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We are a Church of England Primary school who wants to instil a love of learning and a sense of appreciation for our local and global environment. Our curriculum is designed in a way to allow every child the opportunity to meet their potential, preparing them for the future with the knowledge and characteristics they need to succeed in our ever-changing world. We got involved with Skills Builder, as it fits into the aim of preparing children for the future. The eight essential skills are lifelong skills that we identified children struggled to understand how to use them and we were struggling to identify how to teach them. Skills builder has given us a framework to teach children what these skills are and how to use them. So that they can take them with them as they move into the future.
Overall impact
Children and staff thoroughly enjoy Skills Builder and can see the impact it has on children's learning as it prepares them for the future. Children feel that there is a purpose to learning these skills and enjoy applying them in their everyday lives. As noted in our very recent Ofsted report, the skills are being seen around the school, which is a particular highlight. For example, they were developing their teamwork skills during Forest School, and it was also noted that the children play a leading part in their school through multiple roles of responsibility, putting their leadership skills into practice.
Keep it simple
We completed the award 4 years ago, so this has been about bringing it back to the front of everyone's minds again. The language from the Universal Framework is familiar within school, it is used by teachers, teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, sports staff, and forest school staff to ensure a consistent approach is used. We have a focus skill every two weeks, which teachers display the icon on their board to refer to throughout the two weeks. All classrooms have made use of the Skills Builder Hub to assess some of the essential skills and to teach from there. As part of the celebration assembly each week, a certificate is given to someone within each class who has either shown a great example of that skill or who has made a great improvement with their understanding of that skill. The focus skill is also shared with parents in the newsletter.
Start early, keep going
All children within school have accessed, at some point across the year, resources on the Skills Builder Hub. Throughout the two weeks in which a skill is being focused on, most children have the opportunity to learn and practice the skill. Teachers use the assessments made from the hub to identify an appropriate step in to begin with. Early Years have been accessing some of the skills stories linked into the focus skill. These resources have been used differently throughout the school with some classes using some of the lessons for discussion points in various subjects. Teachers have updated their assessments on the hub at regular points throughout the year and then use these assessments when teaching the steps.
Measure it
The majority of staff are using observations to inform when the focused skills and steps are acheived. This is captured easily on the Hub, which is updated at regular points throughout the year. The Hub Report has also been useful in this regard in seeing the progress that classes have made.
Focus tightly
The majority of classes receive at least one short lesson within a 2-week period, which is linked to the focus skill. Teachers have this dedicated time on their timetables to ensure, in most cases, that the focus skill is covered at least once within the 2 weeks. Early Years have been using the skills stories as well as the short lessons.
Keep practising
Teachers make links to the essential skills verbally across a range of lessons. Following on from our second teacher training session, the majority of staff are now making links within their planning to where there is an opportunity to practise a particular skill within a certain activity or lesson focus. This is ensuring that the skills are consistently being referred to and there is regular opportunity for the children to practise the eight essential skills. The skills have also been linked into the after school clubs - all clubs that are held across the year have been assigned a skill for children to practise within that session as well.
Bring it to life
Our Year 5 and 6 have had the opportunity to attend a Career Insights Session on Zoom, in which they had the opportunity to see how the eight essential skills apply to the real world. The whole school took part in an activity linked into the job of being a scientist as part of Science week. They had the opportunity, in small groups, to conduct an experiment linked into sports. This experiment was broken down into steps, with each step linking into one of the eight essential skills. This allowed the children an opportunity to see how the eight essential steps apply to jobs in the real world. Before the end of the year, the Year 5 and 6 class will complete a young enterprise activity in which the skills will be linked into this as well.
What's next
Next year, we will carry on with a focus skill of every two weeks and linking it into our planning as that is a success we have had this year. To build o we plan on linking in Skills builder and the teaching of the eight essential skills with Forest school. This is a lesson that each child receives once a week and will allow a greater opportunity for the children to practise these skills.
