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Herne View Church of England Primary School is a community-based school set in the heart of the town of Ilminster, in Somerset. With over 460 pupils ranging from EYFS to Year 6, the school aims to develop the whole child in a positive, supportive and stimulating environment. Part of the school's philosophy is that learning is a lifelong process and we believe that Skills Builder teaches skills for life that support wider learning for our pupils, both now and in the future.
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme has been essential in ensuring the essential skills are embedded into the learning and life of our school. It's been lovely to celebrate the children's successes in celebration assemblies. A particular highlight was doing a Skill Builder pupil voice, hearing the children enthusiastically talking about the essential skills.
Keep it simple
The Skills Builder Skill Icons are displayed in every classroom and communal space across the school. This allows all staff to reference them regularly and keeps them visible as a reminder to children. All teachers and LSAs have had Skills Builder training to enable us to use consistent language across the school. We demonstrate to the children that the school values the skills by incorporating them into our Celebration Assemblies each week. Each week, we present peer-nominated awards. These originally began as Care, Respect and Friendship awards (the school values), but have evolved to become Skills Builder awards. Each term, different skills are selected and the children have the opportunity to nominate their peers. This raises the profile and value of the skills across the school and keeps them fresh in the children's minds. At the end of each half-term, every class teacher also hands out a certificate to a member of their class who has demonstrated the focus skill brilliantly.
Start early, keep going
All children at Herne View have the opportunity to learn about and practise the essential skills. With children ranging from EYFS to Year 6 all taking part in skills based learning, it is the very definition of 'start early and keep going'. Skills Builder Challenges are also published in the weekly school newsletter which ensures parents are involved in the development of essential skills, and encourages children to continue their learning at home.
Measure it
Teachers use formative assessment techniques to assess the progress of essential skill development in their students. Many teachers use the Skills Builder Hub to complete pre and post assessments for their class, and others use alternative formative assessment techniques. There is a section on all end of year reports that details Attainment, Progress and Effort for every child in six essential skill areas. This reinforces the importance of the essential skills to parents and ensures they are aware of and included in their child's skill development.
Focus tightly
All our students have the opportunity to build their essential skills through explicit teaching. Pupil voice has confirmed that all students are receiving these opportunities. Teachers can decide when they deliver this focused teaching. Many teachers use short lessons on the Hub to explicitly teach the essential skills, whilst some prefer to make their own resources, and our EYFS teacher has been using the Outdoor Learning Menu.
Keep practising
Children are given opportunities to practise their essential skills daily through use of consistent language across all staff. This ensures that the essential skills and icons are regularly referenced - in lessons, collective worships and in terms of behaviour management. Some teachers also use Class Dojo to reward children for demonstrating the essential skills particularly well. This ensures feedback is specific and the children can understand where the skills fit into their daily school lives. The skills have also been embedded into the curriculum: all foundation subjects in all year groups across the school now have a specific skill and skill step on each topic's Medium Term Plan to identify which skills will be taught and when. Positioning this on the Medium Term Plan ensures that all teachers view it regularly as a reminder about the skill focus for that unit of work. Our staff have received training on making links to skills in curriculum lessons, and now feel more confident doing so. The implementation of skill steps on Medium Term Plans has ensured that the skills are embedded in wider learning across the school, highlighting cross-curricular links to the children.
Bring it to life
During National Careers Week, we welcome local employers and parent volunteers to school, to teach children all about the world of work and the opportunities available to them. We ask all visitors to include Skills Builder in their presentations, explaining which skills are beneficial to them in their careers. This enables the children to see the real-life application of the skills they are developing every day. They are also given the opportunity to ask questions to deepen their understanding. We are also excited to be hosting a Skills Builder Challenge Day as part of our upcoming transition process, to further reinforce the benefits and importance of the essential skills in real-life scenarios.
What's next
Having enjoyed lots of success this year with Skills Builder, it will be important for us to ensure new staff have Skills Builder training to introduce them to the programme and how we embed it into school life. Regular reminders will be important in ensuring staff continue to use the assessment tools on offer and embed the essential skills in their wider curriculum teaching.
