Wyndcliffe Primary School are working with Voice 21 to develop the children’s Oracy skills to enhance their speaking and listening. We are committed to transforming oracy teaching and learning across the school so that all children access and benefit from high-quality oracy education.
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.
Oracy is a powerful tool for learning and by teaching our children to become more effective speakers and listeners we will empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. The benefits of Oracy go far beyond academic achievement and employability, they also improve a range of social, emotional and interpersonal skills, including self-confidence, self-awareness, resilience and empathy. We are passionate about all children finding their voice to succeed in school and life.
Oracy Framework
The oracy framework outlines the various skills that our children need to develop in order to deal with a range of different talk situations. The framework has been developed The University of Cambridge and Voice 21 and we have been discussing the 4 strands:
We are using student-friendly in all classrooms so that children gain a clear understanding of all the strands. There is clear progression as previous skills are built upon, leading to more ambitious objectives and increasingly complex vocabulary.
Early Years Oracy Framework
KS1
KS2
O
We teach the skills of these strands in many different ways at school so that children develop a deep understanding. We use:
- Paired talk
- Group discussion
- Debating
- Drama
- Presentations
Teachers are planning lessons with oracy in mind. Teaching is structured so that all children are supported in developing their oracy skills in a range of ways, for examples, they use sentence stems to scaffold talk, use talk tactics to discuss differing viewpoints, etc.
What can you do? We teach oracy skills in school, but you can also do it at home. For example, focus on the physical strand which promotes good listening skills. This poster displays the rules for good listening. |
Children taking the lead
We are also encouraging a range of opportunities for children to develop their oracy skills outside of the classroom.
Star of the Week assemblies
Children are leading these assemblies and presenting awards to their peers. This has not just developed their speaking and listening skills, but also their confidence in speaking in front of large audiences.
Speech competition
Children from Wyndcliffe took part in a ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’ competition at the Midland Art Centre. The competition was against other schools in West Midlands and children were asked to present a speech on a matter important to them. We were fortunate enough to have 2 girls reach the final stages – listen to their speech via these QR codes:
Finalists from Wyndcliffe! |
Hamida Liyana
Would you Rather…
Gone are the days where we expect complete silence in the assemblies. Children now enter the hall and have a discussion prompt to encourage oracy skills. We are extremely proud of how the children have been conducting themselves during these discussions. Why not try some at home…
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