We’re halfway through 2025 and our first two Skills Builder Days of the year are done and dusted! This time around, we chose to promote the theme of positive mental health and well-being – a theme that everyone can relate to, from our staff and tutors to our students themselves and the children and families they work with on a daily basis. We wanted to focus on multiple aspects of wellbeing – from physical and mental to financial and even down to nutrition.

Our skills builder days are dedicated, out-of-nursery days in which our students hone in on a particular area important to both their busy working lives and their individual personal lives. Our team create a schedule of events designed to enrich our students knowledge and understanding of a particular topic, aid interaction and bonding between apprentices, and ultimately to have a bit of fun together whilst learning something new.

This time, our Skills Builder Day started with a walk on Otley Chevin. At Cliffe House Training Academy, we’re so lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful landscapes right at our doorstep, and as we all know, taking a walk can be so beneficial to our mental health. Learners and managers were split into groups and given two childcare learning outcomes to keep in mind. Whilst taking in the fresh air, they collected natural resources like leaves, twigs, stones and flowers in order to use as part of an activity planning task later in the day, which met their learning outcomes.

We then returned to our village hall base to take part in a cookery class with one of our nursery chefs, Claire. Claire taught the students how to make carrot and onion bhajis – a healthy and quick alternative to calling in a takeaway! They also made sugar-free apple and sultana scones, which came out fabulously and gave us all a sweet treat to round off our lunches. Claire reiterated the importance of a balanced and nutritious diet, based on the eat well plate, and how it plays a major role in supporting our physical and mental wellbeing.

After lunch, one half of the group took part in a pilates session with the lovely Sian from Fit Cafe. The session focused on deep breathing, gentle, intentional exercise and the benefits of movement and stretching on our overall wellbeing.

The other half of the group did a Finance Activity with one of our amazing tutors Rosie. She led a multiple choice quiz, testing our students’ knowledge with a range of financial questions, concerning mortgages, credit cards, and tax. She then did a budgeting task, where students were asked to calculate their income and tally it up alongside their outgoings, to see which areas they were spending their money in the most (and could they maybe cut back in some areas?). Financial wellbeing is so important to managing our stress levels, and being on top of our money is such an invaluable skill that is often not taught thoroughly enough in school. We are very passionate about teaching our apprentices the value of good financial choices. The finance group then got the chance to do some pilates, and vice versa!

Our last activity of the day rounded up how we began, with the students getting back into their walking groups. They took the natural resources they foraged on their walk and turned them into an activity they could use in their nursery settings, which fulfilled their learning objectives given to them at the start of the day. We then went around the room and each group gave a short presentation explaining their activity and how it meets their specific outcomes. It was then home time!

We are overjoyed at how our first Skills Builder Days of 2025 have gone. We’re blown away by the positive feedback we have received. We are also so pleased we chose our theme of positive mental health and wellbeing as it’s a topic so prevalent to everyone and it’s a skill we’re so passionate about our apprentices developing and paying mind to.

Thank you so much to all our students who attended and our amazing team who made it all happen. We can’t wait for the next one!