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Lutley Primary School is part of Hales Valley Trust. Our Trust is an all-primary academy trust, based in Dudley, West Midlands. We are a large 3 form entry school where staff work together to ensure all children’s needs are being met. Our school values are ‘Learning, Caring, Aiming High- Together’ which is modelled consistently by staff to ensure children have the best start in life. The Skills Builder essential skills also underpin our practice within the school, to model and apply our school values.
Overall impact
The essential skills are deeply embedded within our everyday practice as well as our curriculum. Our Early Years and Key Stage One and Two Curriculum is underpinned by the essential skills from the Skills Builder Framework. These skills support the children with developing communication and language skills, which is at the heart of all learning across all subjects. It begins from the moment they enter school in Early Years where the essential skills are introduced to parents at the first transition meeting. The skills are then referenced every year in each transition meeting, to ensure the message is clear: The skills prepare children for later life, developing their role as a global citizen.
Keep it simple
All stakeholders are aware of and promote the essential skills within the school day and beyond. For example, Governors are aware of the essential skills and how they are promoted in school as well as our breakfast club and afterschool club. The language of the essential skills is modelled by all members of staff whether it be in lesson time to walking down a corridor. The expectations are high and children use and apply the skills in every day-to-day activity. Weekly assemblies refer to the skills throughout the session. They always link to the content that the children are learning about as well as the expectations we have of the children. Relevant school policies refer to Skills Builder and these policies are read and implemented by staff. The children’s successes are celebrated each day, weekly and half termly. Parents are also informed through Parents’ Evenings and yearly reports. The essential skills are referred to consistently across the curriculum, and posters are displayed in each classroom for staff to signpost within lessons.
Start early, keep going
The Essential skills as previously mentioned are referred to from the moment the children start at Lutley through their transition in July, to parents and children. The skills are then developed across the school. We understand that although the steps are age related, the steps can also be differentiated to cater for all needs and starting points. All teaching staff and cover supervisors record their teaching and reflect on their success and next steps to develop their personal teaching skills. The coaches use the language from the skills builder essential skills to promote high expectations of these sessions and highlight when certain skills have been showcased by children, as well as members of staff. Each class has differentiated focus skills that they are working on, as at Lutley we recognise that all dynamics within classes are different. This highlights how we value every child as an individual. Homezone was shared with parents to explore the skills out of school this is something we are going to relaunch again at the start of the academic year next year to engage our new parents of children starting in the school.
Measure it
Following on from the transition day in July, the new class teacher assesses the children on the hub before the children start in September. However, we believe at the start of every year, the essential skills need to be reassessed for each class. When the routine of the day is implemented consistently, we get a true reflection of the children’s knowledge and skills to be able to monitor their progress on the hub effectively. As a class, the children are informed of their progress and staff celebrate this with them. The Skills Builder Leader monitors the usage of the hub termly, to ensure the children are making progress. Teachers then decide what specific skill the class need to focus on based on the data and make specific references to it.
Focus tightly
At Lutley it is important that the skills are taught in different ways to meet the needs of the children. For example, in EYFS this may be during a circle time session following on from ‘in the moment’ next steps that the children need to build upon. However, throughout the rest of the school the skills are taught within each lesson and are differentiated depending on the activity and age. This ensures that the context is relevant to what the children are learning and the lessons are pitched appropriately.
Keep practising
At Lutley we have a wide range of extracurricular activities led by members of teaching staff and external providers. They are all informed of the importance of our school values as well as the essential skills that we promote within the school. This ensures that the skills are well thought through and link to the curriculum. Within the school day there are various opportunities across all year groups where the skills are developed. Such as the spelling competitions, Bike ability, mini markets and Forest School sessions. The application of these skills is clear and obvious due to the consistency of language used.
Bring it to life
At Lutley we have pupil leadership teams, such as Digital Leaders and Junior Leadership Teams. These teams support the development of the essential skills by promoting them to younger children in the school, as well as develop their own leadership and teamwork skills. Visitors within each year group are provided with a Skills Builder overview and we encourage them to refer to the skills within their focus session. This ensures that the pupils see the impact the skills have on wider experiences. Also, transition is an important time of year to promote the essential skills. Challenge Days are planned for the children to build relationships with their teacher as well as to settle into their new classroom environment. These challenge days are accessed at an age-related level, and they allow the teacher to see what strengths their new class has. The children are also rewarded with certificates linking to the specific skills that they have developed during the challenge day.
What's next
The Skills Builder leader will continue to implement the essential skills, ensuring that the termly assessments are completed. At Lutley we will also engage in a challenge day across the Trust, where the children will be able to work on the essential schools in teams. The new Early Years children and parents will be introduced to Skills Builder through workshops in the Autumn Term too.
