Children and young people need to be proficient in eight essential skills to thrive at every level. These essential skills are:
Listening: The ability to listen and understand information.
Speaking: Speaking about information or ideas.
Problem Solving: Finding a solution to a complex situation or challenge.
Creativity: Using their imagination and creating new ideas.
Staying Positive: Learning to overcome setbacks and achieve goals.
Aiming High: Setting clear goals and planning a route to achieve them.
Leadership: Supporting, encouraging and motivating others to achieve a shared goal.
Teamwork: Working with others to achieve a shared goal.
These skills are about giving our children the resources to thrive in their childhood. To equip children for the future, we begin building these skills from the start of school and keep practising them.
The changing world makes them more important than ever. Our children will need to communicate well, solve problems, manage themselves and work well with others. These are skills employers and universities are looking for and will help throughout their lives. Some feel these skills are at least as important as academic achievements.
Sandown’s Career Café
Sandown believes that we need to equip our young learners with the 8 Essential Skills needed to be successful in life and in the workplace. We held a Careers Cafe event for the whole school and Nursery to raise aspirations and broaden horizons. Over 30 visitors came and met with the children and explained how they use the skills we learn through our primary years in their daily workplace. From firefighters, midwives, graphic designers and paramedics to hairdressers, bakers and many, many more, the children handled equipment, asked questions and listened carefully to find out about jobs and careers.
Sandown is very grateful to all the volunteers who made this a success.