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Undershaw is an independent specialist school providing a high standard of care and education for children aged 9 to 19 with mild to moderate learning difficulties and additional needs, such as ASD, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, and medical vulnerabilities. Our focus on leading SEND Education, integrated therapy, employability, and wellbeing ensures that our provision is bespoke to each individual student. The process of shaping a rich, deep and dynamic curriculum for a SEND school is a multi-faceted challenge. Skills Builder provides us with a framework that enables growth through the school and into our post 16 employability curriculum where it truly comes to life in our work-experience setting, and students can apply the skills in ?real-life? setting. On a macro level, the Skills Builder Programme fully aligns with the Undershaw Vision and Values. We firmly believe that if we can equip a young person with these crucial life skills through their journey with us, they will springboard from Undershaw into independent adulthood with confidence. We are passionate about; enabling our young people to aim high, build confidence through teaching, and provide rich experiences, all whilst lighting the fire of aspiration and embedding understanding and self-belief. We believed that the Skills Builder Framework and resources would be a fantastic addition to our offer and inspire creative approaches to teaching these important transferable Life Skills.
Overall impact
When a visiting teacher asked one of our students what they thought about Skills Builder, they replied: "The thing is some of our students might not always be able to get an award for Maths or English, but anyone can work towards a Skills Builder award" and "I mean some of our students are not even aware that they are good at these skills and so it helps their self-esteem" - Year 10 Student PM. "Life Skills are vital for all of us, in every walk of life. Undershaw is putting them at the heart of our teaching and learning, and in doing so, we ensure that our students build a rich landscape from which to launch their careers" - Emma West, Headteacher. "I have helped my communication skills grow by ordering tickets and I have done some problem-solving buy working out the bus and train times. But I've also learned to stay positive because when coming back from Guildford, the train got delayed by 40 minutes! Overall, this is helping me become more of an independent traveller than I used to be" - RP, Undershaw Alumni. "My new skills will help me when I go to University. Some of these skills are a part of daily life for most people so they will be very useful" - Post 16 Student, Undershaw. "The Skills Builder Essential Skills framework underpins the Undershaw Diploma, the culture and language used and demonstrated by staff and students at school and supports transition, building confidence and enables aspiration" -Leilah Sheridan, Head of Employability and Post 16. "The Skills Builder programme at Undershaw has become the backbone of our wider curriculum. By explicitly teaching, practicing and recognising these skills, we have enabled our students to access academic learning and know that they can become socially and economically engaged for the rest of their lives. We are exceptionally proud of our development of our Skills Builder curriculum and the Undershaw Diploma, and we are excited to work with other schools and employers to continue this journey, beyond the school gates" - Victoria Walker, Deputy Head - Education. "The future for our students needs to be continually considered as we seek to prepare and enable them to make a positive contribution. We want them to have a meaningful, happy, fulfilled future that is socially and economically engaged. The Skills Builder Programme, through the Undershaw diploma scheme, provides opportunities for students to grow and develop in this way. The sense of achievement, growing self-confidence and increased independence as students work through the programme is fantastic to see" - Debbie Gerring, Chair of Governors.
Keep it simple
The Essential Skills are in every classroom and communal areas. They are in lesson plans, assembly and guest speaker presentations and CPD training. The Skills Builder programme and our bespoke Undershaw Diploma, which is accredited recognition of the skills, as an integral part of the curriculum at Undershaw. Equal importance is placed on the skills curriculum and the academic curriculum; this is upheld and fully embraced by the headteacher and all staff. The Arts lead has taken on responsibility for Skills Builder for 24/45, she is passionate about the programme, and has developed staff training. This illustrates how essential skills are fully embedded within all aspects of school life and staff are committed to learners' skill-development. In an assembly, Governors introduced themselves, identifying skills associated with their roles and strengths as part of their introduction. Staff and students can award skills spotter stickers or badges to each other. It is embedded into the recruitment process with the Framework and explicit steps. Essential skills are highlighted in internal and external marketing. We represented Undershaw as a panel speaker at the Skills Builder 15 years celebration event and we highlight our work through our various platforms and partnerships, including the DFN Foundation Impact Report for further reach.
Start early, keep going
We have a feature article on our website and the skills are clearly celebrated through Curriculum and Faculty Spotlights. We refer to Skills Builder essential skills during whole school Open Day and Post 16 Open Evening presentations for prospective parents. Essential skills are threaded through the curriculum from Key Stage 2 to Post 16. Discovery Day Activities are allocated time on the timetable to develop essential skills. House Points are allocated by demonstrating essential skills. The Undershaw Diploma was launched to parents sharing the Universal Framework. There is a Homezone skills challenge shared in the Headteachers Weekly Newsletter. We reviewed our Careers and Work Experience Policy and ensured that the essential skills were included alongside the Gatsby Benchmarks. We identify skills specifically when posting on our social media platforms for example a post about our young rotary club and the many skills demonstrated by the team, including creativity, teamwork, aiming high and leadership. Looking forward, we are looking at how we can link the skill steps to Education, Health and Care plan targets working with the SEND team. There are large skills icons in every room and using the Skills Builder target sheets students in all year groups can be supported to build their essential skills at all stages.
