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The Wellington Academy is a 11-18 secondary school and Sixth Form based on the Wiltshire/Hampshire county border. As part of the Ascend Learning Trust, we had already started embedding Skills Builder in our schools and 2023-24 was when we joined the Accelerator programme at this school. We were looking to develop skills with our students that we felt they might not recognise they have and needed encouragement to showcase how they use these skills. We were also looking to encourage our students to work on their skills alongside their education. We have introduced the skills in a light touch across the whole school whilst focussing on one cohort before continuing to roll it out across other year groups in the future.
Overall impact
With year 10 having the focus this year we have seen such a positive impact in limited time; for the mock interviews we have 22% beforehand who were quite or very confident about the interview and when asked afterwards, this rose to 77%. I think in part, the students saw how their preparation thinking of an example for each skill was relevant and useful in a 'real life' situation. They were also encouraging of each other (teamwork) and all of the students, no matter how nervous they had been, 'aimed high' and 'stayed positive' by doing the interview. We had struggled this year to find the opportunity to gain traction across the school with Skills Builder, but took the opportunity to focus on one year group and get some positive results to showcase what can be achieved within our school.
Keep it simple
The skills have been launched with teachers across the school, with posters and the descriptors displayed in every classroom, we have asked teachers to refer to these, where relevant, to the teaching for that lesson. Using a whole school Values Day (PSHE day) Year 7, 8 and 9 have been introduced to the skills and set short challenges to help show them as actionable opportunities. Students have also been rewarded for demonstrating essential skills, for example employers handed out certificates to students who were able to articulate their essential skills strengths in mock interviews.
Start early, keep going
We focussed on Year 10 linking their mock interviews with external employers prep sheet to the eight essential skills; we asked them to think of an example for each skills. We also used their work experience in July as another opportunity to reflect on the skills they have, ones they are still developing and ones they need to work on. With a subset of students, we spoke to them about 'aiming high' to encourage confidence.
Measure it
We asked Year 10 to complete a survey about their confidence in the essential skills before and after their mock interviews, to see if their confidence hadgrown. We looked at students' responses and identified those whose confidence had not increased. We offered these some students more individual support in some group work sessions. Year 10 students also completed self-assessments in the Barclays Life Skills booklets throughout their work experience. This helped them reflect on their skills strengths and areas for development.
Focus tightly
There is dedicated time for KS3 during Values Day with reminders of the skills in lessons. Year 10 have had the most support with the skills this year preparing them for Year 11 and onwards. We have run targeteed interventions with Year 10, using Hub resources to focus on specific steps of Aiming High and Staying Positive.
Keep practising
Staff are continuing to refer to the skills in their lesson and we are looking to incorporate the skills into the lesson plans for the next academic year. We are also hoping to support staff with more training on delivering the skills and to offer access to real life examples of the skills in the workplace.
Bring it to life
The mock interviews with Year 10 really helped to embed the students understanding of the skills. We also used this opportunity to get feedback from the employers about which students really stood out using any of of the eight skills and certificates were presented to them. This helped create a positive reinforcement of effort and achievement from the exercise. We also gave those Year 10's out on work experience the Barclays Life Skills work experience log which again helped students to think about the skills they need for the work placement and in life. Looking at some of the completed log books, they are starting to recognise how they use their skills and be positive about it.
What's next
We would like to continue to embed the skills in the curriculum, adding them to schemes of work and offering support with real life examples for teachers and staff to use to further encourage development of the eight essential skills for each year group. We will also continue to drive the focus for Year 10 who are at a point in their school lives where they can understand the imminent need for the essential skills but still have time to develop them.
