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Malmesbury is a two form entry school on the outskirts of Morden. 50% of our schools' intake learn English as an additional language which fuels our schools' ethos to 'Bring out the best in everyone'. Language and communication are the basis of our curriculum and Skills Builder has been a way of supporting the aspirations and understanding of how to be a life long learner and that our skills are constantly developing and being reviewed. Malmesbury have partnered with Skills Builder for a number of years and teachers and children alike enjoy the trips, challenge days and longer projects. The key skills are displayed in all classes and teachers use them alongside our curriculum to promote various skills throughout the day. During remote learning our school engaged with online resources such as the homework challenges and since returning to school, a whole school challenge week took place where the children and staff engaged in mini lessons, focus skill lessons and specific activities to put skills into practice.
Overall impact
The impact has been more challenging to measure this year due to the workload of teachers. However, the zoom conversations and focused strategy support has been useful in reflecting on progress throughout the school.
Keep it simple
The school displays skills logos in all classrooms and are referred to in a variety of curriculum lessons. There is also a display in the dinner hall where the whole school can engage with questions such as: What does Aiming High' mean to you?' thus giving children an opportunity to discuss over lunch what Skills Builder means to them. Children and teachers have a keen awareness of Skills Builder. Our parents are informed of our use of Skills Builder via the Malmesbury Instagram and weekly newsletters.
Start early, keep going
Children from Reception up to Year 6 engage in Skills Builder. This allows the school to constantly build on essential skills. Teachers have found the various tabs and filters for certain skills on the Skills Builder Hub very helpful this year as this has supported children learning at different stages.
Measure it
Showing the children's progress using the Skills Builder Hub tracking system has been more challenging this year due to lack of time and adding to the workload of staff. However, we often reflect on the progression of skills with verbal plenaries.
Focus tightly
Skills logos are visibly displayed in all classes. Adults often refer to them throughout daily lessons. A skills might be chosen for the start of the week and reviewed as the week goes on. Children have regular time to improve their skills as they are taught everyday through other lessons, maybe not always explicitly but through our teaching style.
Keep practising
We enjoyed using the Skill Challenges and setting homework using the online Home Learning platform during periods of remote learning.
Bring it to life
The Skills Builder virtual trips were incredibly successful at promoting the language of essential skills. A lot of the children were speaking about the trips once they had happened. They enjoyed speaking to real people and feeling they cared about what they had to say.
What's next
We would like to continue with everything as we have done so far, we are especially hoping to be able to invite parents in and share learning.
