Hurst Hill Primary is one form entry primary school, in the heart of Coseley. It is a one form entry school, which has its own nursery. It is a small and welcoming school with around 237 pupils. In 2021 we were graded good by Ofsted. Hurst Hill was opened in November 1986 and has been an integral part of Hales Valley Trust since 2017. At Hurst Hill Primary, we have developed a caring environment in which our pupils feel safe, secure and happy to come to school. With this nurturing provision, and through our school values: honest, attitude (positive), resilience, respect and caring, Hurst Hill pupils have the tools to flourish and grow, developing self-confidence, self-respect and resilience. Pupils are proud of themselves and their achievements. This is because Hurst Hill strives to educate and equip pupils with real life transferable skills, which provide the skill set and confidence to explore the wider world and become the best possible citizens – the best versions of themselves. We began our Skills Builder Journey in 2021. We were eager to roll out the programme because we felt it supported our ethos and that it would contribute greatly towards equipping our children with the skills and knowledge required to achieve their full potential. We also felt that the Skills Builder programme would integrate well into our existing curriculum and support our staff with ideas to embed the essential skills into their teaching.

At Hurst Hill, staff and pupils have all worked hard to ensure Skills Builder has been embedded into all areas of school life. Staff and children are now thinking wider than school and are developing Skills Builder into the wider community. Parents are working alongside their children both in school and at home to ensure these essential skills are being embedded. Parents are supporting school by sharing examples of when their child has used an essential skill at home or to support family members. Bringing pupils and parents together in school during INSPIRE sessions has helped to raise the profile of Skills Builder at home with parents keen to support children with skills that go beyond the classroom. Parents have sent examples of how their children have showcased their essential skills at home and on days out. Visitors that come to visit pupils are all made aware of Skills Builder and the importance of these essential skills and always link these into presentations. All pupils talk confidently about the essential skills daily and are able to give examples of how they are developing these skills both in school and into their daily life outside of the classroom.

We plan to continue to embed the skills curriculum throughout our academic curriculum. Planning has taken place for that this year and we intend to monitor the implementation of these and evaluate the impact. We plan to continue our focus on engaging the local community and enabling their skill progression too. At the moment, we are in the process of appointing Skills Builder Ambassadors across school. All learners, of any age, have been offered the opportunity to apply for this role and we have had a very high number of pupils apply. The children have written about how they use these essential skills in their daily life and how they feel they could support pupils across school to continue to develop their skills too.