As part of its Strategic Ambition 2025-2030, George Heriot’s School is focussing on three academic areas, the first of which is skills.

Heriot’s is developing a Meta-Skills Framework, anchored in the existing 5Cs model (curious, collaborative, creative, caring, critical thinking). This will underpin a whole school pathway from Nursery to S6, equipping pupils with essential skills such as adaptability, critical thinking, problem-solving and resilience, in preparation for the evolving world.

Skills are the ability and capacity to carry out processes and be able to use one’s knowledge in a responsible way to achieve a goal. They are the abilities we develop to perform tasks effectively. At the heart of every skill is knowledge. Knowledge is the information we acquire through education, experience, and observation. It is the ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind the ‘how’.

Heriot’s remains committed to teaching young people knowledge, to ensure young people understand subjects and topics in depth. The School acknowledges the transformative potential of equipping children and young people with the skills to apply this knowledge in action.

Whilst the use of the terms ‘skills development’ and ‘Meta skills’ are relatively new, Heriot’s has been equipping children and young people with these types of skills for a long time. We see young people leave Heriot’s with a range of abilities which will allow them to apply their knowledge in further education and the workplace. Creating a Heriot’s Language of Skills that bridges the Junior and Senior School enables pupils to articulate this learning with confidence.

Tracking the acquisition of skills through reflection and recording is key to pupils’ understanding of their progress and next steps. Alongside current mechanisms for recording and analysing skills development, Heriot’s will establish a pupil skills log. This will be used throughout a young person’s time at school to map their skills journey.

The future is, by definition, unpredictable; but by critically engaging with the major global trends reshaping social, economic, and technological landscapes, we can help our children learn to adapt to, flourish within, and even shape the future. To do so, Heriot’s learners require support that extends beyond the acquisition of knowledge and technical competencies. We must also support them to develop skills, attitudes and values that underpin ethical judgement and responsible action. At Heriot’s we support learners to articulate these skills, as well as providing opportunities to develop creative and innovative capacities, which will enable them to contribute meaningfully to societal change, and the pursuit of a more sustainable and equitable future.