All year groups and classes have regular and planned opportunities for the learning and practising of essential skills. We have also shared the Skills Builder Homezone website on our ClassDojo platform to ensure that students of all ages and abilities have the opportunity to build their essential skills at home.

All teachers regularly use formative assessment to prioritise and inform the teaching of essential skills. This takes place using the Skills Builder Hub after the delivery of a session. We use Hub reports to monitor this across the school, and we use this data to inform next steps/close any gaps in learning. Personal Booklets are also used to set individual targets against the framework, informing Annual Reviews and EHCP targets.

All teachers engage in focused and explicit teaching of essential skills. We have used flexible support as part of our accelerator+ programme to ensure that all staff have been trained and are familiar with the language of essential skills. LSAs to use Personal Booklets during curriculum lessons and the Inclusive Learning Resource Pack from the Hub to support EHCP time, once a week. This is reflected on timetables and planning documents, and staff use certificates from the Hub to reward students for progress made against the steps on the Universal Framework.

Our rich curriculum takes account of prior learning and experiences and helps pupils to develop the full range of knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes. We provide pupils with opportunities for discussion, debate, exploration of ideas, independent responses to new material, individual research and development of their own lines of enquiry. This is all underpinned by the language of the eight essential skills. All staff provide regular opportunities for students to practise essential skills in the wider curriculum, crossing into different subject areas. Skills have been linked to topic pages to ensure that students have an opportunity to practise the essential skills. After school clubs, such as debate club and journalism clubs run at lunch time, encouraging students to use their essential skills.

At Maplewell, we make provision for all students to have experiences to apply essential skills. Essential skill icons on lanyards for visitors or information leaflet to support links to external visitors and organisations. We have also explore the World of Work modules, and are incorporating these resources into our provision to provide students with an opportunity to bring the skills to life. After School Clubs at Maplewell have been designed to provide students with an extension to their learning opportunities and to develop their peer relationships. The range of activities promotes a healthy lifestyle and the development of the eight essential skills. These clubs are available to all students.