By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
The Brittons Academy is a school currently on a rapid journey of improvement. During this academic year, the school received an improved Ofsted judgement of Good. A fundamental part of this journey has been to raise the aspirations of our students and fully prepare them for life beyond our school gates. We have used Skills Builder to shape our curriculum planning, embed our pastoral expectations and promote the development of key employability skills.
Overall impact
Staff feedback - the hub provides lots of useful resources to develop our subject teaching; we already do much of this, Skillsbuilder enables us to better signpost for students; it was much easier to embed into our teaching than we expected.
Keep it simple
At The Brittons Academy, we have built awareness of the essential skills among our students and teachers by linking them to our pastoral expectations of students and our rewards system. Our pastoral and reward system is based on PRIDE. We have mapped each of the essential skills to each element of PRIDE. Staff recognise and reward student effort and achievement in relation to essential skills in the form of our PRIDE praise points and end of term celebration assemblies. Careers events and assemblies now reference them explicitly. Fundamentally, we have ensured that the development of essential skills now forms part of strategic curriculum planning moving forward to ensure the essential skills are embedded in all curriculum areas.
Start early, keep going
Skills Builder is embedded into weekly Form Time Programme, with one session per week, in each year group focusing on an essential skill which is linked to a specific career. We have used the hub to inform our planning and development of inhouse resources for these sessions. Every year group has planned opportunities to identify and develop the essential skills. For example, our Careers Fair enabled students to discuss various careers and required skills with industry experts. Additionally, when Key Stage 4 students have their scheduled meetings with the Careers Adviser development of the essential skills is discussed and steps are planned on bespoke actions plans.
Measure it
We have trialled different assessment formats: using the online platform as form tutors, students then individually carried out self-assessment in relation to the different essential skills. We have moved into a practise of class teachers now assessing the group to enable the class teacher to know which stage of the appropriate essential skill to focus on developing. Students complete personal reflections on their development of essential skills and evaluation forms during our annual careers fair.
Focus tightly
Initially, we have focused on raising the profile and understanding of the essential skills within Form Time and assemblies. Once understanding was established, we introduced Skills Builder into the Pastoral Programme along with targeted activities to ensure students can develop the essential skills at a bespoke level. Form time curriculum is where explcit teaching happens - using in house resources. Departments are now starting to adapt their curriculum to explicitly signpost and develop essential skills moving forward. Our co-curricular opportunities has also started to develop the essential skills, e.g. gardening club - Teamwork, Aiming High, Creativity.
Keep practising
Teachers are starting to provide opportunities for students to practise essential skills during the Pastoral Programme and co-curricular events e.g. Speakers for Schools Talks, Careers Fairs, project-based learning and drop down days requiring effective teamwork or displays of leadership. Student Council has been used to drive the development of student leadership. English, Maths, French and RE have trialled specific and targetted develop of skills within lesson time, which is being rolled out to all subject areas from September to build on the Pastoral programme students have received in relation to the essential skills.
Bring it to life
Every year group has planned opportunities to identify and develop the essential skills. For example, our Careers Fair and Post-16 events have enabled students to discuss how the essential skills are used within the workplace. Project-based learning - e.g. First Give charity unit of work in Yr 8 RE, drop down days; We have also restarted Work Experience with our Year 10s this year to enable meaningful employer encounters and workplace visits. For this programme we used Change in Education to ensure their reflections were linked to the essential skill and to provide students with the opportunity to see how the essential skills are used in wider life.
What's next
For September, we will be explicitly developing the essential skills across all subject areas - embedded into the schemes of learning for each subject area. This will also include all class teachers regularly assessing for the essential skills
