Oracy

We value the voice of every single child and recognise how important it is to develop our pupils’ speaking and listening skills.  As a result, we have been working hard to develop our Oracy Curriculum. 

Vision

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. At Walton Oak, the voice of every single child is valued and therefore, we believe it is vital to provide a high quality Oracy curriculum to support pupils in using their voices successfully not only through their time with us, but as they move into adulthood. 

Oracy skills are vital to support wider literacy skills leading to improvements in reading writing and overall achievement but also to support pupils in successful social interactions. 

Through the deliberate, explicit and systematic teaching of oracy across the curriculum we aim to support pupils to develop the physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and  emotional skills that enable successful speaking, listening and communication.  We believe that by teaching students to become more effective speakers and listeners, in a range of contexts and circumstances, we will empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. 

What is Oracy?  

Oracy is a combination of learning to talk and learning through talk.  This means that we will teach children specific speaking and listening skills; such as the use of their voice, vocabulary and body language to be able to talk successfully in a range of situations and to different audiences.  Learning through talk will continue to be visible in all subjects in school from PSHE to maths and PE to writing.  

Why is Oracy important?

Oracy improves children’s outcomes in all areas of learning.  It also fosters well-being and confidence, supports successful social interactions and enables all children to have a voice and be heard.

We believe that by teaching students to become more effective speakers and listeners, in a range of contexts and circumstances, we will empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. 

What will Oracy look like in the classroom?

All classes have introduced discussion guidelines to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to share their opinions and ideas, whilst being reminded how we show good listening. This approach is consistent across the school.  To develop the pupils' skills through these discussions, we have introduced ‘Talk Tactics’ and taught them how to think strategically about their contributions to group talk.  For instance, they will explore how to build on other people's ideas, how to challenge opinions that are different from their own and how to summarise what someone else has said.  

Across the curriculum, we have built in Oracy opportunities using the Oracy Skills Framework. The physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional skills highlighted within the framework are crucial for pupils to develop their ability to deal with a range of different talk situations and audiences.  We use the framework to set specific oracy targets for pupils, and to provide them with formative feedback on their use of speaking and listening.