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Brewood School is an specialist independent secondary school in South-East Kent. Brewood specialises in meeting the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) including speech, language, and communication difficulties, autism, ADHD, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), and Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties. Skills Builder has given students the chance to focus on the key they will need for their next steps. Brewood has always had a strong focus on personal development over accreditation and Skills Builder has given us a way to plan, structure and deliver these developmental skills to our pupils.
Overall impact
The impact has been that students are starting to see that there are essential skills that they need for education, employment and enrichment. Skills Builder also shows that theses essential skills are used across every aspect of the curriculum. A highlight has been showing some of our pupils that they already have a lot of these skills and that we are working towards applying them to different situations. This has made them think about their next steps and what they need to do to get there.
Keep it simple
Staff highlight where skills are used in their medium term plans. This ensures teachers are thinking about where the skills fit into their curriculum. Every form board has the skills logos displayed on them with accompanying widget symbols to aide accessibility. Staff also wear lanyards featuring Skills Builder. This enables familiarisation for our young people with the skills and opens conversations about skills outside of the classroom.
Start early, keep going
All students in the school are exposed to Skills Builder. Most students have regular teaching opportunities during form time. Skills Builder symbols are present in all classroom lessons.
Measure it
Form tutors use the Skills Builder Hub to baseline all students. Students are assessed individually as opposed to as a group so more personalised data is available for our young people. Teachers and form tutors are responsible for updating the students' profiles on the Hub.
Focus tightly
Skills Builder is used in Fit2Learn sessions on Wednesday where skills are taught explicitly. Skills are embedded in the curriculum and are delivered through subject teaching and enrichment activities.
Keep practising
Skills are incorporated into every lesson at Brewood. In the classroom, skill icons are added to every PowerPoint to make students aware of the skills they are focusing on and make visual connections. This helps link the curriculum together as it shows students that these skills are used across all subjects.
Bring it to life
Real life connections are made whilst teaching our students by highlighting the skill icons during lessons. Many of our pupils are studying Functional Skills and so there is a focus on real-world problems and potential careers. We have also used career focused resources on the Skills Builder Hub such as the career cards and mock interview pack which aid students to make the connection between essential skills and the world of work.
What's next
We will be making more time for Skills Builder in form time so that young people are taught the skills explicitly at timetabled points during the day. We also want to think about teachers highlighting the direct skill that they are using so that the students' progress can be updated on the Hub.
