The nominated Skills Leader will attend 2 online training days (9-2.30 pm), where they work with fellow Skills Leaders. 

The nominated Skills Leader and a member of Senior Leadership will both attend 3 online planning meetings across the year. These last 1 hour and are termly. Your dedicated Education Associate with meet with you to create your strategy and plan what support we will provide. 

You will also book 2 online training sessions for your staff. These last 1 hour each and should be booked for a time following your Planning Meeting. The content, and which staff attend, is completely bespoke to your needs. 

The goal is to explicitly build essential skills through the curriculum and special experiences, many do this by dedicating a weekly or fortnightly 20 - 30 minute slot to teach essential skills. You can see more about the programme structure by referring back to 'What to expect from the Accelerator Programme' page. 

It’s likely that there’s lots going on in your school or college to build essential skills already. By working with us, we can make it more explicit and consistent across your staff body. The programme and resources are often used to improve existing priorities e.g. oracy, careers, employability, personal development, PSHE, behaviours for learning, SEND intervention. You will work closely with a former teacher (your Education Associate) who will ensure existing priorities are incorporated and the programme has maximum impact on student progress. 

With the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) and recent curriculum changes outlined in the Curriculum and Assessment review (2025), the Accelerator programme provides an evidence driven approach for developing learners' essential skills in a way that ensures a sequential learning thread across subject specialisms. At the end of the first year, you will have a team of staff who are confident to build essential skills and demonstrate student progress in skills like teamwork, problem solving and in oracy, with our Speaking and Listening strands of the Universal Framework. We regularly support Skills Leaders in the run up to inspections and can help make clear the links between your individual school strategy and Ofsted. 

Everything is booked online. You will be able to choose from a selection of dates for your Skills Leader Training (there will be options for July, August & September). You will also be able to book your Planning Meeting and Teacher Training sessions from late Summer. We will send you a link where you can browse availability. 

Yes, as the Skills Leader you attend all 3 touchpoints: the Skills Leader Trainings x2, the Planning Meetings x3 and the Teacher Training Session x2. 

Contact your Education Associate and let them know what's going on. We are here to help. We've supported hundreds of Skills Leaders, and we're all former teachers, so we know things don't always go to plan. We can work with you to adjust plans and expectations, to make it manageable and impactful. 

Please share this guide with the new Skills Leader and introduce them to your Education Associate. Ideally, we will book a handover meeting for the three of us, but we know this isn't always possible. You could also forward on the notes we share with you after your Planning Meetings. 

Accelerator - our flagship programme for schools and colleges.

Accelerator+ - a continuation of the programme after year 1- for schools and colleges who have successfully completed the initial Accelerator.

Associate - your main point of contact within the Education team at the Skills Builder Partnership.

Challenge Days -  day-long project-based challenges. Learners apply all eight essential skills. Available on Skills Builder Hub.

Principles - six indicators of best practice in skills-related teaching and learning, forming the basis of the goals you will set in your Planning Meetings. 

Projects - extended 10-session, project-based challenges. Learners build specific steps of three specific essential skills. Available on Skills Builder Hub.

Skills Builder Benchmark - an online self-reflection tool for individuals to discover their own skills strengths and areas for development.

Skills Builder Hub - an online resource and assessment platform for teachers and facilitators.

Skills Leader - the nominated programme lead in a school or college.

Universal Framework - defines all eight essential skills and breaks each skill into sixteen teachable steps.

Virtual Trip  - virtual experiences for students to learn about how skills are applied in the world of work. Some accompanying experiences with volunteers available, facilitated virtually by Skills Builder. 

Virtual Work Experience Modules - online activities, linking sectors to essential skills, students can work independently, best for KS3+.