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Mayespark Primary School is a three form entry school just outside of Ilford and many of our students don't have the opportunity to gain life experiences. We signed up to the Accelerator programme to give them those opportunities and help them make informed decisions about their careers in the future. We have 6 school values: Unity, Love, Politeness, Respect, Determination and Honesty; we liked the fact that we could link the eight essential skills into those values.
Overall impact
It has been really useful to have the focus on the skills this year as it has linked to metacognition, something Mayespark is already doing. The skills are clear and can be applied to different situations and so has underpinned this. The clarity of the steps and their progression hasalso shown teachers and students what they need to develop and incorporate in terms of each focus skill. The child-friendly language means that it has been really accessible for the pupils.
Keep it simple
All Skills Builder training was disseminated to year group teachers, this included sharing resources that teachers would then be using to teach the skills explicitly in their year group. Teachers were able to choose which skills they wanted to build as a year group. Each class focused on a step that was most appropriate for their class within that skill. Teachers put up the skill icons on display in their classroom for students to refer to and had certificates that they gave out regularly to reward skill development. Skills were incorporated into celebration assemblies to raise the profile of the skills.
Start early, keep going
Year 4 and Year 5 were identified to build the skills more explicitly and regularly through targeted lessons. They had a focused lesson once a half term and then the focus skill was referred to across the rest of that half term's learning when appropriate.
Measure it
Teachers identified which step, within each half term's focus skill, their class was on and what their next steps were. They accessed resources on the Hub to support with this. Some staff members also used the diagnostic tool on the Hub platform to help with this measurement. Over the year the children got better at talking about how they were progressing across the skill, with some being able to identify what step they were working on and how they were developing it.
Focus tightly
Staff were introduced to the skills and resources available to teach them via training in the Autumn term. Teachers used the short lessons on the Hub to help teach the skills and steps across the year and this was built into Year 4 and 5 timetables. If the teacher felt that the class needed to re-visit the short lessons and the focus step at any point across the half term they were confident to do so, re-using the short lessons to ensure the learning was embedded for all students.
Keep practising
Once students explicitly practiced the skill and step for that half term, teachers then referenced the skill across the different curricular subjects where applicable. This was something that was identified through learning walks and feedback from the teachers themselves. Some staff do this verbally whilst others use the displayed icons to make the links.
Bring it to life
Throughout the year students completed different fundraising projects. This was initiated by the school council but all students were encouraged to use their creativity skill to come up with ideas. One example was when an athlete came in to support students in fundraising through sport. Students used their listening and teamworking skills throughout the sessions. The athlete also talked about the skills that were important in his work.
What's next
We will continue to use the resources and framework to support teachers in identifying next steps for their students in the different classes. This will help them apply the skills in any subject area that they are using them in. This will also show the students and teachers how they can be developed further across next year.
