Why do we teach what we teach? (Our intent)

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through speaking, listening and communication.

At Oak Green School, we believe that oracy is a  fundamental key skill which not only underpins the development of reading and writing, but is also a powerful tool for learning across the wider curriculum. Therefore, oracy underpins our teaching practice across the curriculum and in all areas of school life. We pride ourselves on providing children with vocabulary-rich learning in all subjects and talk is a valued and integrated part of all of our lessons.

We understand that effective spoken language skills are one of the strongest predictors of future life chances which is why we want our pupils to receive a high quality oracy education which teaches them to learn to talk, learn through talk and learn about talk.

We want our school to be a place where our pupils, staff and parents speak with kindness, confidence and clarity; where everybody has a voice and everybody feels valued and listened to. We know that effective communication helps every child to reach their potential in their school life and beyond, regardless of their background, and we aim to give every child in our school community this opportunity.

How do we teach it? (Our implementation)

Our aim is to provide children at Oak Green School with the tools they need to improve their levels of oracy so that all pupils are able to communicate effectively and confidently in front of any type of audience. These skills are being encouraged in every area of our curriculum as children are encouraged to explore ideas through talk; challenge each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments. All children are expected to talk in lessons using a range of verbal tasks including; partner talk, group discussions, whole class debates and presentations to build the skills needed to communicate effectively and confidently in front of any type of audience. Teachers provide resources and scaffolds (such as sentence stems and planned questioning) to help them do this. This practice begins in Reception with the use of sentence snakes and is built upon throughout their school journey using a range of Voice 21 strategies.  The use of carefully planned, modelled and scaffolded talk in the classroom broadens and deepens children’s verbal responses and explanations. Teachers deliberately plan to enrich lessons with oracy and ensure that opportunities for student talk are a regular feature across the curriculum. We use an ‘Oracy Opportunity’ symbol on our teaching powerpoints to highlight to children when they are expected to use talk to support their learning.

In addition to the taught curriculum, children also develop their spoken language skills during times outside the classroom: at playtimes when our Teaching Assistants facilitate group games; Talk and Toast groups in the mornings; nurture groups; Year 5 Peer Mentoring programme and extra-curricular clubs. Respectful and effective communication also underpins our behaviour policy, our ‘LET’S GO‘ acronym for learning behaviours and our Golden Values promote the importance of recognising how we speak and respond to others.

Every term, each class hosts a ‘Fantastic Finish’ in which they have the opportunity to present their learning to their parents and carers. Once a year, each class will deliver a class assembly to the rest of the Key Stage, school staff and parents/carers. From the use of ‘helicopter stories’ in EYFS to a Year 6 production, we provide children with opportunities to showcase their oracy skills.

What is the difference that this makes? (Our impact)

Children will be able to express issues and ideas, speak clearly, listen carefully, contribute to discussion, respond to questions and comments and use a wide and interesting vocabulary. When children explore learning through the varied oracy strategies, and are exposed to new vocabulary, they retain this knowledge. This leads to children using higher level language with a deeper understanding when presenting or writing. By using a range of opportunities for talk, we see increased engagement from children within the classroom and a more inclusive environment for all learners.