Oracy

"Reading and Writing float on a sea of talk." (J. Britton)

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage effectively with others through the spoken language.  At Laleham C of E, we believe the teaching of these skills is inherently important: indeed, they are the building blocks of a child’s learning; setting children up to be successful during their time in education and within the wider world.  By nurturing and developing these skills, we intend for every child to leave primary school equipped with them – ready for their future journeys.

When children first begin their journey with us, they are taught the rules of speaking and listening to each other.  They learn when and how to respond to others, and it is on these foundations that other skills are then built. This understanding of how to articulate a sentence serves to support and nurture their writing skills.

Understanding how to speak appropriately to different people is a critical life skill we focus on developing.  Our intention is for children to leave equipped with the ability to interact effectively with people from all walks-of-life; supporting them as they enter the next stage in their education and beyond.

Everyone’s voice is important and through nurturing the children’s confidence in speaking and articulating their thoughts clearly, we develop their self-belief that their voice has value.  Opportunities for this occur in the classroom but also through our Pupil Leadership Team Years 1 to 6.  By the time the children finish their time at Laleham, our aim is that each and every one of them will be confident young people who understand the value of their voice and how and when to use it effectively.

What does Oracy look like at our school?

Our pupils participate in a wide range of oracy activities which help them to develop confidence in spoken language. Some examples are:

• Partner talk
• Group discussion
• Collaborative work and problem solving
• Debate
• Role play
• Drama
• Presentations
• Worships
• Learning songs and rhymes off by heart

There are further opportunities for pupils to develop their oracy skills outside of the curriculum. This is achieved through pupil voice groups, class worships, visiting speakers, topic events and participation in local events. No time is lost as even at break times, we ensure that interactions are high quality and any playground disagreements are carefully managed to support independent conflict resolution. Teachers model oracy through our daily story time and we ensure that our children get out to see professional performances at the theatre as regularly as possible as well as opportunities to meet authors or visiting theatres who we invite into school.

The National Curriculum for Oracy:

The national curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. 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. 

• Teachers should therefore ensure the continual development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills.
• Pupils should develop a capacity to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others, and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions.
• Pupils should also be taught to understand and use the conventions for discussion and debate.
• All pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles,  responding appropriately to others in role, gained through hot seating and debates.
• They should have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances. Children will have the opportunity to engage through whole school and class worships.

Support for children’s speech and language:

Children who need support with their speech are identified on joining the school and support packages are put in place.

Oracy across the curriculum:

Our curriculum is designed with Oracy at its heart.

Maths - During maths lessons, children have the opportunity to discuss their learning, knowledge and reasoning.

Writing - In English lessons, our children engage with talk for writing to develop vocabulary and presentational talk. Drama activities are embedded throughout the learning journey from planning to presentation.

Reading - In practise reading, the children have to explain and provide evidence for their answers based on a text. Texts are discussed during reading lessons and vocabulary and comprehension are explicitly taught.

History and Geography – children are encouraged to speak as historians and geographers.

Computing - Across the school, children are given opportunities in ICT to present what they have learnt in computing. Pupil voice is collected and the children explain to their peers how to use the technology.

PE - Children actively engage with peer feedback and are encouraged to evaluate their skill progression and that of others after each lesson. Children articulate the rules for a game and they are encouraged to collaborate and communicate ideas for tactics.

Science - During these lessons, the children are encouraged to question their own predictions and results of experiments. The national curriculum for science reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. The children are taught vocabulary and the ability to articulate scientific concepts clearly and precisely.

RE - Each RE concept is initiated with a question leading discussion. Children are shown how to listen with respect to the views of others and regular debates ensure that every student has a voice.

Languages – As a school we study French and throughout these lessons, as a key part of the curriculum, children’s ability to speak in a foreign language is also developed.

EYFS is the start of our pupils’ oracy journey through school. Staff encourage oracy from an early age through talking stories, retelling stories, scaffolding conversations during independent learning time and circle time class discussions.

Any barriers to oracy are spotted and acted upon rapidly and interventions to assist with speech are put in place. Communication in Early Years is a focus learning area as it enables children to meet other milestones at the end of the foundation stage.

Pupil voice - Our Pupil Leadership Team regularly attend meetings to listen, respect and act upon the views of our children. Our children also have opportunities to discuss their learning with curriculum leaders through pupil voice sessions.

Feedback - Oracy is part of feedback and verbal feedback forms part of assessment for learning, enabling children to discuss their work and any misconceptions. Our teachers challenge the children through probing
questions about their learning. 

12 Verbal Literacy Games for Speaking, Listening & Thinking