Oracy

Oracy

Article 12: Your right to say what you think and be listened to.  

https://voice21.org/why-oracy-matters/

Why do we focus on improving oracy at Ashbury Meadow Primary School?  

It improves academic outcomes 

It fosters confidence and well being 

It supports transitions and employability 

It equips students to thrive in democratic and civic life

It promotes social equity 

What does oracy look like at Ashbury Meadow Primary School

The National Curriculum clearly states that the English Language is an essential, if not THE essential role of the primary school. At Ashbury Meadow Primary School, we want to give our children the ability to communicate effectively, and confidence in the art of speaking and listening, so that they can apply their skills and knowledge across the curriculum to debate, discuss, take on roles, ask and answer questions, listen and enjoy conversing. To enable this, the knowledge we teach the children enables them to use appropriate register, to choose from a range of vocabulary and to use standard English accurately in their spoken and written language.  We are at the beginning of our oracy development journey and will be using principles and resources from Voice 21 to support us within this.

The intent of our spoken language curriculum is to:

- enable our children to build on and acquire new substantive knowledge, by progressively teaching the arts of speaking and listening – to make formal presentations, to take on roles, to participate in debate and responding to questioning

- Use the key aspects of speaking and listening to underpin the development of reading and writing – in particular developing vocabulary and grammatical understanding

- follow the National Curriculum statutory requirements

- deliver a curriculum accessible to all to enable children to know more and remember more, building upon their starting points to develop competence and confidence in both the spoken language and their listening skills.

- recognise that drama also plays a key role in supporting the children’s development in speaking and listening – giving children opportunities to take on a range of roles, respond in role, rehearse, refine and respond to drama performances. All our children will experience plays and respond to the experience

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- use taught skills and knowledge across the curriculum – for example: use the conventions of discussion and debate in history lessons or within the PSHE curriculum

- ensure that incidental teaching and learning in speaking and listening – in interactions every day in every lesson – builds upon the knowledge and skills of the children to speak and listen with clarity and purpose.

How is the curriculum for speaking and listening organised and how do we teach it?

 We teach speaking and listening explicitly as well as finding opportunities to reinforce and extend children’s developing skills. We embed this teaching in all subjects across the curriculum. This is particularly important as different subjects offer opportunities for different kinds of talk. Teachers plan for this within their medium term planning – and use the progression document to plan and target skills to be taught and specific knowledge which needs to be targeted.

There should also be opportunities, both planned and incidental, for children to revisit, apply and extend. Within a unit of literacy work, speaking and listening is an intrinsic element which allows the children to explore a text type, share ideas, learn texts, perform, debate and many other skills. Speaking and listening is planned and identified within both the reading and writing curriculum.

Pupils have access to a wide range of speaking and listening taught opportunities that include:

-          Talking about their own experiences, recounting events

-          Participating in discussion and debate across the curriculum

-          Retelling and reciting stories and poems

-          Expressing opinions and justifying ideas

-          Listening to stories read aloud

-          Presenting ideas to different audiences

-          Taking part in school performances

-          Responding to different kinds of texts

-          Talking to visitors in school

-          Listening to ideas and opinions of adults and peers

-          Role-play and other drama activities across the curriculum.

-          Use dramatic techniques, including work in role to explore ideas and texts

-          Create, share and evaluate ideas and understanding through drama

-          Theatre workshop visits and opportunities to respond to performances