CHILDREN at Burton Bradstock Primary School are determined to gain an ‘edge’ over others - and it's already paid off.

They have been focusing on developing and improving skills and attributes which will make them successful in the future – initiative, communication, resilience, organisation and leadership – in a new programme entitled ‘The Edge’.

This has been an initiative embraced by the Sir John Colfox Academy, also part of the Minerva Learning Trust, for the last two years and the school is a Centre of Excellence.

Teacher, Andy David, is the Edge Ambassador for all South West schools.

He has been supporting Burton Bradstock along with students from Colfox.

He said: “Too many schools simply focus on the taught curriculum and this can lead to too much emphasis on exams and testing. Luckily, all the schools in the Minerva Learning Trust recognise that success in life requires more than results and they are committed to developing the whole child. It has been a privilege to work with the children and staff at Burton Bradstock and to see them really engage in understanding the need for more general skills.”

Holly Varndell, the Edge leader at Burton Bradstock said they'd been very excited about the project form the beginning.

She added: “We already do much that supports children in developing wider skills and have a very busy curriculum, so one challenge was finding a way to fit this new work in.

"As a result, we decided to focus particularly communication skills last term as we felt this would really benefit the children’s learning overall.”

She said staff developed teaching sessions using the high-quality resources provided by Andy David and sponsor, Pixl, and the children responded well to these, developing a really good understanding of how to communicate successfully in a variety of situations and with different people.

She added: "Hence the new skills became embedded in school life and staff have noticed children demonstrating them inside and outside the classroom. Now all five attributes are regularly referred to and organisational skills are improving. More children are keen to show initiative and understand why this is important so they are less passive learners."

At the end of last half term, the children celebrated the skills they have shown at a special assembly which recognised the progress they have made.

Jake, a Year 6 pupil, said: “It helps us to interact with each other and prepares us for life. It has boosted our confidence.”

Headteacher Claire Staple said: “I am so pleased with how this project has taken off.

“The children have really responded to this new initiative and have a much better understanding of the skills which will make them better learners and help them in their future life and careers. It has raised the children’s aspirations, and that is always a good thing”.