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WHAT IS ORACY?
Oracy is to speaking what numeracy is to mathematics or literacy to reading and writing. In short, it’s nothing more than being able to express yourself well across a range of contexts. It’s about having the vocabulary to say what you want to say and the ability to structure your thoughts so that they make sense to others.
WHY ORACY?
Research into oracy (the ability to talk confidently and learn through talk) has found that good language skills are crucial to social mobility, to school readiness and attainment and beyond school in further education and employment (English Speaking Union).
Spoken language skills are one of the strongest predictors of a child’s future life chances (Voice 21).
ORACY AT TYLDESLEY
At Tyldesley Primary School, we believe that children deserve the best oracy experiences possible. We know that spoken language opportunities help to develop children's confidence and self-esteem as well as improving their life opportunities once they leave our school, so we see it as an integral part of our curriculum.
"Learning is rich and enjoyable when students bring their own voices and experiences to school life," Voice 21.
ORACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Oracy is incorporated across our broad and balanced curriculum to develop understanding and higher order thinking. Oracy supports pupils to make their thinking clear to themselves as well as others. Opportunities to promote oracy are carefully planned into lessons. Questions are differentiated to ensure full participation and pupil discussions are scaffolded to ensure inclusive practice.
ORACY IN PSHE
Acting out differing scenarios and talking through what we could do...
"We could ask her to come and play with us," Ollie.
"We could be her friend."
"We could ask her what she would like to play," Mia.
"We could be kind to her," Ralphi.
OTHER ORACY OPPORTUNITIES
An example of some of the oracy opportunities alongside our curriculum:
*Poetry is performed by classes at the end of our weekly celebration assemblies.
*Nursery perform a rhyme fortnightly.
* The Junior Leadership Team lead our Open Day presentation to prospective parents.
*The Junior Leadership Team present certificates during celebration assemblies.
*We have Reading Ambassadors, School Council and Eco Council who use their oracy skills in their meetings to drive our school forward.
Spring is here!
Children practising their poem ready for their assembly performance!
EXTRA CURRICULAR ORACY
DEBATE CLUB
Our debating club meets once a week; the children come together to research a motion using the library, internet and school learning. Once a motion is fully researched, teams are decided and our debate starts. The children are introduced to sentence stems to support the phrasing of their 'arguments' and taught how to conclude an argument appropriately.
Some of the children from Debating Club using our library to research facts to support their motion.
In the summer term, our debating team is entered into the Trust debating competition where they debate against other schools.
Some of the children from poetry club performing their competition piece.
POETRY CLUB
Our poetry club is a lunch time club. The children come together once a week to look at how they can perfect performance poetry. The children practise their poetry to present to peers in assemblies and to parents and carers at school events.
In the spring term, we enter a Trust poetry event where our poetry team and teachers perform poems alongside other Trust schools.
Watch this space for updates!
More performances from children who attend poetry club.
