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We are a popular two-form primary school in a deprived area of Walsall in the West Midlands. We cater for children from Reception through to Year 6. We felt that joining the Skills Builder Accelerator programme would be beneficial to us as a school because our curriculum is designed around our driver of 'Prepared for Life', we aim for every child that leaves us to have the key skills required to be successful in the next stages of their education. Our school motto is 'Learning is the key to success'; we encourage all of our children to become resilient learners with a growth mindset. We have extensive grounds including an outdoor gym, MUGA, gardens, adventure playground and school farm - consisting of rabbits, ducks, chickens, guinea pigs and goats. We also have a multimedia suite with a green screen and a recording booth.
Overall impact
We are now beginning to make meaningful links between the Skills Builder principles and all areas of our curriculum. By making use of the resources and the assessment hub staff have been able to expose our children to all of the essential skills. The children are beginning to identify for themselves which of the skills they are working on at any particular time.
Keep it simple
Prior to beginning the Skills Builder programme, we had introduced BLP (Building Learning Power) across the school. We found that the Skills Builder principles complimented the work we had done on BLP, this enabled us to introduce the skills by using some of the terminology that our children were already familiar with. Each class also has a recognition board - each morning the teacher picks a focus/skill that they want the children to demonstrate during the day and write it on the board, as children demonstrate the skill, they add their names to the board. We also ensured that every classroom and teaching space had the Skills Builder posters on display; these were also put up around the school in key communal areas. We have also incorporated the language of Skills Builder into some of our home-school processes such as through the use of Seesaw links or MarvellousMe messages.
Start early, keep going
In September 2021, we introduced Skills Builder into Years 2 and 6, but we soon expanded this to cover all year groups from Reception through to Year 6. Staff started by choosing a skill that they felt was most relevant to the needs of their class and then used the short lessons and resources to introduce it. Through the introduction of enrichment sessions into the weekly timetable, we have been able to provide sessions where children have the opportunity to practise and develop their skills. Many of our enrichment sessions have focused on teamwork and being creative - however, these have then also led to incidental Speaking, Listening and Leadership work.
Measure it
We have made use of the Skills Builder hub to measure the success our children have had with the programme. Staff completed an initial baseline assessment on September 21st. This gave them a starting point for each of the skills. Since this initial assessment, staff have completed further reassessments throughout the school year. Staff also use their AfL (Assessment for Learning) books to record any student demonstrating a particular skill during a lesson. Staff have shared their experiences of using the hub and successes within their classes during some of our staff meeting sessions, led by the Skills Leader.
Focus tightly
Staff use the short lessons from the hub to teach some of the skills that they have identified for their classes. Our enrichment programme allows many skills to be addressed and developed over several weeks in different situations. We make every effort to maximise the use of our school grounds by taking learning outside as much as possible. Being outside allows the children the opportunity to develop and practise the use of their essential skills. We encourage children to use their Leadership, Staying Positive, Speaking, Listening and Teamwork skills by completing activities such as orienteering, gardening and working on our school farm. Staff will record observations and informal assessments in their AfL (Assessment for Learning) books.
Keep practising
Children are encouraged to make use of their essential skills in all aspects of school life. Our curriculum driver of Prepared for Life links closely to our work on BLP (Building Learning Power) and uses similar language that the children understand. We make use of external visitors such as sports coaches, artists and musical experts to help the children to understand that the skills that they are learning in lessons such as English and Maths can be transferred to other areas too. We have formed links with Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, as such, some of our children have had the opportunity to take part in drama workshops, and even had some of their work featured on a dress worn by the main character during Christmas pantomime. We also run intervention groups during lunchtime, where children can go to the school farm and develop their confidence and social skills.
Bring it to life
Each year, every class has the opportunity to elect two school council representatives. To be a representative children must complete an application form and be shortlisted. Each class then votes in private booths for their chosen candidates. Children in Year 6 also have the opportunity to apply for the role of Head Boy and Head Girl - to do this, children must again apply for the role before being interviewed by members of the School Leadership Team. We have visitors from the emergency services who come into school and explain the importance of their role to some of our younger children. Children in Years 5 and 6 take part in residential visits to develop their Teamwork and Problem Solving skills, whilst also learning other key life skills. As part of our ArtsMark journey, children have had the chance to work with different artists to make use of their essential skills, in particular, Creativity, Aiming High, Leadership and Teamwork.
What's next
As we continue with the Skills Builder programme, we are looking forward to developing our careers curriculum and embedding the eight essential key skills into it. Now that the essential skills have been introduced to the children, to further embed them we will be introducing focus skills during each half term, linked to project or challenge days where possible. We will also be rolling out the use of skills symbols on worksheets/teaching slides to highlight the skills being addressed in each lesson.