Measure it
Our accredited Diploma has been designed using the essential skills steps, it's a fantastic way to map individual progress from KS2 to Post 16. On completing each level students receive an AQA Certificates, Bronze , Silver, Gold and Platinum. Any student reflection forms whether an industry insight, work experience, guest speakers or college visits have the essential skills on them. House Points are allocated for specific skills and students are awarded certificates at the end of term. We have captured the data of how many learners have received certificates for their essential skills over three years. Clear evidence of the positive impact on students over time, an increasing number of students are completing certificates in all 8 skills. Staff include specific examples awarding house points, when, where and how learners have demonstrated that skill. Progress is shared with students, families, and governors in end of year reports. From 23/24, we report on essential-skill progress to governors (alongside academic reporting). Data from a recent Year 11 report (demonstrating student progression in skill development), was used as evidence for an application for an award (for specialist settings being creative in their approach to teaching and learning). Skills Builder featured heavily in the application form.
Focus tightly
KS2 and KS3 have weekly Discovery Day activities, alongside John Muir, Duke of Edinburgh, Rotary Club, Arts Award Drama, Sports Leaders and Journalism Club. All Discovery Day Activities and Enrichments have essential skills attached. KS4 are given opportunities to develop essential skills through their classes and encouraged to discuss progress that they have made outside of school, some may opt for an Discovery Day option instead of a 6th GCSE. The Speech and Language Therapy Team also support during tutor time which can be used for essential-skill reflection. Essential skills are so embedded by KS4 that Principle 5 naturally occurs, without the directed teaching . Younger key stages have more explicit teaching time. Weekly assembly for all key stages (including KS4) has a skill focus and visuals to support. Post 16 have specific communication, independence and work experience sessions where they can reflect on the essential skills they are demonstrating. This is supported through the Employability Programme. There is Print Shop Equipment for an onsite work experience, the essential skills are highlighted in the different Job Descriptions that the students will have the opportunity to apply for. We highlight the range of activities including our Challenge Day, American Diner and the Careers Guest Speakers and how that linked to essential skills development.
Keep practising
Essential skills are at the core of everything at Undershaw, students practise their essential skills as a matter of course. Teachers add specific step foci, so learners are able to build essential skills in the wider curriculum. Head of Arts created a PowerPoint highlighting best practice and sharing 'Skills Builder target sheets', learners have these during lessons with step-specific targets. Project-based learning includes essential skills in planning and through the end points 'Where Does My Cereal Come From?' activities included creating a Cereal Box, linking to Maths/Problem Solving, Art/ Creativity, and presenting ideas to parents, Drama/Communication. During Careers Week all learners participated in Operation Moonbase, which was a huge success. The production brochure highlighted skills and steps participation in the production would allow learners to practise and evidence. The PE Teacher aligned essential skills with the curriculum and put together a PowerPoint on student profiling, using the Framework. The English department created guidance supporting learners with reflections, considering when, where, and how they've practised essential skills. Example, to meet Step 6, Aiming High 'I set goals informed by an understanding of what is needed' is transformed into "I worked with Kerry to find out what I had to include when creating my PowerPoint about Iceland for the exam".
Bring it to life
Industry visits hosts or guest speakers identify essential skills used in that industry/specific roles. Essential skills are highlighted with our speakers for Careers Week, all were sent the skills and icons and asked to incorporate our skills language into their presentations. We ask the students to reflect on the guest speaker/industry visit to remind themselves of the skills and embed that understanding. Essential skills were highlighted during Year 9 Options presentation and how they link to future careers. We Introduced Student Subject Leaders, students applied for these roles and essential skills were outlined in the 'job description'. Sentence prompts were provided by the English department to allow learners to be extremely step-specific with their evidence for the application form (explained in Principle 5). The careers and work experience policy was reviewed, to ensure that the essential skills were included alongside the Gatsby Benchmarks. During National Careers Week, Gillian Keegan filmed a message for students at Undershaw and mentioned Skills Builder. We have developed work experience booklet adding further opportunities for students to reflect on the essential skills observed and practised during their placement. Alumni Posters have been created celebrating past students' successes and include essential skills that they've built and feature the icons.
What's next
We have decided to join the Digital Membership for 2024/25 to continue to deliver and build on this outstanding Essential Skills Programme. The PE department has 2 Projects for next year include developing after-school clubs and sports leaders, explicitly referencing Skills Builder through this project. We plan to launch our new staff feedback survey that will be designed to complement the work with have done to thread essential skills through the recruitment process. We will continue to deliver a high standard of staff CPD so that all staff are confident to name each of the skills and help to support students understanding. Whether in the office employed as support staff, the therapy team or 100% student facing all staff are skills ambassadors. We have identified a target on the school development plan to work with the Head of Therapies to link essential skills to Education, Health and Care Plan targets helping to support individual progression in preparation for young adulthood.
