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Marden Primary Academy is a thriving community-based school in the rural village of Marden. Joining the Leigh Academy Trust in 2020, the school is now an IB Candidate school, enhancing its curriculum further through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. We deliver an innovative and inclusive education through a transdisciplinary programme which includes skills and careers links and we hope that the skills and knowledge children gain through their units of inquiry will be transferable to careers in later life. These skills are linked explicitly to the Skills Builder programme, which we believe is the perfect accompaniment to our curriculum to help build the essential skills in our learners. Our Principal here at Marden used to work with Enabling Enterprise in London based schools, where a successful careers model was created. He wanted to replicate the same model and so introduced the Skills Builder programme into our setting which has since proved to be just as successful.
Overall impact
The Accelerator programme has been the perfect addition to our rich curriculum, allowing students to build their skills alongside developing their knowledge in other subjects. The students value the programme and have been excited to feel, and see, how it all contributes to building themselves as individuals, who will continue to be lifelong learners. A highlight for our school has been including the programme alongside our careers links. All teachers have expressed the excitement and relevance, to sharing a range of potential careers with the students as well as providing them with lessons in which they can build key skills necessary to enter those careers.
Keep it simple
We have Skills Builder displays in every classroom in the school, as well as shared areas. We have worked hard to embed the language and to consistently refer to the skills. All students have built a good awareness of the eight essential skills in the Universal Framework and they are able to talk about how they are learning each one. Through assemblies and regular staff training throughout the year, we have ensured that everyone in the school community is aware of the programme and its benefits to the students.
Start early, keep going
We decided to take a whole-school approach to using the programme and allow children to begin the journey of learning the skills from when they join in Reception, continuing up into Year 6. The younger students access the programme by using the first steps of each skill which they will then build upon as they go further up into the school. Information about the careers and Skills Builder aspect of our curriculum is then shared with parents via the school newsletter.
Measure it
The Hub has given teachers the opportunity to assess each learner in their class and given them the resources to explicitly teach each skill. After each Skills Builder lesson, teachers are able to identify areas of weakness or areas of strength for their learners and, subsequently, plan for opportunities for those learners to use or develop the skills. We have noticed an impact on our students in other areas of the curriculum as they are more aware of how they are communicating, leading, problem-solving or indeed, using any of the essential skills.
Focus tightly
We decided as a school to set aside a designated time for all teachers to teach Skills Builder. This reassured teachers that they could set this time aside for the programme and that all students would be learning skills at the same time. After a year of using the programme, we have added focus skills to our curriculum map to ensure that all teachers know which skill they should be focusing on each term.
Keep practising
As well as teachers, all staff in our school community use the Skills Builder language and visuals to reinforce the learning and to build the students' understanding. In clubs, the skills are referred to by our Sports Coach and there have been plenty of opportunities for us to keep practising the skills through projects, exhibitions, fundraisers and through our actions which are a result of our inquiry-based learning.
Bring it to life
We have an exciting international curriculum which focuses on real-world topics, past and present. Our inquiries provide students with the opportunities to explore these topics and, where possible, we include careers links which enable the children to see future roles and opportunities. The Skills Builder skills fit perfectly alongside our careers links, as it provides students with explicit lessons for building these essential skills for life-long learning and employment.
What's next
Moving forward, we will continue to enhance the programme in our school by maximising opportunities for its usage. We will review our curriculum map and look for additional opportunities to incorporate the programme. We are also in the process of developing a system in which children can record their development of each skill.
