Oracy is valued as an integral part of our ability to provide an effective education. Oracy is visible and valued in all aspects of school life, for example through assemblies, at lunchtime and through the school’s approach to conflict resolution. We want our children to feel that their voice is valued; school life is not dominated by adult voices.

All children are expected to talk in all lessons and teachers provide resources and scaffolds to help them do this. We learn through talking in all subjects and become better at reading, writing, maths and all other subjects because we regularly discuss our learning. Children are helped with talking sentence stems as well as the talking roles within regular classroom discussions and presentations. We talk in pairs, trios and small groups throughout the day, and learn to become as skilful at listening as we are at talking. 

We use Oracy as a vehicle for Inclusion, our approach levels and remove barriers to learning. We have adopted the Voice21 framework for Oracy and integrated a tiered support system to develop pupils language and communication skills. We aim to create a setting that teaches pupils to talk and to learn through talk. Children who find oracy more challenging are supported to contribute through the provision of careful scaffolding and the development of classroom cultures in which every voice is valued. In addition to our Inclusive environments, we have tiered levels of support for targeted interventions of those who might need further support with Oracy skills. Oracy is used as a pedagogical tool to elevate learning across the curriculum.

From the moment we arrive in school children politely greet adults and each other. In the playground we use our voices to resolve conflict and calmly discuss any problems that arise with our lunchtime play leaders. Also, during lunchtime, we have a different discussion point each day to talk about around the table. Within our current play provision, there is a multitude of opportunities for children to rehearse, explore, develop and experiment with Oracy in a variety of formats and environments, for example Speakers corner where pupils can practice the 4 strands of Oracy; skills such as debate, presentations, challenge etc to role play where pupils can create their own worlds and express this through the Oracy skills. 

In Year 6, pupils are elected as Oracy ambassadors where they will represent the school at local, national and internal events to convey our pupil voice. Events such as VotesforSchools networks, climate summits, parliament and Unicef work for rights of children across the world.