All departments must reference which skills are being developed at the various stages of their schemes of work - this is for all KS3 & KS4 SOW. SOW are planned as part of a spiral curriculum where knowledge and skills are revisited throughout the year, (and between years) to ensure students are constantly developing essential skills. Parents are aware of the various initiatives we have put into place through newsletters and emails home. We have sent links to the Skills Builder website to parents and invited them in during initiatives such as careers week where our work on developing essential skills has been shared. Students are tracking their skills in pilot subject areas and this is being broadened in 2023-2024 as per our new Fusion Skills Action plan.

Departments use their own tracking tools to measure knowledge and skills development: We use a variety of different assessment approaches which assess a variety of different fusion skills e.g. speaking assessments, annotation assessments, writing assessments, analysis assessments. Most departments now use a 'before learning' strategy to capture where students are before topics are taught. There has been a focus on questioning techniques this year and this has been used effectively by staff and best practice shared in terms of skills development. We work with Voice21 and Unifrog who use Skills Builder as part of their framework - the intention is to continue to use tracking tools within Skills Builder for some collaborative projects next year.

Staff pick skills and steps to teach to their students in the lessons. They include visuals to make this clear, many screenshot the step from the Univeral Framework. This is seamless with their wider learning. Every half term SLT visit classes and there is an expectation that it is clear what skills are being taught during that lesson. Staff are expected to make it clear to students what step is being learned and also why this is important, to link learning to the wider world such as uncertainty with future careers because of new technologies like AI. As part of performance management, we look at the consistency of teaching of skills within classrooms/departments, there is an expectation during observations that the teaching of skills is explicit within the lessons. Every SOW and lesson plan has the skills being developed and written into them. A performance management target for all staff is "I can clearly show the progress of skill development with students".

We plan group work into all of our SOWs and make sure this is conducted in a productive and supportive way. We use a lot of talk in lessons and, as departments, celebrate rich discussions which might deviate from the original lesson plan. We work hard to ensure our curriculum is diverse and representative of as many voices and experiences as possible to engage students and support their wellbeing, (aiming high and being positive) We further skills development beyond the classroom with our enrichment opportunities after school such as, Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, Speaking Out Year 9 Poetry Slam, Culture Mile and Barbican SOW collaboration, students attending Debate Mate competitions and events, National Space Rocket competition, to name but a few. All classroom/enrichment opportunities are linked to the essential skills with reference to the icons and using Skills Builder videos - this is especially true in PSHCE/Careers topics. Since we are in area of high deprivation, there has been an emphasis on raising the cultural and creative capital of our students through trips, enrichment as well as collaborative projects with outside providers inside and outside the classroom. As well as developing their essential skills, this has also helped us to promote positive mental health and wellbeing within our community.

This year we held a careers week with professionals from a diverse range of professions - all were briefed to share with our students the essential skills they have developed through their education/careers. Year 10 are about to embark on work experience and they will be asked to reflect on the essential skills they developed on their return. Careers education runs across the whole school in PSHCE as well as other subject areas - outside providers are used, (such as Into University) who facilitate workshops with all year groups to develop skills and embed skills development. Enrichment is linked to the skills and there is reflection time built in at the end.