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Fox Wood School is a specialist provision for pupils who have an Education, Health Care Plan. We are a happy school with excellent relationships between the pupils, staff, parents and governors. Our aim is to provide the best possible personalised learning environment and curriculum for all of our children in a supportive and caring way. We aim to fulfil our school motto every day, in every way: "Encouraging independence and personal development through communication, engagement, laughter and learning." Our goal of utilising the expertise of Skills Builder, was to celebrate and refine the the achievements of our pupils in the softer skills towards employment. The Skills Builder Universal Framework has allowed us to do this.
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme has given us access to a good range of tools for our pupils. It has raised the profile of the 8 essential skills and given a method of delivery that can be tailored to meet the needs of all pupils within school. The pupils have access to common language that they can learn and transfer, with the support of visuals and gives them a great start to employability. Most of our pupils will not achieve the same academic outcomes as their mainstream peers, but enabling them to develop the softer essential skills gives them a great start to being able to achieve an employable outcome suitable for them.
Keep it simple
We have displayed the 8 essential skills logos in each of the classes. This is to expose the pupils to the visual representations and supporting language which can be used cross curricula, as well as within the discrete careers sessions. This gives the pupils opportunity to engage consistently and become familiar with the terminology.
Start early, keep going
Pupils at Fox Wood experience and engage in essential skills development form Early Years. This is a thematic approach and fits in well with the sensory curriculum provided. This is delivered cross curricula throughout all areas of the framework. This develops as the pupils engagement in learning increases and is supported by their cognitive development. Where appropriate pupils will then access discrete careers and employability sessions, which will tailor learning to meet individual areas for development. This will run alongside the offer of external work experience placements where appropriate and the essential skills learnt can then be transferred and practised in real life situations.
Measure it
Initially, we decided to record the progress of the essential skills using a spread sheet format as this fit in with the current school assessment system. This was working effectively for us and could show progression. Further research and development with our Education Associate showed that we could utilise the Hub better. We piloted measuring a small group of students via the Skills Builder Hub. This allowed us to measure and track progress, but also is a great source of activities, videos and teaching tools linked to the gaps within the progress. In the new school year, this will be rolled out to a wider range of pupils.
Focus tightly
Staff have received training from our Education Associate and follow up support from the Careers Leader. This was to ensure the teachers where confident to deliver the necessary requirements of the framework. Pupils access essential skills cross curricula throughout daily learning. This is developed with age and stage of development when pupils will access discrete lessons. The teacher utilises the assessments taken to identify gaps in knowledge and provides discrete learning opportunities to enable pupils to achieve more skills.
Keep practising
Pupils across the whole school are constantly exposed to essential skills language and this is reinforced with visual representation. This ensures pupils have a greater chance of retaining the information and skills. This is supported by a working display in the main corridor which reflects the work and efforts of the pupils and development of the 8 essential skills that the have. This again is celebrated in our shine time. This is a weekly celebration directly with the Head, who will distribute a Skills Builder certificate to someone who has shown exceptional achievement by progressing towards an essential skill which is personal to them.
Bring it to life
We bring essential skills to life in school by working a lot with external partners. This is often inviting businesses into school to engage with our learners and share real life experiences and workshops with the pupils. For the older pupils in school, we work with businesses to support our pupils with external work experience. This is where the pupils can transfer the skills into a real life work opportunity. This is essential for our pupils to in developing skills in preparation for adulthood alongside employability skills. We have also accessed local business tours and share our knowledge about our wide range of knowledge and delivery of essential skills. Further to this, we are trialling the project based learning during our planned 'Enterprise Week'. This is an off timetable week where classes turn into a mini business and further develop the essential skills linking it to a hands on business opportunity.
What's next
Roll out the use of the Hub to more pathways across the school to ensure pupils have access to a range of resources that will support their learning.
