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Adelaide School is a therapeutic special school which provides education for pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. We currently have 95 pupils on roll aged between 9 and 18. Our aim is to enable pupils to have a positive experience of education and equip them for their future. We work hard to ensure that all pupils with whom we work feel valued and respected. They all have very different needs and we work hard to provide the support they need to learn and prepare to be active British citizens who contribute to society. Many of our parents describe Adelaide as a family, as the school has a strong sense of community. Our school's mission statement is 'to help young people help themselves.' We are dedicated to meeting the individual needs of each pupil to help them fulfil their potential, as well as becoming active British citizens of the community. We aim to give our pupils the best possible education in an environment that is caring, happy and where everyone feels safe and is valued. Our vision is to ensure that all pupils are engaged in learning and enjoy coming to school. We believe that relationships between staff and pupils are key to the success of pupils at Adelaide. At the heart of our school is pupils holistic development including social, moral, spiritual and cultural experiences. The values of the school are care, commitment and collaboration. We are committed to meeting the needs of pupils in our care. We collaborate with others in order to do so. We go above and beyond to care for pupils and ensure they feel respected and valued. We introduced the 8 skills as part of our Careers Strategy in 2021 and realised quickly that these skills are not only essential but also really prepare our pupils for life beyond Adelaide School. In 2023 we were fortunate to be able to join the Accelerator Programme and started our journey to further embed those skills across the curriculum. .
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme has been a huge support, giving us a clear focused plan to move forward. The training days and strategy meetings have been a fantastic opportunity to network with other skills leaders, share and discover new resources and to talk through ideas and innovative ways to embed the skills. It has been brilliant to hear from vising employers that they are thrilled to see the focus on skills. They have shared with us that they place a much larger emphasis on essential skills than exam attainment when looking to employ young people.
Keep it simple
We were already using the skills logos in lessons but this year we ensured that these are on display in every classroom in school. We added them to our computer screen wallpaper for all staff and pupils and also created stickers to add to wall displays around school. We created a shared folder for staff which includes the skills graphics and simple resources that can be used by everyone. This encouraged staff to start using the logos in their resources and assembly presentations. We have included the logos in social media posts and created a dedicated page on our website for Skills Builder which includes simple activities that parents and carers can try at home.
Start early, keep going
Subject curriculums for all pupils from year 5 to 14 have the skills embedded within them. At the end of lessons, modules and units staff and pupils reflect upon their use and development of the skills. It has been fantastic to enable subject areas to do this is a way that suits their subject, whilst still building those skills. Visiting speakers and workshop shave also been asked to reference the skills and pupils have used the Skills Builder Question cards at the end of those sessions to ask meaningful questions. The skills have been introduced within school and careers newsletters which are sent to all parents and carers and feedback has been very positive. The skills have been used during national weeks for careers and apprenticeships and to scaffold STEM days.
Measure it
All activities in school, whether that is careers, wellbeing, enrichment, trips, workshops or extra curricular are rigorously tracked. This tracking includes the Skills Builder essential skills and this gives us a clear, across school, view of where skills are being delivered and developed. This has enabled us to spot areas needing more development. This data is viewed alongside SMSC (Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural), British Values, Curriculum Intent and the future Skills Questionnaire results. This gives us a very expansive view of how we and pupils themselves feel they are progressing. We have then been able to use this information to create opportunities to develop the skills needing more attention at that term.
Focus tightly
Different subject areas in school have tried a range of the available resources. This has included virtual insight events and The McDonalds Taste for Work module which focused on the communication skills of Speaking and Listening. The visual presence of the essential skill images throughout school keeps them at the forefront of learning and acts as an ever present reminder to pupils.
Keep practising
To support the building of essential skills, alongside opportunities embedded within the curriculum, focused time has been available to directly build and practice the skills via Careers and Personal development sessions. In year 11 we have focused in on developing those skills to support transition. We have incorporated the skills into our STAR preparing for interview resources and CV building. Skill development has also been a focused part of activities such as travel training and life skills. We are always looking for new ways to include the skills and ideas and opportunities are shared with staff via the staff GB4 Careers magazine. This is also used to spotlight and celebrate good practice.
Bring it to life
We work very closely with our local hub, The Cheshire and Warrington Pledge who are strong advocates for essential skills. Resources and activities organised through them have a strong skills focus. This year, to expand our use of essenital skills to include employers we have used the resources provided by Skills Builder before the employer visits us. We send them an explanation of the skills before the visit and then pupils use the question cards to ask meaningful questions. When we go out into businesses we take a set of those cards with us. Skills are recognised and developed through our Work Placement Program bringing them to life in a "real" environment.
What's next
Our plans are to continue to make progress by building those essential skills for all pupils. We will be encouraging staff to focus in on the steps within each skills utilising some of the great resources we have found and crated whilst on the program.
