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ACE Tiverton is a Special school for students aged 11-16. Our designation is for young people with ASC / ADHD and associated needs who are broadly within 2 years of ARE. We are a new school, opening to 35 students in September 2019 and growing to 100 by September 2023. September 2022 saw our new Nurture unit come on board - this is for 20 students, mainly Key Stage 3 who require a more bespoke timetable with less environmental variables. . Skills Builder is used within other schools in our trust and has shown proven results in terms of evidencing skills development that can be tied to EHCP outcomes and curriculum themes. This has transferred to ACE Tiverton - via the use of Projects with identified classes. The Skills Builder Framework has helped to provide a structure around which our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum is being built.
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme has helped to provide structure and technical language both for teaching staff and students. It has combined with the PFA core curriculum to help develop off site educational visits and experiences by providing a focus and clear outcomes.
Keep it simple
By putting the Skills Builder Framework onto our whole school assessment tool of Evidence for Learning we have been able to build the language around the Key skills into our assessment and monitoring progress. The use of visuals within the Preparation for Adulthood curriculum document has also ensure consistency in language used by staff, to students and in planning.
Start early, keep going
The engagement of parents via Evidence for Learning is still in the trial phase - with a select group of parents and limited subject access. Our intention is that this will broaden over the next academic year. Skills Builder is used on PFA lessons across all age groups and Key Stages with at least one of the four PFA lessons a week have an explicit focus on developing the skills linked to PFA curriculum that half-term.
Measure it
As a school we use Evidence for Learning to record progress against the Skills Builder Framework combined with progress against EHCP outcomes. Students are also encouraged to reflect on their learning and progress and this is also recorded on Evidence for Learning. The use of EFL combined with the structure of the Skills Builder framework provides an accurate and clear picture of individual students progress .
Focus tightly
Timetabled lessons are part of Preparation for Adulthood offer. All staff that deliver Preparation for Adulthood (across all year groups) deliver the Skills Builder programme.
In KS4 students are studying the skills for 90 minutes per week and KS3 for 60 minutes. Projects and short lessons are used within these lessons. Dream Space and Art Gallery have been particularly successful and provide excellent, practical ways to bring the skills and curriculum to life.
Keep practising
Friday elective - run on a Friday in place of extra curricular activities due to the transport needs of our students. ACECARD - a group of students working with our Business Studies Lead on an enterprise project that has created Mother's Day and Father's Day cards which are then sold to the wider student and staff body. Focus skills: Teamwork, Creativity, Speaking and Problem Solving.
Bring it to life
Dream Space - this project has been run with a group of our Year 7 students who have been involved in the planning, purchasing, construction and maintenance of window boxes for the front of the school building. This has involved direct work with our Trust Estate Team - which is an outside provider.
What's next
Skills Builder will continue to be an integral part of the PFA curriculum as it is rolled out over the next 5 years in line with the school curriculum development plan. Work experience and world of work experiences are a key part of the next area for development - Skills Builder will be vital in helping staff to equip and develop some of the necessary skills around being able to access these opportunities.
