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Woolston Brook is a specialist school for children and young people from the age 7-16 with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. We pride ourselves on striving to provide fantastic teaching and learning in an inclusive environment where all learners are cared for, valued and respected. We are proud that all our pupils are involved in all aspects of our broad, balanced and stimulating curriculum, personalised to meet individual need. Pupils have the opportunity to develop their personal and social development through extra-curricular activities.
Overall impact
The Skills Builder programme provided a focus for teachers and an awareness of the 8 essential skills and the link to the world of work. The training enabled teacher/staff to talk about the skills and how it links to their subject area. Skills Builder has become part of the conversation during departmental and teaching and learning meeting. Ability to track groups and identify skills focus Pupils are now able to articulate each skill and provide examples of when they've used them. Pupils are given opportunities to assess there skill at the end of specific lessons Teachers make reference to the skills during lessons and have them on worksheets and PowerPoints. Skills are celebrated at the end of the week during assemblies with certificates and also logos on the assembly. The external providers and community are aware of our skills focus during every activity We have a whole school approach and skills focus each term.
Keep it simple
All staff have attended the Skills Builder Accelerator Programme training sessions and now understand the 8 essential skills and why a skills based curriculum benefits our young people in school and beyond school. Teachers have a login for the Skills Builder Hub and have done the initial baseline assessment of their group. Teachers celebrate with skills certificates each week during whole school assembly. Teachers make reference to skills during lessons and extra-curricular activities. During the assessment focus group meeting a skill for the term is identified and become a whole school focus. All classrooms have the skills logos displayed and are made reference to during lessons to identify the skill focus. The skill step outcomes are also displayed in classrooms and in pupils book. All subject displays around the school have the 8 skills logos on them and some subjects have the logos on their worksheets. All stakeholders are aware of the skills and its in the School Development Plan.
Start early, keep going
All year groups from Year 4 - 11 have the opportunities with planned opportunities to practise the essential skills. During lessons the skill being used is discussed and at the end pupils provide feedback on how they used it. During our extracurricular activities and community projects the lead will use the language of the skills and the relevance in everyday life and the world of work. We have Start Profile and all pupils have an account, within the platform learners assess their skills and input when they used that particular skill. As a whole school we've focused on a skill per term which has enabled numerous opportunities across the curriculum to practise and develop their skills. During parent/carer conversations the language on skills and progress is discussed also our website provided information about Skills Builder.
Measure it
All groups have been baseline assessed and in primary we've started to the second assessment to identify more specific skills outcomes. Teachers are now introducing skills passports into their subjects to evidence and monitor progress during the assessment sessions. It has been beneficial for staff to work through the steps, it provides simple specific outcomes which can be easily communicated to the pupils. With the introduction of Start (Careers Information) and specifically the Skills Builder assessment tool it's given the learners a chance to self reflect and monitor their own progress. During lessons pupils are using the language of the skills and teachers always ask them to feedback on their learning.
Focus tightly
Teachers use skills logos and most have them in their planning. We have recently had a 4 week Rising Strong Programme to support pupils back into learning and improve their physical and mental wellbeing. During the activities, pupils are asked about the use of skills during the activities and specifically the Staying Positive skill. Recently during and Careers/English activity pupils interviewed residents of a nursing home which used Speaking and Listening skills which the pupils were fully aware of prior to the activity. Our learning are taken out to do outdoor activities with an outside provider and they're fully aware of the skills and they also use the language to enable the pupils to practise and understand what they're practising. Skills are embedded into the curriculum and more specific activities given from the assessment outcomes.
Keep practising
We have numerous opportunities to develop the essential skills across the school. We have a garden onsite where they grow flowers and vegetables, conduct science experiments and also outdoor learning. As part of the curriculum we have personalised speech and language sessions which are an opportunity to practise a skill on a 1-1 or as a small group.
Bring it to life
Students take part in projects which are linked to particular skills and at Christmas we did a Give a Cup for Christmas project for the local homeless shelter. In class groups used a number of the skills such as Teamwork, Listening, Leadership and Staying Positive. During the project the class received a virtual talk from the manager who we'd discussed the skills with. Sue the manager mentioned the essential skills during the talk and reinforced the link between the skills and real life projects also the world of work. Another project was the primary pupils volunteering in the local community planting, weeding and litter picking in the local park with the rangers. Prior to the event Jon, the ranger new which skills we wanted to develop and he used the language and linked them to the project and how the skills would benefit them in later life beyond Woolston Brook.
What's next
Moving forward, each teacher will incorporate the skills logos into their PowerPoints and schemes of work - using teachers who have done this already as exemplars. We'd like to use the tracking and assess twice peer half term during teaching and learning meetings. We hope to provide a training session to parents carers to give a deeper understanding enabling them to use the language of skills builder in their everyday life. As a Skills Leader, I'd like to audit each subject in relation to tracking, resource usage and progress of groups. As well as train new staff members Introduce new pupils, parents/carers to our skills based curriculum during inductions. In the newsletter we hope to give an update and mention which skill is the focus for the term and perhaps they can use it and practise it in the home environment.
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