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Samworth Church Academy is a mixed-gender Church of England secondary school with a sixth-form provision located in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, serving 1,050 students alongside 70 staff members as part of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Multi-Academy Trust. To build upon a strong foundation in career education, the academy joined the Skills Builder Accelerator programme targeting Bronze Award status. The initiative aims to support classroom teachers in embedding careers and essential skills into subject curriculums, while also extending skill development to students across two alternative provision sites to inspire successful futures
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme will establish a structured, shared approach to embedding essential skills across all sites. Through this, students will gain greater awareness of their personal skill development, helping to raise aspirations and prepare them for future interactions with employers and higher education.
Keep it simple
The academy plans to kick off implementation in September 2026 with a dedicated drop-down day, delivering an hour-long overview of the eight essential skills to every student. The Skills Leader is putting together a plan detailing how Skills Builder will map across explicit teaching, Period 6 enrichment, and tutor time, which will be presented to teachers and the Senior Leadership Team before being delivered as a tutor time presentation to all pupils. Visual reinforcement is being established across all sites, including classroom displays and integrating Skills Builder icons directly onto standard lesson starter slides alongside learning intentions and success criteria.
Start early, keep going
First the academy is integrating Skills Builder into Year 6 transition days. This session will focus on helping incoming students recognise the essential skills they have already built in primary school and understand how they will continue to build them in secondary education. The programme targets students from Year 7 onwards, ensuring progressive development across all year groups.
Measure it
To lay the groundwork for tracking progress, all staff have mapped their subjects by adding a dedicated column in long-term plans to flag opportunities for embedding the eight skills. The school will hold six drop-down days throughout the year, finding an hour during these sessions for students to complete dedicated skill self-assessments and reflections. Students will complete a baseline self-assessment during the May drop-down day, using online tools like Benchmark, which will help leadership evaluate student progress and prioritise future staff training.
Focus tightly
The school uses 20 minutes within the daily 30-minute tutor time structure for the explicit, tight teaching of essential skills using short lessons from the Skills Builder Hub. Delivery is pitched at an appropriate level to ensure instruction builds directly on pupils' prior attainment.
Keep practising
To reinforce skills across wider contexts, staff running compulsory Period 6 enrichment sessions (such as Lego club, craft club, and climbing club) will link activities to the eight skills. Once students complete their self-assessments, they can select their termly Period 6 options based on the specific skills they wish to develop. Additionally, educators have been asked to refer to the skills in daily lessons where possible, with the Science department acting as a pilot area to trial lesson slide icons and medium-term plan references.
Bring it to life
The academy plans to bring skills to life through Mock Interview Days for Year 11 and Year 13 students, featuring interview questions structured around the eight essential skills. Visiting employers will be briefed using the External Partner Pack to ensure they highlight concepts like teamwork during interactions. Digital tools, including Virtual Work Experience modules and virtual Employer Q&As, will be deployed to provide explicitly skills-based employer encounters.
What's next
Further steps might include: incorporating the skills into existing positive points and reward systems; to build on the Science pilot, further mapping skill teaching across all subject areas; and to broaden virtual employer encounters for learners across its alternative provision sites.
