Definition of Oracy

This year, we have become a part of the Voice 21 Oracy program which defines Oracy as the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language and listening. As a school, we are excited to embark on this Oracy journey and have already seen the huge benefits on language development, confidence of pupils and inclusion of all learners since starting the program.

Our aims

Our aim for Oracy at Oakwood is to create a culture of inclusion for all children and staff in school. Through high quality teaching of Oracy skills and techniques, we can create a shared language across school which allows all children to engage and participate in their learning.

We have a shared set of Oracy Talk Tactics and Talk Rules which have been carefully chosen to suit the needs of all children at Oakwood Junior School. These skills are used in all areas of the curriculum and support the development of language use, communication with others and listening. Our aim is to support children’s communication and listening skills by encouraging them to respond, collaborate and engage in discussion with their peers and teachers.

Each class have individually created Class Oracy Targets designed to focus on specific speaking and listening skills. The children had autonomy over these targets and worked collaboratively to decide on which areas of the Oracy Framework they felt they needed to develop. Our teachers ensure that these targets are referred to in all areas of the curriculum and the children know which areas of Oracy they need to practice and rehearse in lessons. The Oracy Framework can be seen below and indicates specific skills used to improve their Physical, Cognitive, Linguistic and Social and Emotional development.

Oracy in action

In Year 5, we have been developing our Oracy skills through debates, discussing Gender Stereotypes. This discussion stemmed from our learning with Derby County’s PSHE workshop regarding equality in careers. We linked this to our Shared Reading, looking at multiple extracts about the Suffragettes and the roles of men and women in different jobs. Here is a video of Class 9 discussing the stereotypes within gender differences.

Celebrating Oracy in school

Here are some examples of Oracy being used positively in school. Displays are in all classrooms to allow all children to understand and engage with our Oakwood Talk Rules and Tactics.

We celebrate all children’s different and unique learning styles and appreciate that engagement in lessons does not always look the same for all children. Oracy supports this inclusivity by allowing our learners to engage and respond in a way that suits them, yet also increases their confidence and use of language in the classroom.

At Oakwood, we celebrate success in many different ways. We are so proud of the achievements these children make and we will continue to celebrate their progress made in Oracy as we continue our journey with Voice 21.

Have a look at some of the successes we have already celebrated of Oracy.

Our Oracy Champions

Meet our Oakwood Oracy Champions.

These are children in Year 6 who portray fantastic Oracy speaking and listening skills in school. Their aim is to encourage and inspire other children to develop their Oracy skills by working with classes in lower and upper school, speaking in assembly, debating significant topics and supporting their peers to communicate effectively.