By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
At Brentside Primary Academy we have a diverse community where opportunities and experiences greatly differ for our pupils. We are a two-form entry school which has an intake from Nursery to Year 6. It is our aim to enable all pupils to have the skills and experiences that they will require to be successful in the future. This year to focus on skills that pupils may not always have the opportunities to practise we enlisted the help of the Skills Builder programme; this already linked with many opportunities we were providing for our pupils. Some pupils come into our school lacking the foundations of essential skills required to be successful and lacking aspiration. We thought that it was a brilliant idea to be able to start with pupils from a young age to help them to recognise the essential skills for their future which will make a positive difference. Additionally, we wanted to encompass thinking about the future, aspirations and most importantly, the purpose of learning and education for our pupils. Enabling pupils who have not had opportunity to think about the skills that they have and can develop, which are essential for everyday life, will have a big impact on our school community. Our main aim was to allow all pupils to have high belief in themselves and in turn aspirations for the future.
Overall impact
A particular highlight of using the programme has been the interest in essential skills across the school, where the world is changing and future careers are uncertain, everyone believes that these will be the skills that our pupils will need for their futures and will enable them to have success in any endeavour. Having pupils spontaneously share which skills they are using in lessons, and why these skills are required to complete a task really shows the benefits of introducing this programme. There are always challenges in a busy curriculum to incorporate new ideas but the way that the pupils have taken the introductions to the skills and run with them has been amazing to see. Where the symbols have been seen, or the words have been mentioned, pupils always excitedly relate it back to their skills building and it can only be imagined where this will go when they have had even more practise and exposure to the programme.
Keep it simple
All teachers, and SLT attended two training days this year, TA's were also welcome to participate in the training and many chose to do so. Displays have been created in all classrooms which highlight the essential skills, and how they link to our school values that are well established in the school. In our fortnightly newsletter we have included a home zone task that parents can do with their pupils focussing on the skill of the half term, this enables parents to know what we are encouraging each half term, and enables them to support their pupil as well. In our school hall we had displays of all of the career options that each of the subjects can allow for pupils and this also now has the appropriate skills for each career and also the cards which we were provided with of different careers and the amount each skills is required for each one. Skills have been added to a new school policy so that all adults can see how they are being implemented within the school.
Start early, keep going
Displays in classroom are age appropriate so the widget version is displayed in EYFS and KS1 classrooms to allow all pupils to pick up on the essential skills. Skills terminology is being practised and skills are highlighted when being used in EYFS classrooms. All teachers were trained on using Skills Builder and were encouraged to take part in a discrete building session on a week, however where this was not possible all pupils have used the skills throughout the curriculum and practised using and naming these skills through work in our whole school aspirations week in July. Again, parents can see the incorporation of essential skills through the newsletter and link to home zone. As a school we have been working on Voice 21 which is an Oracy based programme and skills builder has been linked with this through the speaking skill that parents and pupils are all aware of.
Measure it
During the staff training staff found the baseline of the skills that were to be looked at next, we kept focussing on these two skills are they were the most integral to the upcoming events of the term. Pupils have been encouraged to 'spot' when they have used an essential skill and are motivated to point this out in lessons where it is not necessarily being discretely taught in. As it is relatively new to our school these assessments will inform the upcoming teacher's starting point for their class next year and continue the hard work which has taken place this year, whilst providing consistency for pupils.
Focus tightly
Each half term we selected the most relevant and appropriate skill to focus on as a school. This may be based off of whole school events, curriculum activities or where we felt that children needed the most support. We are going to continue to rotate these skills so that they are all built upon in our school. The skill was generally linked to a series of lessons in each class, such as Oracy based lessons for the speaking skill, so that not only was it taught and discussed but immediately applied also. Whenever it was otherwise appropriate to highlight this skill these discussions took place in classrooms, and the steps that had been practised were discussed also.
Keep practising
Throughout our school pupils have the opportunities to practise all of the essential skills, as well as the one being focused on for the half term. These are well connected to our school values so pupils can recognise and explain the skill that they were using in a particular task. Pupils have the opportunity to show all of the skills in our extra-curricular clubs such as debate, art, sports and maths clubs. Throughout our curriculum pupils are encouraged to work together on tasks, using the essential skills in lessons such as PE and DT. As well as this pupils have ample opportunities to use the skills in separate projects the school takes part in such as Children's University, school trips and work with Primary Futures on career related learning we encompass.
Bring it to life
Career related learning takes place throughout our school curriculum in lessons such as PSHE and pupils are always encouraged to learn about and think like a professional in each subject such as 'think like a scientist'. This brings these subjects to life highlights the importance of essential skills for future aspirations. Annually we hold an Aspirations week-Aspirations week, where pupils meet professionals from a range of careers to share their jobs, routes into them and the essential skills required. This is an opportunity to broaden pupils? horizons by introducing them to the numerous careers and opportunities that are out there for their futures. As well as this it is a chance to challenge stereotypes on the characterises someone in a certain career may have. This year pupils used the careers top trumps cards in each class and made their own version for the job they would like to have at this point, these are added to displays in the hall.
What's next
Now that the skills have been introduced we would like to create more opportunity for pupils to apply these in challenge days and throughout our busy curriculum, making links and drawing connections to the skills. Adding to the work of this year it is our aim to embed the skills further into our curriculum and vocabulary around our school. We want pupils to really recognise the importance of these skills and begin to apply them independently. New adults into our school will need inducted into the programme to continue the foundations we have begun.
