Skills Week 2025

Skills Week returned for the third and final time this academic year in June. We continue to raise the profile of skills across all lessons on a daily basis, however, we feel that our Skills Weeks are a powerful opportunity to showcase the development of skills and the preparation which our students are making in readiness for their next steps. We work in partnership with SkillsBuilder to shine a light on particular skills, developing them from basic level to mastery.

Yet again, Skills Week was packed with variety and opportunity; here is a snapshot.

Mathematics and Computer Science students utilised their Problem Solving skills in partnership with Newcastle University, considering how an understanding of economics can help to tackle real world challenges such as climate change. Our Fine Art students combined Digital skills with Creativity in producing expressive zines within master classes led by our Y13 students which was a real test in Leadership.

Our Chemistry students utilised their speaking, listening and teamwork skills to work, in groups, to produce a PH curve for the reaction of a strong acid base with a strong acid.  There were significant opportunities for failure had communication been poor however, all groups rose to the challenge.

The Criminology team developed their own skills within performing arts by creating a video in which they acted out the roles and opinions of jurors during a mock trial.  Once the students had recovered from this mesmerising performance, they utilised their Problem Solving skills to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of our current jury system.

The Sociology department took our students to Durham Crown Court in order to gain an understanding of careers within the criminal justice system thereby Aiming High with their career choices and applying their subject knowledge to the cases and trials which they witnessed first-hand.

As always, our Performing Arts students utilised their Teamwork and Creativity skills to excellent effect in completing their examined performance component producing fantastic theatre performances, the quality of which is way beyond their years.

Our Accounting students had a fantastic opportunity to test their digital skills working with SAGE accounting software, building their confidence in the use of real-world digital tools; an excellent moment to add to their CV.  Meanwhile, Psychology students developed their Creativity and Problem Solving skills by creating their own scenarios to demonstrate how the reflex arc works; many were particularly memorable!

As we draw closer to the end of this academic year, we decided to gauge the opinion of students as to whether they believe they have developed their skills effectively this year with a number of student panel consultations; the response has been overwhelmingly positive which adds to the impact of our Skills weeks as they can see just how far they are progressing in readiness for their future careers.