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Hurst Hill Primary is one form entry primary school, in the heart of Coseley. It is a one form entry school, which has its own nursery. It is a small and welcoming school with around 237 pupils. In 2021 we were graded good by Ofsted. Hurst Hill was opened in November 1986 and has been an integral part of Hales Valley Trust since 2017. At Hurst Hill Primary, we have developed a caring environment in which our pupils feel safe, secure and happy to come to school. With this nurturing provision, and through our school values: honest, attitude (positive), resilience, respect and caring, Hurst Hill pupils have the tools to flourish and grow, developing self-confidence, self-respect and resilience. Pupils are proud of themselves and their achievements. This is because Hurst Hill strives to educate and equip pupils with real life transferable skills, which provide the skill set and confidence to explore the wider world and become the best possible citizens – the best versions of themselves. We began our Skills Builder Journey in 2021. We were eager to roll out the programme because we felt it supported our ethos and that it would contribute greatly towards equipping our children with the skills and knowledge required to achieve their full potential. We also felt that the Skills Builder programme would integrate well into our existing curriculum and support our staff with ideas to embed the essential skills into their teaching.
Overall impact
At Hurst Hill, staff and pupils have all worked hard to ensure Skills Builder has been embedded into all areas of school life. Staff and children are now thinking wider than school and are developing Skills Builder into the wider community. Parents are working alongside their children both in school and at home to ensure these essential skills are being embedded. Parents are supporting school by sharing examples of when their child has used an essential skill at home or to support family members.
Bringing pupils and parents together in school during INSPIRE sessions has helped to raise the profile of Skills Builder at home with parents keen to support children with skills that go beyond the classroom. Parents have sent examples of how their children have showcased their essential skills at home and on days out.
Visitors that come to visit pupils are all made aware of Skills Builder and the importance of these essential skills and always link these into presentations. All pupils talk confidently about the essential skills daily and are able to give examples of how they are developing these skills both in school and into their daily life outside of the classroom.
Keep it simple
Essential skills are embedded within teaching and learning policies and curriculum plans across the school to ensure consistency and fidelity to the programme. Whole school assemblies are delivered frequently using resources from the Skills Builder Hub. These essential skills are also displayed throughout the school, with a focus display celebrating links to home and school. The showcasing of pupils’ achievements, with opportunities for parents to contribute, is provided through the school newsletter. Parents are also kept up to date with the weekly HomeZone challenges via the newsletter as well as during parents’ evenings.
All year groups across school have taken part in a family workshop (INSPIRE), where the focus has been on informing parents about the essential skills that Skills Builder provides, they have then been given time to explore each skill linked to a targeted activity.
Feedback from all stakeholders, in particular parents, has been overly positive with comments.
Start early, keep going
Our essential skill teaching includes all children, from Nursery right through to Year 6. All pupils have opportunities to build their essential skills. All staff have access to the resources on the 'Skills Builder Hub' and they use these frequently to support teaching and learning. All year groups and classes have regular and planned opportunities for the learning and practising of essential skills. Staff have also started to link the essential skills with school visitors, starting as early as Nursery. Indeed, we celebrate Skills Builder through the distribution of special ‘skills builder visitor packs’ upon arrival. When planning for visitors, staff link the essential skills to their job role linked in with the career cards provided on the Skills Builder Hub.
Measure it
We use the Skills Builder Hub to assess our pupils against the essential skills at the beginning and end of the school year. All teaching staff use the Skills Builder Hub to assess the essential skills of the pupils within their classes. This is monitored regularly using the Hub usage report. As a school, we have continued to work to increase the consistency of our assessment of skills across the school. We have the expectation that all class teachers use the formative class assessment tool on the Skills Builder Hub on a half termly basis, so we can observe the progression the children have made and their next steps. This year, teachers have been given a refresher session on assessment, and newer staff members have been provided with more in-depth training.
Focus tightly
Planning across the year groups and across the curriculum identifies focus skill-based links and learning for lessons. This enables our students to see how each of the essential skills is valued, necessary and useful in a wide range of situations. Teachers engage in focused and explicit teaching of essential skills – in class and though whole school and phase assemblies. Timetables and planning show that all teachers dedicate time weekly to the teaching of skills ensuring the teaching is pitched at an appropriate level. Teachers are trusted to choose a skill that is a developmental gap for their class. Essential skills are integrated within school-wide policies to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of how our skill curriculum links to all areas of school life. Our steps to success, in core subjects, identify the essential skills that the children are using within the lessons. By making this explicit for the pupils, they are able to self-reflect and assess the skills they are us
Keep practising
In line with our curriculum planning, our student voice results have indicated that pupils thoroughly enjoy the essential skill activities they have participated in. Teachers provide regular opportunities for students to practise essential skills across the wider curriculum, merging into different subject areas. Essential skills visuals are included on learning objectives; these are linked to the essential skills that teachers, and in some cases supported by the pupils, have identified that are relevant to their lesson. Extra-curricular activities provide opportunities for students to practise essential skills: Lego therapy club; the school Football Team and Trust events. Pupils who have taken part in these events have been able to confidently articulate how and why they have applied the use of the essential skills during these sessions.
Bring it to life
Staff make deliberate choices to ensure there is sufficient provision and opportunities for all students to apply essential skills. These experiences have included project-based learning, off-timetable days, employer encounters, workplace visits and enterprise challenges. We have been supported by the wider community to show case the essential skills to pupils through a variety of events and experiences. These have included a whole school Challenge Day, a visit from National Grid, a workshop from the Stroke Association and assemblies led by Vicars. All visitors who come to school are briefed about the essential skills and are therefore able to use this language when talking to pupils within their roles. Where possible we link this to the career cards, so that children can see what essential skills they would need if they were interested in choosing their job for their career.
What's next
We plan to continue to embed the skills curriculum throughout our academic curriculum. Planning has taken place for that this year and we intend to monitor the implementation of these and evaluate the impact. We plan to continue our focus on engaging the local community and enabling their skill progression too.
At the moment, we are in the process of appointing Skills Builder Ambassadors across school. All learners, of any age, have been offered the opportunity to apply for this role and we have had a very high number of pupils apply. The children have written about how they use these essential skills in their daily life and how they feel they could support pupils across school to continue to develop their skills too.
