Oracy at St Mary’s

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. In school, oracy is a powerful tool for learning; by teaching students to become more effective speakers and listeners, we empower them to better understand themselves and the world around them. The aim of oracy is to help pupils become effective and confident communicators for the here and now, and also in readiness for later life. This will underpin the children’s ability to make a positive contribution and to become effective global citizens. 

We are working on providing a high-quality oracy education, where children learn through talk and to talk. We aim to provide oracy opportunities throughout the curriculum to help pupils increase in confidence, articulacy and to help the children ‘find their voice’. Pupils will explore oracy through exploratory and presentational talk, and staff will be able to use the Progression of Skills document to track and support progress.

Our classrooms will be rich in talk, from talk partner work to whole class discussions and presentations.  Staff are aware how talk aids teaching, analysis and higher order metacognition.  Oracy is viewed as a tool to aid learning in all subjects and will be noticed and celebrated throughout the school.

We aim on building on and progressing specific oracy skills throughout each year group, allowing our students to leave our school as confident communicators.

We ensure children become confident communicators through:

• Planned in regular, purposeful activities for talking and listening
• Use of discussion guidelines in each class
• Exploratory talk in pairs, small groups and as a class
• Presentational talk in front of varied audiences
• Staff questioning to prompt discussion
• Drama strategies such as hot seating and role-play
• Performing poems to others
• House Captain meetings
• Mini Chaplain meetings
• Student Librarian meetings
• Nativities and productions
• Leading Collective Worships
• Children's Parliament