Skills Builder

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Castle View School

Context

At Castle View School we have a very clear mission: 'Pursue Excellence, Be the Best'. In addition we have a vision of we can achieve this. Through: 'Pupils, Parents and Staff in partnership to achieve academic excellence, through a culture of high aspirations, whilst developing every child into well rounded, caring and confident individuals who contribute positively to their community and are well equipped to contribute to our wider society. This fits in perfectly with the Skills Builder mission that: 'One day, everyone will build the essential skills to succeed'.

Overall impact

As a result of our accelerator programme, students are able to talk about the eight essential skills, and why they are important. The Skills Builder framework has given a focus to the employers that come into our school. Recently representatives from an accountancy firm used the eight skills to articulate the importance of employability skills. The six principles of best practice support our careers provision and the eight essential skills support our core values of ambition, determination and respect.

Keep it simple

The language of the essential skills is being used in some aspects of the school community. A Skills Builder point has been added to the whole school reward system, allowing SLT to monitor progress and to reward students. Assemblies have been delivered across the school, informing students of the eight essential skills. Most classrooms have the skills builder skill icons displayed.

Start early, keep going

The skills builder programme was introduced to students in Y7, to provide them with an opportunity to build essential skills as part of their transition to secondary school. This focus also means that these students will be able to carry the language of the essential skills through their school life. In addition to this, students who expressed an interest in Law took part in a Q&A session, facilitated by Skills Builder.

Measure it

Year 7 planners are used to assess skill progress, alongside an internal tracking grid developed by the Skills Builder leader. The teacher training session with our education associate was used with our SEND department, so that those working with students with additional needs are able to access progress using the expanded universal framework.

Focus tightly

Teachers engage in focused and explicit teaching of essential skills during personal develop lessons, which are timetabled. Staff assess their students on the Hub and pick a skill step that is appropriate for their group of students. We have also used SIMS to track the delivery of the Skills Builder house points.

Keep practising

Teachers provide students with an opportunity to practise their essential skills by signposting them to posters that are displayed in the classrooms. Students are then given time to reflect on their progress.

Bring it to life

Students took part in the Q&A session with Skills Builder, and as a result, similar sessions have been developed so that students at Castle View have an opportunity to bring the skills to life. We also work with Changing Education, who are a Skills Builder impact partner, and we are developing our work experience programme. We are starting to embed the skills builder framework in to our work placement offer, so that students can reflect on their skills and set targets. We have also used the reflective log to support students when bringing the skills to life. Next year, flexible support with our education associate will be used to plan off time table days using the World of Work modules as part of our accelerator+ programme.

What's next

We hope to achieve the gold award next year.

East of England

United Kingdom

Secondary

Castle View School