English-Oracy
At our school, we believe that talk is the foundation of learning. Developing children’s ability to speak, listen, and understand supports success across the curriculum and beyond.
We place oracy at the heart of our practice, ensuring every child learns to express themselves clearly, listen carefully, and engage confidently with others.
What is Oracy?
Oracy is the ability to speak and listen effectively. It involves more than just talking—it includes:
- Developing a rich vocabulary
- Speaking clearly and confidently
- Listening attentively and respectfully
- Building on others’ ideas
- Explaining thinking and reasoning
- Asking thoughtful questions
These are essential life skills that support learning across all subjects and beyond the classroom. We are committed to embed a culture of oracy throughout our curriculum and wider extra curriculum activities such as our School Council.
Our Approach
From Nursery to YR 2, we provide:
- Language-rich environments with purposeful talk opportunities
- Explicit vocabulary teaching to build understanding
- Structured talk routines such as talk partners and sentence stems
- High-quality adult modelling of speaking and listening
We want every child to leave our school as a confident, articulate communicator, ready for the next stage of learning and life. Every class has discussion guidelines to help remind the children of the expectations when talking to each other.
Why Oracy Matters
Developing strong oracy skills helps our children to:
- Achieve better outcomes in reading, writing and across the wider curriculum
- Understand and retain new knowledge
- Build confidence and self-esteem
- Form positive relationships
- Prepare for future learning and life
By prioritising oracy, we are giving children the tools to find their voice and use it with confidence. Purposeful talk is planned, scaffolded and structured through the school day. This enables children to develop skills to talk effectively and respond appropriately.
Websites to support Oracy
- BBC Tiny Happy People Tiny Happy People
- National Literacy Trust Words for Life Activities for 5-8 years | Words for Life
- Oxford Owl Oxford Owl for Home: help your child learn at home - Oxford Owl
- NHS Hungry Little Minds Learning conversations: 3 to 5 years - Best Start in Life - NHS