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Queen's Park High School

Queen’s Park High School is a secondary school in Chester. Over the last two years they have had a real focus on building their students’ eight essential skills to ensure they are successful in and beyond school.

How do they use the Skills Builder Framework?

Queen’s Park High School runs a Partner School programme which includes teacher training on how to use and embed the Framework, Challenge Days and projects focused on building the eight essential skills and trips out to businesses, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch whom they have a close relationship with. At the start of the year, teachers throughout the school assess their class against the Framework, so that the impact of developing the essential skills can be measured and tracked.

Why do they use the Framework?

Head teacher Lyndsay Watterson explained that measuring and tracking the essential skills using the Framework 'will really help us to be able to focus on target areas for the school, particular year groups and individual students.' Through the use of the online assessment tool, teachers are empowered to target students’ weaknesses, ensuring that no pupils fall behind in their skill development.

What's been the impact of using the Framework?

Teachers report that they have seen 'a new side to students through using the skills to observe them and through sharing the skills assessment framework with them so they know what is expected of them. Seeing how different students respond to that has really given me a new insight into them as individuals.'

“The skills set our students apart and are the skills they can evidence at interview beyond the academic. For many of our students, this is the way to open doors for them, let them see beyond their own context.”

Lyndsay Watterson, Head Teacher

“Today really made me think, it was the first time I’ve ever focused on non-subject related skills in this way. It’s made me realise that I’m better at some of these things than I thought, like presenting but I need to work on my listening skills, that section was really hard!”

Student, Year 13

“It’s been great to see them take part in this today, students who often struggle in class all day have thrown themselves into it.”

Teacher, Year 8