Wanstead High School is a community school of approximately 1500 pupils in east London. This year we have relaunched our vision for personal development, and as part of our strategy wanted to focus on pupil awareness and development of core essential employability skills from Key Stage 3 onwards. We see this as a key element of our personal development strategy, and a key tool in bringing together the academic, pastoral and careers curriculum, as well as enrichment, in an offer focused on the development of the whole pupil. Skills Builder had been recommended as a valuable tool in achieving this, and we were therefore both pleased and excited when our application for the Skills Builder Accelerator was accepted.
Pupils, teachers and parents in Year 8 are now more aware of the essential skills and their importance. This has enabled all parties to see the relevance of the academic curriculum to their personal development and vice versa. A highlight this year has been the role that the programme has played in engaging and building the confidence of our disadvantaged pupils, in particular through opportunities that have inspired them, such as the Employer Q and A
We will be embedding the essential skills firmly within our Key Stage 3 programme next year from Year 7 to 9, within both tutor time and assemblies, and would like to link them with year group educational visits. We are also looking to continue to embed them within our personal development offer, in particular our careers programme and the various events that we host to support this across the academic year.