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We are an inner city school delivering Skills Mentoring interventions to our students for the benefit of their personal, social, and emotional development. We saw value in the experience and process that Skills Builder could bring and the support they could offer to improve our intervention process.
Overall impact
Students using some of the skills language and reflecting on how they can apply these skills day to day has seen a real boost to their success in school. It has also been great to hear feedback from parents that this success is also evident at home. It has been very useful to be able to use our Skills assessment to better identify what the focus of intervention should be for each student as their intervention has been more relevant which yields more success. Every student who is able to engage with the teaching of skills and then apply it during day to day life is far more likely to make better decisions which have a more positive impact on themselves, their teachers, their families, and their friends.
Keep it simple
We looked at linking the skills to our reward system and embedding the language of skills into lesson objectives and house competitions. We put up visual cues in key areas in the school. Skills are taught in 1 to 1 interventions and in small group interventions and Heads of Year complete a pre intervention assessment specifically designed to highlight which skill each student will benefit from developing. Feedback on the skill worked developed in intervention sessions, and the progress they have made, is passed on to teachers.
Start early, keep going
A select number of students across all year groups are referred for Skills Mentoring and receive targeted Skills teaching.
Measure it
The students ability to use a skill is measured via pre intervention assessment, usually completed by the Head of Year. Also by classroom observation, completed by the Skills Mentor. We have also made use of the Skills Builder Snapshots to track the extent to which each skill is being built.
Focus tightly
Selected students take part in weekly skills related discussions or activities with a Skills Mentor. We also looked into using skills workbooks as a tutor activity for an entire year.
Keep practising
Key skills have been highlighted and practiced in lessons delivered to our Year 11 Life Skills group, as well is during alternative enrichment clubs such as Gardening, Boxercise, and Running.
Bring it to life
The Year 11 Life Skills group have taken part in group projects designed to replicate real life working environments. These have included the Trash to Treasure challenge, a Hell's Kitchen Experience, a Giant Art Project, and the Future Focus Project which we purchased from Skills Builder. Selected students have also used their skills during off site trips, and have been encouraged to reflect on these.
What's next
Skills Mentoring will continue in our school and we will hopefully expand to offer more group projects and more alternative enrichment both on and off site.
