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At Utopia, neurodiversity is celebrated, after all, no two people are ever the same, therefore why should their curriculum be? We adopt a strength based approach for our social and academic development, reinforced by powerful, pastoral programmes to improve educational outcomes.
The bedrock of our approach centres around specialist staff knowing our pupils, parents & carers and working together to build packages of support to address their needs.
Our students have a range of additional needs and future aspirations, with many at risk of becoming NEET. We believe that in embedding the essential skills throughout our curriculum, and explicitly teaching the skills in assemblies, subject lessons and drop-down days, we have found an effective way to boost academic outcomes, perseverance and self belief.
Overall impact
The support of Jessica and Phil has been excellent. They seem to understand the nature of our school and appreciate the unique way in which we work to make the Framework fit our young people. The Accelerator programme has been fundamental in allowing us to develop a programme and school-wide approach we are finishing the year very proud of. The training provided by the Accelerator was engaging and informative, and made staff more committed to the Framework and confident in their ability to deliver it.
Keep it simple
Teachers have had training on the essential skills during inset days to prepare them for the use of consistent language across the school. Form tutors deliver Short Lessons from the Hub once a week, focusing on each of the skills in 2-week blocks. Staff and students quickly became familiar with the language of the Universal Framework through regular use of the Hub and Benchmark programmes.
Teachers refer to the skills as part of the lesson starter activities, placing the main skill focus on a visual timetable for the lesson. Schemes of Work have to consider which of the skills each lesson will focus on, and our lesson planning pro-forma has been adapted to highlight the importance of the skill and time for reflection.
We have highlighted to students how much we value the skills by basing our rewards and praise system on them, awarding points for each of the skills in all lessons leading up to a weekly certificate in Friday assembly. All teachers have access to the reward system and are expected to award points while communicating which of the skills has been developed using consistent language.
All classrooms have a subject relevant skills builder display, and visual timetables are used in every lesson using the skills builder icons. The Careers Lead involved all parents by sending out a Careers Newsletter at the start of the year, explaining the Framework, the skills terminology, and how we hope to engage the students to engage in it.
Start early, keep going
We are a small school covering years 9-11. Each student is part of a form group that has been involved in assemblies and short lessons weekly throughout the academic year. They each have access to the Benchmark and regularly complete self-assessments. Form tutors have used the Hub to assess the level of their group and have used the Hub to find appropriate content to deliver. On all school trips students are encouraged to consider which skills are being used (by themselves or others) and how they can be developed.
Measure it
Teachers use consistent formative assessment to judge the appropriate level of content to deliver from the Hub in form and assembly time. Staff review the data on the Hub and Benchmark each half-term to assess engagement and progress.
Students have their own accounts with access to a profile on Benchmark. They use this to complete tasks based on the focus skill of the week. Students are asked to reflect on progress regularly.
Benchmark was useful in engaging the students through the interactive nature of the use of the technology, but we found that the results of such self-assessment appeared unrealistic. We therefore created our own RAG rating system based on the 15 steps for each skill, using language we find more appropriate to our young people and allowing the teacher to guide each individual through the assessment in a more structured way.
Focus tightly
All teachers are now expected to include the explicit teaching of at least one essential skill in each lesson. This is chosen by the teacher based on relevance to the learning objective and appropriate to the level of the student. The skill is highlighted at the beginning of each lesson and added to a visual timetable, taught during a task or activity, then reflected on during the plenary. Students are asked to consider their understanding of the skill and progress, and encouraged to record any development using the Benchmark. All schemes of work and lesson plans are expected to include reference to which of the skills will be focused on, how it will be taught, and a success criteria. Our school timetable dedicates form time once a week to the delivery of short lessons and regular skill focused assemblies.
Keep practising
Essential skills are taught explicitly in all subjects. Each teacher references the skills in lesson introductions and when using the school reward/praise system. During extra-curricular or out-of-school activities students are encouraged to consider and talk about the skills in use. Staff have received inset training on the expectation to highlight opportunities to practise or teach the essential skills in their subject, and this is now referenced in all curriculum and planning documents. On trips and school visits students are given skills score-cards which they are asked to complete, encouraging them to think about the importance of each of the skills to a number of roles they encounter.
Bring it to life
The essential skills are not just highlighted in the classroom when being taught explicitly. Students are praised throughout the day, at break/lunch times, etc using language consistent with the Framework. Teachers reference the skill and how it is relevant not just to the school setting or future work opportunities, but in their daily life. We also highlight development of the skills to individuals on a constant ongoing basis.
On workplace visits students complete their skills score-cards and are asked to consider the importance of each skill to the variety of roles they encounter. We have half-termly off-timetable days which often relate directly to one of the skills. As part of the DoE Award our students develop each of the skills and are now familiar with the terminology enough to talk confidentially about their use of the skills. They also complete a volunteering placement and are expected to complete a reflection task referencing the skills they have developed and suggest future volunteering opportunities to develop other skills.
What's next
We have already began planning for the implementation of the essential skills next year. New documents have been produced to embed across the curriculum, schemes of work are being developed that reference specific skill focuses, and lesson plans are now expected to include explicit teaching of specific skills in each lesson. New displays are being designed to reflect changes in terminology for 2025/26
