Leadership - one of the essential skills we all need to succeed, whatever our path in life.

Ever wondered why we learn stuff in schools? Why do we need maths or English skills? In the world of work, people need these skills to do their jobs. You could be a games designer, a physiotherapist or a construction engineer or anything you want to be but practising these skills will give you more choices and help you to be better at your job. Watching these films might give you some ideas as to why the skills are important and how you might recognise them in yourself.

Whether you are a school pupil, a parent or an educator, we hope these films help you to see the value in working hard and learning new things.

After you’ve watched the films, why not try some of these activity ideas:
- Role play one of the jobs. Pretend to demonstrate one of the skills to a family member.
- Write a letter to one of the people. Ask them about their job and the skills they need.
- What other skills have you learnt during school closures? How could you teach this to someone else in your family?
- Create a short documentary film to interview your parents and other family members about work and skills
- Write a job advert for one of the jobs in the films – find out more about how you get into that role
- Make your own ‘Skills’ poster – skills to practise and skills I am good at
- Make a ‘Wanted’ poster looking for someone with the right combination of skills for one of these jobs
- Make a short film about your own skills that you might have learnt recently

Background
This series of 10 short films aims to link the primary curriculum with essential employability skills in the real world of work. These are real people talking about the skills they need in their jobs. Learning about skills at school helps to prepare young people for the world of work, helping them to understand their own skills and broadening their horizons. We also hope you’ve noticed that many of the participants are female. Challenging gender stereotypes is an important part of these films – boys and girls can be anything they want to be if they work hard enough.
Acknowledgements:
We acknowledge the huge support from the following local employers and their enthusiasm for this project.
‘James Bloomfield is a hardworking, conscientious and talented videographer. He captured the intention of our project from the very beginning and was able to translate this into this brilliant series of short films. His eye for detail and the subtleties of human communication mean the quality of footage was excellent. James provided excellent value for money, exceptional flexibility and delivered the project to our agreed timescales.’ Marcus Cherrill, Primary Careers Hub Lead, East Sussex County Council.
Review date May 2023