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Acomb First School is a small, half form entry school in rural Northumberland. As we grow we would like the Skills Builder programme to grow with us, instilling the essential skills in our children's lives and work across the curriculum. We felt it was a great fit with the ethos of the school and compliments the school values. In addition to this, the data and evidence shows that children and young adults with these skills will progress further in life. We chose to incorporate and be involved with the Skills Builder Accelerator Programme to ensure that our pupils develop the core skills required to thrive in a world that has endless possibilities. We wanted to give children the opportunities to develop their skills, learn about careers, and empower them to learn through inspirational experiences ensuring all children are equipped with skills for life. Skills Builder is integral in equipping children with the essential skills that will give them the tools to succeed. We have fully embedded the values of Skills Builder into our school community and ethos.
Overall impact
The overall impact of the programme has been most beneficial for our pupils. Across the curriculum, teachers are able to include the skills the children will need for that lesson in their inputs. Whether it be speaking, listening or creativity the children instantly know from the icons and the vocabulary used what they need to do to succeed. The programme provides great stepping stones to break down the skills children will need to use for the rest of their lives. A particular highlight has been the Skills Builder Challenge day. Coming off the timetable as a whole school to complete it means the children and teachers can fully immerse themselves in the tasks. The children are so excited to take part in the challenge days and can articulate what skills they are doing and need to work on.Our crime scene project was recognised in the local press and a story was in the Hexham Courant. The framework of the essential skills has guided and supported governors, parents, carers, staff and children. Our children now talk with absolute confidence about the essential skills, what they mean to them and how these apply to their learning now and in the future. They have evidenced this on multiple occasions including doing a presentation to governors about Acomb Skills, talking to our School Improvement Partner and sharing their knowledge in lessons.
Keep it simple
Essential skills are referenced within medium-term planning and are linked to curriculum plans and policies, such as our Behaviour Policy and School Development Plan. Our extra-curricular clubs also reference the skills and highlight the importance of the skills in each club. Our hall and classrooms have our Acomb Skills display for everyone to see. The children have also selected famous icons who represent each skill well. Monthly assemblies celebrate the children with certificates for one child from each class in which children are chosen for their work towards each skill and are awarded with a certificate and their pictures are displayed in our 'Acomb Skills Award' book and on social media. A minimum of one discrete 'skills lesson' is taught each week. There is a Skills Builder Focus for each lesson, and pupils reflect on the skills at the end of each lesson: for example, 'I know I have shown good teamwork in this lesson because...' Classroom and whole school displays also show the skills icons.
Start early, keep going
In EYFS, icons are displayed around the classrooms and referred to during different play for learning situations. Also the EYFS stories are shown and discussed in carpet sessions. Essential skills are taught throughout the school in each academic year, so students can become familiar with the common language surrounding the skills at an early age. The curriculum features essential skills development in a range of subject areas, including a dedicated 'Skills Lesson' once a week. Children are taught the explicit skill step and opportunities to apply the skills are embedded into all subject areas as well as extra curricular activities, for example Playground Leaders where children have opportunities to develop their teamwork and leadership skills. Every year, the whole school takes part in a Challenge Day and an enterprise project, with local business links established so that projects are given a real-life context. For example, Key Stage 1 visit and learn about food production from farm
Measure it
Every month, all teachers update the Skills Builder Hub to inform next steps. We tailor the discrete weekly lessons to cater for individual needs of our pupils. As part of our Skills Builder lessons, teachers enable children to assess themselves against the framework and reflect on their own progress. Skills Builder passports are used for KS2 to record children?s progress. Our hub report provides useful data to monitor the teaching and learning of the skills and ensure support is in place where needed.
Focus tightly
Each lesson has a Skills Builder focus that the pupils reflect on at the end of each lesson. A weekly discrete lesson is delivered to the pupils based on the needs of the class. The Skill of the Month format provides the overall structure for a year. Subject leaders have designed their curriculum so that the skills are incorporated and referred to in lessons. From the Skill of the Month overview, weekly lessons, projects and assemblies are mapped out over the year enabling a consistent whole school approach. Weekly timetables have a dedicated 15 minute slot to ensure that the Skills Builder skills are taught explicitly. The lessons on the hub enable teachers to deliver these lesson with no extra planning
Keep practising
We have built essential skills into our curriculum and this is evidenced on planning documents. We've also mapped specific skill steps and Hub resources onto the cross-curricular projects delivered to all students in Summer 2. We have engaged in Skills Builder Challenge Days. We have also framed our 'extra curricular offer' through the essential skills - for example, "to improve on your teamwork, why not try the following clubs..." Our Subject Leader teams work on different aspects of the curriculum. Part of this work includes curriculum monitoring and ensuring that the skills are visible in their curriculum area. We ensure this is in place through curriculum walks, class displays and discussions with the children. All extracurricular activities run by Acomb staff have been linked to a Skills Builder skill so that it can be referred to throughout the session. This is communicated to Parents to give them the option to sign up to an afterschool or lunchtime club in the knowledge it will be working on those skills amongst others.
Bring it to life
One of our Skills Builder curriculum strengths is our partnerships with local businesses. These include working with Wheelbirks Farm, Northumbrian Water, and our most recent partnership with Hextol Tans Cafe, a community kitchen project. Our curriculum enables children to work with professionals in their field and to have hands-on experiences of these businesses. This takes the form of working with business owners in school and in the workplace. At the farm, children learn about the importance of ethical farming. Working with Hextol Tans, the children design and make their own menu with taster items to share at an end of year project. In Key Stage 2, the children work with Northumbrian Water to find out about the importance of renewable energy and how their local area may look in the future as they use creative problem solving to find solutions to the energy crisis. The skill steps have been mapped on to these projects to ensure children are making progress in the selected skills. All students also enjoyed participating in the Crime Scene Investigation Challenge Day - this was a great opportunity to invite in governors and the local police officer. Our students also enjoyed participating in a Skills Builder Careers Insights Session in June.
What's next
At Acomb, we will continue with the things we have put in place this year so they become second nature and really hope to see further development in the children's skill sets. New staff will be fully inducted and supported to implement the Skills Builder Programme. We also want to utilise the opportunities outside of the classroom to further embed the essential skills into our offer. We wish to continue to raise awareness of Skills Builder with schools and businesses in the local area. We hope to connect with more industry professionals and middle schools to experience how important these skills are to achieving your goals in life.
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