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.
Wormholt Park Primary is a friendly school. We have a strong Rights Respecting ethos, which permeates throughout the school. The children and staff care about and take responsibility for themselves, for each other and for their environment. As a result, our school feels like a special place, where children are happy and demonstrate great enthusiasm towards their learning. Over the last few years, our curriculum has been redesigned to enable all our children to achieve their very best, not just academically but also in terms of developing the life skills they will need for the future. Our commitment to developing and embedding these essential skills led us to Skills Builder. Together we have ensured that all the children in our school are learning, developing and using the eight essential skills not just in their day-to-day school life but also as a tool they can take forward and use at home and in the wider world.
Overall impact
The children are fluent in the shared language of Skills Builder. They nominate peers that they have seen using the skills in the playground and in the classroom for achievement rewards. Teachers, particularly our new members of staff have increased in their confidence in using the Hub and access resources to explicitly teach the essential skills.. Parents have enjoyed having the weekly Skills Builder challenge shared on the newsletter and having that school/home link to facilitate discussions at home. Two-year groups are using their Skills Builder weeks this year to involve their local community. Year 2 are creating a Café and Year 4 are becoming Gym Instructors . Our Support Staff are using the Coaching Handbook activity suggestions at playtime and the Skills have been displayed in the playground. We are using Skills Builder essential skills in our before school provisions such as maths club and book club and also in some targeted interventions such as ELSA. Teachers have reported that children have become more aware of the need to use creativity skills in problem solving, for example when there have been playground disputes and in DT Projects. We have whole school Skills Builder themed achievement assemblies on Friday. SLT have built Skills Builder into the behaviour policy when it was reviewed in September 2022. SLT have included a section on Skills Builder in our Teaching and Learning Policy. This was shared with staff in September 2022 - this was to ensure that the development of the eight essential skills remained high on our agenda and of high importance regardless of any potential staff changes etc.
Keep it simple
The essential skills are embedded in the shared language of our school. Children see the skills displayed in every classroom and shared spaces throughout the building. The essential skills and their associated steps are referred to in our curriculum, and used within all planning. Children are rewarded in our weekly achievements assembly for using the essential skills within their learning. Throughout the week, classroom Dojo points are earned for demonstrating the skills in class. Support staff and skill spotters in the playground have essential skill stickers to reward playground behaviour. All teaching and support staff have received Skills Builder training. The weekly Skill Builder challenge, from Home zone, is shared in our parents' newsletter each week.
Start early, keep going
The essential skills are explicitly taught from Reception to Year 6. All the children attend a Skills Builder assembly each week. They take part in a school-wide Skills Builder Challenge Day and a year group Skills Builder Week. In addition to these, two skills are named and focused on each half term school wide. These are shared with parents in the half termly curriculum guide that is sent home. Children's school reports include updates and make reference to their development of the essential skills.
Measure it
Children are assessed regularly. Time is allocated in staff meetings every half term to complete this on the assessment Hub. The steps for each skill are displayed in shared areas around the school. Teachers make use of the Universal Framework when planning.
Focus tightly
Time is allocated specifically for the teaching of the essential skills in every class timetable. This has ensured that essential skills, at the appropriate step are consistently taught each week. In addition to this, two skills are picked each half term for a school wide focus and these are shared with parents. Teachers make regular use of the Skills Builder Hub.
Keep practising
The development and building of essential skills is always high on our school agenda. Regular time is built into each class timetable to develop these both explicitly and also across our curriculum. We also try to include Skills Builder skills in targeted interventions such as our ELSA provision. Our after-school provision also ensures that children have the opportunity to further develop essential skills in clubs such as Lego club, filmmaking and book club.
Bring it to life
We take part in a school wide Challenge Day each year. This is always a time of great excitement throughout the school and the children take delight in putting their essential skills into practice as a shared experience. In addition to this every year each class take part in a Skills Builder Week. Our Year 6's, in their transition sessions, are encouraged to think about how the essential skills will assist them in secondary school.
What's next
SLT have agreed to increase the presence of Skills Builder in other policies when they are reviewed over the coming year/s. Time scheduled into staff meetings to update the skills builder assessment hub will continue to be in place. As a school wide team, we have agreed that we would like to think of more ways to incorporate our Skill Builder projects into the wider community. We will be looking to use those members of staff who are Skill Builder champions to support new and less confident staff in delivering the skills.
