers. To deepen engagement, pupils are asked to reflect on their skills development after participating in enrichment, school trips, or other wider experiences. Pupil voice surveys are completed after events and trips, with questions focused on the skills used and improved. Pupils’ reflections are reviewed by staff and form part of their PD Coach discussions to support tracking and guidance. At a wider level, pupils’ contributions to society and extracurricular life are celebrated through initiatives such as the TCAT Challenge Award, which recognises how learners apply essential skills beyond the classroom. This culture of reflection and reward helps reinforce the value of the Skills Builder framework across all aspects of school life.

At Penketh High School, we are committed to ensuring all pupils have meaningful opportunities to apply and develop essential skills through real-world experiences beyond the classroom. Pupils engage in a wide range of employer encounters, workplace visits, volunteering, and hands-on projects—all explicitly linked to the Skills Builder framework. These experiences are planned to help pupils recognise the value of essential skills in a variety of life and career contexts. Our curriculum dedicates time to explicitly link essential skills with future careers, supported by our Careers and PD Leads. External partners such Career Connect integrate the skills into one-to-one interviews, group guidance sessions, and workshops. Employers are regularly briefed to reference the essential skills during their sessions, helping pupils make strong connections between what they learn in school and how those skills apply in the workplace. We provide rich, real-life encounters, including visits to Manchester Airport, where pupils interested in aviation careers experienced behind-the-scenes operations, flight simulation, and border control tasks. Pupils interested in sports careers visited Manchester City FC, exploring a range of industry roles beyond athletes. Others attended Knowsley Safari Park to understand careers in animal care, while pupils with a passion for marketing collaborated with professionals at a creative agency to design an advertising campaign—working in real teams on-site with direct employer feedback. During work experience, our external provider explicitly referenced essential skills throughout, linking tasks directly to real-life roles and providing tangible examples of skill application. Pupils then reflected on this using Microsoft Forms, and their responses are discussed during follow-up PD Coach sessions. This allows pupils to clearly articulate how they are developing skills such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving, and staying positive in authentic contexts. Our Pupil Leadership Team offers volunteering roles that promote leadership, communication, and teamwork—allowing pupils to give back to the school community while growing their skills. All of these opportunities are followed by structured reflection. Pupils regularly evaluate their skill development during drop-down days, school trips, enrichment sessions, and employer events, supported by tools such as Microsoft Forms and guided PD Coach conversations. This emphasis on real-world application ensures pupils not only develop essential skills but also understand their value—preparing them to confidently transition into further education, employment, or training. This work was recognised in our most recent Ofsted report, which highlighted how well pupils could articulate the skills they were developing and how these linked to their future aspirations.