Here at Buckden CE Primary Academy we recognise that it has never been more important to build a set of essential skills to succeed in life for our children and young people: the ability to creatively solve problems, to self-manage, to communicate effectively, and to work well with others. These are skills that are needed to do almost anything well. The need for these skills is clear, but there is still a gap – too many children and young people do not build these skills to the level they need, and so miss out on opportunities to thrive in other parts of their lives. Too often this is an area where terminology is confused and confusing. The work of all the schools, colleges and organisations in the Skills Builder Partnership is to cut through this: to refine a consistent, universal approach to these essential skills. We define the essential skills as: Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership and Teamwork.

Skills Builder has been built into our School Curriculum and is part of our lessons but we also recognise the skills we use in other parts of our school life such as extracurricular clubs. Each class has at least two skills builder pupil champions who job is to recognise when we are using particular skills.

If you would like to help your child at home to develop their skills you can use the Skills Builder Home Zone to see many different activities that you can do at home to help your child (click the link below).