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We have worked with Skills Builder for some time and have seen how useful the essential skills are to give our children the tools they need to succeed with us, in high school and as they begin their careers. The main recommendation we were given in our recent Ofsted inspection was to develop our children's ambitions and understanding of options for their future careers and Skills Builder has been very helpful in supporting this.
Overall impact
A particular highlight was the visit from Schola Empirica enabling us to showcase our project day to visiting teachers and to share the expertise we have developed in embedding Skills Builder within our school. In preparing for the visit, it allowed us to reflect on what we have achieved and our children enjoyed showing their understanding of the skills. We have also developed our links with visitors to give career talks and explicitly linked these to Skills Builder.
Keep it simple
The logos are displayed in every classroom, the breakfast club, the hall and in the rooms used for speech and language interventions and the office of the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator so they can be consistently referred to in lessons, clubs, assemblies and interventions. Newsletters inform families which skills we are currently focusing on and there are links to the Skills Builder Homezone on the Google classroom for each class. We give certificates in assemblies for skills the children have demonstrated.
Start early, keep going
All year groups have regular opportunities for both being taught the skills following the activities on the hub at the step that is appropriate for them and to apply these in different contexts and lessons. Skills Builder is woven into our Health and Relationship Education curriculum and so it is a regular part of teaching that is returned to and built upon year after year. Teachers have had inset training, led by our Skills Builder associate, to ensure they are familiar with and confident using the resources on the Skills Builder Hub. The Skills Builder assemblies were highlighted as part of our successful application for Sacre to allow our assemblies to better reflect our school community. The parent resource pack is available to every family on our Google Classrooms and Skills Builder handouts are given to parents at parents evenings.
Measure it
We use the Hub class assessment to measure progress, which we give time during an end-of-term inset to update. Pupil voice is also important and having the the logos constantly on display means they can be referred to and discussed in lesson regularly, allowing teachers opportunities for formative assessment of the children's understanding of the skills so this can be used to plan next steps and support the children in their progression. This means that teachers can focus on the essential skills they know their class needs further support in and teaching of, to enable the children to develop these as well as covering the skills that are the current whole school focus. Children's progress in Skills Builder skills is mentioned as part of the personal statement in end of year reports.
Focus tightly
Each teacher has time within the Health and Relationships (our PSHE) curriculum for two lessons focused on Skills Builder each half term, with additional flexibility to add further opportunities as required. These can be following the short video activities from the Hub or through class discussion and activities led by the teacher. We have a Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact document for Skills Builder, just as we do for other curriculum areas, showing the importance we place upon Skills Builder as a school and that it is an integral part of our curriculum.
Keep practising
The essential skills are referenced in lessons across the curriculum as appropriate, with reminders and discussions of the skills that can be applied in different situations. In upper KS2 children regularly analyse the skills used (or needed) by different characters as we finish reading each core text and relate these to specific examples from the book. The logos are displayed throughout the school so are referenced in a range of contexts, including Breakfast Club, after school PE clubs, assemblies and when meeting families of or working with children with additional needs in the speech and language room and SENDco's office.We ran a project day when we also hosted a group of teachers visiting from the Czech Republic with Schola Empirica so they could see how we embed Skills Builder into our school .
Bring it to life
As well as running the whole school project day from Nursery to Year 6, we have had a number of visits from volunteers ranging from game developers to horticulturists and camera operators to talk to children about their careers. We have developed a leaflet the children can fill in that links the Skills Builder Skills to the tasks and responsibilities within their roles which encourages the children to ask questions about how the skills are used in work.
What's next
We would like to ensure that we keep the level of commitment to Skills Builder as part of our curriculum by giving time in staff training sessions to continue to develop staff knowledge and assess children's progress. We will continue to develop links to visitors for career talks with Skills Builder a focus for these.
