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South Devon UTC is a technical college specialising in the three areas of Digital technology, Engineering and Health Care Sciences. Alongside the vocational qualifications of OCR Nationals and BTECs, the college is intent on supporting our young people in progressing from education in to the world of work. Skills Builder has provided excellent support with this in providing lessons, resources and tailored training for all of our staff.
Overall impact
The students really enjoy receiving their "you're hired" slips which have the skill icons on and putting them in to a "hired" box for rewards at the end of the term assembly. Hearing the students talking about their exposure to the essential skills has been really rewarding as well.
Keep it simple
Skills are always referred to during lesson time so students are familiar with the language of them. We host open events where staff visit and talk about the skills as part of the presentation. We have a classroom employability skills poster with the icons on will are displayed in all classrooms. Essential employability skills have been included in the online rewards system and tokens are given to the students with the icons on them so students are aware of how they have met a particular skill.
Start early, keep going
A Skills Builder teacher is leading sessions in registration time with Year 10. She is taking them through into Year 11 and continuing next year where the plan is to put into Year 10 tutor time and potentially sixth form. Year 10 has been more of a focus this year and we could start with Year 12s early next year. All students will be involved throughout next year and will be launched in December/January.
Measure it
The Skills Builder teacher has been looking at the students' initial Benchmark to identify the best steps to start from for their skills learning. Then she formatively assesses as she teaches the skill. This also comes from feedback she's getting in the lesson. Benchmark will be re-looked at next year. Next year, the college student planner will contain a page for Skills Builder stamps so students are able to document their progress towards the essential skills.
Focus tightly
One teacher has been teaching the Year 10 tutor groups every Tuesday and Thursday. Students are really invested. She delivers a skill as far as the students need in terms of steps progression using the short lessons on the Hub. Maths and Literacy teachers are introducing it into tutor time once every two weeks (Year 10 Tuesdays and Thursdays). We are using lessons on the Hub and Benchmark for this. Tokens are used to show students when they are practicing the skills within their everyday teaching with the stamps replacing these in to next year.
Keep practising
Staff use Tokens to record when skills are being addressed in lesson time with a view to focusing on how this will be documented in identifying steps in pathway areas. PE clubs have also been linked to the skills.
Bring it to life
A wide range of enrichment activities and speakers who come in throughout the year have been linked to the skills. Students go to local companies and passports and benchmark would be great for this next year. Every student gets a work experience opportunity with a minimum of once a year where they can apply the skills.
What's next
We are putting together a Skills Builder wall to showcase all of the essential skills in the college cafe area and throughout the college. This will build exposure and continue to ensure the students are using the language. We are also putting together a work experience booklet where the students will be able to document where they've used essential skills.
