December saw the return of Y12 Skills Week whereby every department selected a particular skill to focus on within lessons. We aim to ensure students leave us with both the qualifications they need to secure their career pathway as well as the invaluable life and work skills which will ensure they are successful in their chosen progression path. Whilst skills are prevalent in lessons on a daily basis, we shine the spotlight on skills once every term.
We focus on the eight skills listed within Skills Builder, which are listening, speaking, problem-solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork. We also include a focus on digital skills alongside this. Some examples are as follows:
Our Sociology students further enhanced their oracy skills by working out the most professional way of presenting and explaining complex pieces of information. Meanwhile, our Performing Arts and Drama students were assigned the responsibility of organising their own rehearsals, assigning roles, planning timetables and routines whilst building a safe space and a creative environment to practice their lines ready for their showcase.
In Media, students were provided with the opportunity to record their own podcasts as part of their coursework unit. This was carried out in our professional TV studio where they used specialist digital equipment to record, review and edit.
Our IT students honed their problem-solving skills with the use of logic gate circuits in which they had to break complex problems down into smaller components. Both practically speaking and personally, the development of logical problem-solving skills will benefit our students in any future role. Meanwhile, within the Arts departments, our Product Design students further developed their creativity and design skills by progressing from 2D design to 3D and our Textiles students were assigned a problem -solving task in which they were to meet the needs of a very demanding client!
At the end of Skills Week, our students were asked to reflect upon their strengths and areas on which to further build. We are looking forward to developing these skills.
