Our focus on skills starts in Year 7. During the Year 7 Aspirations Day, all students will discuss the 8 key skills and how these link to potential careers and future opportunities. These discussions continue throughout their time at West Hatch, as they focus on all the skills and learn ways in which they can further develop them.

Due to the lockdown we've been limited in the ways that we can monitor and track the development of student skills. Initially we had planned this to be through discussions and peer assessment. However, despite the setbacks, we have utilised the Skills Builder Benchmark, which allowed students to individually and independently assess their own skills and see how they can further develop these overtime. We also use discussions within the classrooms and Form Time to focus on which steps individuals are at and how they can progress to the next level.

Discussions about skills have occurred during Form Time; however, due to the lockdown we have been limited with the amount of time we have had with student. This has impacted on our ability to focus tightly, for a period of time each week, on skills and skills building - much of this has been done independently, with checks made by the Skills Leader. Going forward we are looking to introduce a set time within the curriculum, where Year 7 and 8 students will have time to focus, develop and learn about the skilled in greater depth (this will be for an hour a week).

We offer various opportunities for students to develop their skills, through a range of extracurricular activities. We ensure that consistent language is used across lessons and extracurricular clubs, regarding the skills. We have also introduced stickers, for the whiteboards in the classrooms, which list the 8 key skills. This provides a subtle reminder for both students and staff; prompting them to think about how they are developing skills throughout the lesson. We have also introduced mention of the skills in our curriculum outlines for each subject - these will be published next year.

As well as using extra-curricular activities to allow students to bring the skills to life, they also remain a focus throughout our careers programme. During Careers Interviews we discuss possible jobs and future careers, focusing on how certain skills would be relevant or useful. Our Careers Leader also encourages students to identify their strengths and weaknesses with regards to skills. The 8 skills are also embedded within our Year 10 CV workshops and mock interview practice. Students are encouraged to consider the skills that they have developed and ways they could mention these during interview or include them on their CV.