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I came on board with the school in a brand new post which is entirely dedicated to careers, destinations and work experience. I felt that Skills Builder was an excellent way to ensure continuity to our careers programme throughout students 7 year journey. As a result, I have embedded Skills Builder not only in our mentor programme for Key Stage 3 but in bespoke in-house Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE) and curriculum resources. Including our: Skills Builder escape room, spotlight sessions, and work experience student workbook.
Overall impact
Skills Builder has provided a clear, measurable and meaningful context to our careers learning. The framework, Skills Builder Hub and resources available online supports staff. Students enjoy the clarity and iconography that comes with the 8 essential skills. They can clearly recognise when they are being asked to talk about or develop a skill. Particular highlights include the introduction of our Skills Builder escape room, Challenge Days and focused work experience resources.
Keep it simple
Skills Builder's 8 skills form the back bone to our Personal Social Health Economic curriculum as well as our mentor, Challenge Day, careers week and work experience provision. Our parents understand our focus on Skills Builder from the 7 year pathway infographic which illustrates how our skills education builds throughout the years.
Start early, keep going
Skills Builder is used throughout the whole school. As early as transition (primary feeder schools) we embed Skills Builder with a bespoke Skills Builder Challenge Day. Key Stage 3 Skills Builder focus is through mentor time, as well as the games and activities provided during Careers Week. In Key Stage 4 students have a bespoke mentor 'pathways' programme which uses the 8 essential skills to help students prepare for post 16 decisions. Skills Builder is also the framework for our sixth form transition day for Year 11. Skills Builder forms the backbone of our work experience workbook and application process for our Year 12 students.
Measure it
Personalised support is provided to students either through baseline skill assessments completed by tutors or 1 to 1 mentor meetings about the essential skills and progression.
Focus tightly
There are lots of focused activities that support the development of the essential skills. These include: Challenge Days, matching games, escape rooms, the use of skill passports and writing activities.
Keep practising
Students have access to lots of provision that supports them to practise their essential skills. Spotlight sessions embed Skills Builder into our curriculum based on careers learning for example. Also, work experience uses Skills Builder as a framework, as does our Skills Builder escape room.
Bring it to life
Whenever we work with employers, we ask them to badge the top 3 skills they use each day in their work. This was done with our 26 employability week employers and with our 32 work experience industry mentors. We also have a YouTube channel where all our employer encounter videos are hosted, this includes our employers speaking of their essential skills and how they are used in the workplace.
What's next
Next we would like to utilise Special Educational Needs specific resources to support out students.
