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May 2021: Discover the new Impact Directory

Hello! We hope the sun is shining for you.

This month we're very excited to share the brand-new Impact Directory, which celebrates and shares the fantastic work of our impact organisation partners. You can search for suitable programmes that have achieved the Skills Builder Impact Levels, as well as filter by themes, ages, location and more. Check it out here.

We also want to remind you to confirm your tickets for Skills Builder Partnership Day 2021 on Friday 14 May! Compacted down into just 90 minutes, it's a great chance to learn more about what has been going on across the Partnership this year, with talks from some of the educators, employers, and impact organisations in the Partnership - as well as our plans for the future. You can confirm your place here.

Plus:

  • New jobs available - We're looking for two fantastic people to join our team
  • Dragon Awards win - We won the Community Partners Award with UBS
  • Apply for the Accelerator - Our flagship programme for schools & colleges
  • Essential Skills Academy - Train to build essential skills on work placements
  • Sign up to Launchpad - Build your own essential skills online

Scroll down to see all the latest. See you next month!

Tom Ravenscroft
Founder & CEO, Skills Builder Partnership

The new Impact Directory

Discover skills-building programmes from across the Partnership

Each member of the Skills Builder Partnership is contributing towards collective impact: to support everyone to build the essential skills to succeed. We're thrilled to be sharing the new Impact Directory, which celebrates and shares the fantastic work of our  partners more widely. Open to the public, it can be used to search for suitable programmes that are aligned with the Skills Builder Impact Levels. It includes:

  • Our partners' programmes or provisions that have been quality assured against the Impact Levels by the Skills Builder team
  • An easy-to-use filter for stakeholders to search by Theme, Age, Location, Essential Skills and Impact Level
  • New programmes and provisions added every week which help to raise awareness, reflect upon, practise and progress in the essential skills

You can read more about our collective impact mission and levels in this short blog.

Visit the Impact Directory

New job opportunities available!


Communications Associate    Deadline: 17th May
Are you an ambitious communicator, who wants to have a real impact by helping transform how the world builds essential skills?


Data & Solutions Analyst    Deadline: 24h May

Are you an ambitious problem solver, who wants to have a social impact by helping transform how the world builds essential skills?

Learn more and apply

You're invited to Partnership Day 2021


The Skills Builder team are delighted to invite you to our annual Partnership Day, which will take place from 09:00-10:30 on Friday 14 May. It's your chance to:

  • Learn more about what has been going on across the partnership this year
  • Be inspired by great spotlight talks from some of the educators, employers, and impact organisations in the Partnership
  • Have a space to think about the bigger picture of our collective work, and where we can go next

We are thrilled to be joined by fantastic speakers including:

  • Oli De Botton, CEO, the Careers & Enterprise Company
  • Susan Douglas, Senior Schools Advisor, British Council and CEO, Eden Academy Trust
  • Alex Fleming, President of Northern Europe, Adecco Group
  • Nicola Inge, Employment and Skills Director, Business in the Community

Confirm your place

Skills Builder wins Community Partners Award at Dragon Awards!


We're really proud to share that the Skills Builder Partnership won the Community Partners Award at The Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards, in recognition of our longstanding work with UBS. The Dragon Awards celebrate excellence in social impact among businesses and community organisations.

The feedback we get from teachers is that the resources we provide make a real impact on the progress their students make and in helping them to reach their potential and achieve in life. The progress we’ve made in 12 years is fantastic and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of an organisation like UBS which really understands the need to make this a programme that is sustainable and lasting, so that we can build and increase our impact every year.”
Rosa Morgan-Baker, Director of Development at the Skills Builder Partnership

We want to say a huge 'thank you' to UBS for their continued support across a decade building the essential skills for success.

Watch a video about our work with UBS

Apply for the Skills Builder Accelerator


Round 2 is open for the Accelerator, our flagship programme for schools and colleges in the UK and internationally. Join the Partnership in 2021-22 and work with us to develop a complete strategy for teaching essential skills in your institution, including training and support, tools and resources.

The programme results in real impact for your students:

  • 96% of Skills Leaders reported meaningful impact in the first term
  • 4.4 out of 5 for teacher satisfaction from feedback
  • 1.6x progress in essential skills for students on the Accelerator

Hear it for yourself from this year's Skills Leaders in this video and click read stories from Primaries, Secondaries, Colleges and Special schools.

Join a movement of leaders equipping students with the skills to succeed.

Round 2 deadline: Friday 28th May

Learn more and apply online


Introducing the Essential Skills Academy

Get access to a fully-resourced training course supporting your work placement participants to make measurable progress in employability skills, underpinned by the Skills Builder Framework. The course is designed to support:

  • Kickstart
  • Graduate Schemes
  • Apprenticeships
  • Internships
  • Work experience
  • Employability training

Our expert Skills Advisors can deliver remote training directly to your cohort, or we can provide train-the-trainer sessions to enable your team to deliver the course to your participants.

Learn more on our website

Sign up to Skills Builder Launchpad


Skills Builder Launchpad is our new online resource platform for individuals to build their own essential skills at every stage of life. It can support specific development priorities or guide you through a choice of courses based on the essential skills - and provides interactive modules for every step of the Skills Builder Universal Framework.

It will support you to:

  • Identify key concepts and strategies related to the skill step.
  • Practice the skill step with a choice of interactive online and offline activities.
  • Articulate your understanding of the skill step through written reflection or discussion with a mentor.

Learn more and register free