Oracy

‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk’

James Britton

Our Trust are currently working with Voice 21, the UK’s Oracy Education Charity who work with teachers and schools across the country to ensure every child receives a high quality Oracy education.

VISION

Research shows that oracy provides a strong prediction of educational and life outcomes for children. At Puss Bank School and Nursey, we have decided to develop a high quality oracy education for our pupils. We know that:

·Oracy supports learning – including developing creativity and critical thinking in pupils.

·Oracy is vital for social mobility – supporting children’s ability to fulfil their potential in later life.

·Oracy is good for social and emotional learning – helping children who may struggle to work with or play well

with others.

·Oracy opens doors to opportunity – extracurricular activities such as debating, youth parliament and

volunteering bring a wide variety of benefits and opportunity.

·Oracy is empowering - giving children the skills to develop a ‘voice’ and speak out about things that matter

to them.

(NACE – March 2018)

INTENT

At Puss Bank School and Nursery, we aim to build a whole school culture of talk and to raise the value of oracy. We believe that ‘talk’ is essential to children’s thinking and learning. We encourage all children to use their voice for success across the curriculum and beyond the classroom.By the time children leave Puss Bank School and Nursery we will have improved the verbal communication skills of all our pupils and inspired them to be fluent speakers who are confident to operate in a wide range of situations.

IMPLEMENTATION

Oracy is prioritised in our curriculum as we recognise the importance of spoken language in the development of the whole child. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing. The skills of speaking and listening are explicitly taught, and children are given a wide range of opportunities to practise these skills and develop their confidence and competence. We follow the Voice 21 Framework to ensure our children are explicitly taught oracy skills.The children are given many opportunities to apply these skills throughout their school day by talking about their learning, developing ideas and understanding through discussions, asking questions, being able to listen carefully to others’ views and giving them time to respond, sometimes challenging others’ viewpoints, negotiating with others in group work and considering a range of viewpoints.

The school uses a variety of teaching and learning approaches to teach oracy skills across the curriculum, including:

·Providing opportunities for drama and role-play.

·Providing opportunities for children to develop their listening skills through conversation.

·Promoting small group and class discussions on specific topics/areas of the curriculum.

·Providing opportunities to speak in front of a larger audience, for example during an assembly.

·Giving the children the opportunity to speak to unfamiliar people with a real purpose.

·Allowing the children to participate in ‘show and tell’ sessions.

·Playing a range of games with the children to encourage effective use of oracy skills.

·Encouraging the children to talk for a specific purpose, e.g. to persuade or to entertain.

·Encouraging children to work in groups to collaboratively solve a problem.

·Encouraging class and group debates and providing opportunities for children to make speeches in front of

an audience.

IMPACT

There is ongoing teacher assessment against the oracy progression framework - to ensure that the children are keeping up with the pace of the curriculum and achieving our goals. As a result of our oracy strategy:

We want every child to be able to:

·express themselves clearly and communicate with others effectively through spoken language.

·have the ability to structure their thoughts so that they make sense to others.

·think carefully about the language they are using and tailor it to their subject, purpose and audience.

·will be able to listen to others and respond appropriately; be able to articulate their point of view, build on

others ideas and change their mind when appropriate.

·understand and be able to use a wide range of vocabulary that can be used in different contexts.

·understand that we can all have different opinions and show empathy towards others.

·develop oracy skills which will help to enrich their life.