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Compass Learning Centre is a Pupil Referral Unit based in Weymouth, supporting learners aged 11–16 from across Dorset. Our pupils present with a wide range of needs, and many have experienced significant challenges within mainstream education, including permanent exclusion. At Compass, our core aim is to maximise every learner’s potential and to equip them with the skills and qualifications needed to progress into further education, training, or employment.
We chose to apply for the Skills Builder Accelerator programme because its eight essential skills align closely with the qualities we want our students to develop—skills that are critical for success not only in the workplace but also in wider life. These skills are increasingly valued by employers, and by helping our learners to understand, articulate, and demonstrate them, we are improving their long-term prospects and building their confidence.
Integrating the Skills Builder framework into our curriculum offers structured and accessible opportunities for personal growth, particularly for learners who have faced barriers in mainstream education. This initiative strongly reflects our vision and values—enabling learning for life, promoting equality, fostering respectful relationships, and, above all, transforming lives through learning.
Overall impact
Learners have enjoyed receiving certificates for extra curricular days and events with a skills builder focus on them. It has been really rewarding to hear people talk about skills they have used and I have really seen an improvement in Year 10s being able to articulate what the essential skills are, which skills are strengths for them, when they have used them and to be able to link these to future career ideas.
Keep it simple
In order to build awareness of the essential skills, we have a display of all the skills in every classroom and main areas of the school. We have also a poster of the specific skill that is being focused on each term in every teaching area. Teachers reward pupils with stickers in books when they see evidence of a particular skill and we have a skills builder section of our termly newsletter which informs parents, carers and other stakeholders of the focus skill and what we have been doing. Students are also rewarded with skills builder certificates for attendance and participation at extra curricular and enrichment activities.
Start early, keep going
Due to the nature of our cohort of learners, we begin their Skills Builder journey in Year 9 with a weekly session on the essential skills in their Life Skills lessons. This is then continued until they leave us in Year 11. Our aim is to ensure each student leaves us with a good understanding of which skills are strengths for them and the ability to be able to talk about those skills at interviews for post 16 placements at college, training and employment.
Measure it
We use the benchmark tool to enable our learners to self asses. We do this at the beginning and end of every term to enable our learners to understand the progress they are making. The teacher then uses the scores given to inform their planning for the weekly essential skills lessons to ensure they are pitching the lesson at the correct level so all learners can make progress. Teachers and all staff are always on the look out for our learners showing examples of the skills used. They record this information in a central form so we can present our learners with a certificate of all their skills when they leave us at the end of Year 11.
Focus tightly
We deliver a weekly essential skills input session within the Life skills scheme of learning. From Year 9 to Year 11, we focus on one essential skill a half term. Lessons are based on the short lessons on the Skills Builder hub and adapted to suit the needs of our learners building through the steps, dependent on the benchmark self assessments for that class. Learners have the opportunity to self assess at the start and end of each half term to enable them to see their own progress in each skill.
Keep practising
All our staff have received trained in using the skills builder language and we aim to refresh this knowledge regularly. Across the curriculum, teachers have different essential skills that they are focusing on, eg: problem solving in maths, listening and speaking in English and creativity in art and catering. This allows for regular practise of skills. Skills Builder language is being built into extra curricular activities such as sailing, forest school, sports and other enrichment activities.
Bring it to life
We have a strong careers programme of events at Compass and skills builder is embedded into this. At every careers event that is attended, employers and post 16 providers are encouraged to talk about the skills required for their industry or course and students are given essential skills tasks to complete at these events.
What's next
Our next steps are to continue to ensure that essential skills are given a focus in the Life Skills programme, to embed skills builder language and practice opportunities into all curriculum areas and to focus on adapting our rewards system to include more of a focus on Skills Builder. By the end of the next academic year, we would like to reward all our students with a Skills Builder Record of Skills as evidence to take with them out into their next steps post 16.
