The Teaching of Oracy at Golden Valley

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. At Golden Valley, oracy is a powerful tool for learning; by teaching pupils to become more effective speakers and listeners we empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. Through a high quality oracy education, pupils learn through talk and to talk. This is when they develop and deepen their subject knowledge and understanding through talk in the classroom, which has been planned, designed, modelled, scaffolded and structured to enable them to learn the skills needed to talk effectively.

The systematic teaching of oracy throughout the curriculum supports children to make progress in the four strands of oracy outlined in the Oracy Framework.

These skills are crucial to children and young people’s success in school and in their life beyond. At Golden Valley, we believe that an education in oracy is the responsibility of every teacher and the entitlement of every child.

Our teaching of Oracy is carefully planned throughout the school, using schemes such as Talk Through Stories, Unlocking Letters and Sounds Phonics, Vocabulary Ninja and Spelling Shed, as well as subject based vocabulary development through each area of the curriculum.

Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop their skills, when working in pairs or small groups within class, or presenting to others in class or to a wider audience. Pupils are taught new Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary, as well as the sentence structures and delivery skills they need to use when speaking to others. They learn to listen and turn-take, building on from what others say and taking note of their audience.