Oracy Leader - Ms Pattenden

Our Vision for Oracy

At St Michael’s we believe that oracy is a fundamental skill that underpins academic success, supports social and emotional development, and prepares our pupils for the challenges of the future.  We want our children to be effective communicators who can express their ideas confidently and engage meaningfully in discussions and debates.

We are working with Voice 21 to support us to create a whole school culture of talk across the curriculum and strengthening classroom practice – ensuring all teachers are confident in using oracy as a core pedagogy and drawing upon evidence-based practical classroom activities.

Our school Oracy Champions are Ms Pattenden, Mr Morris and Miss Wicks.

What is Oracy?

Oracy Framework

In order to teach effective oracy skills across the curriculum, we will be using the oracy framework to understand the physical, linguistic, cognitive, and social and emotional skills that enable successful discussion, inspiring speech and effective communication. Key oracy skills are taught throughout the whole curriculum.

Talk Guidelines

All classes have key-stage appropriate talk guidelines. These are displayed in the classroom and consistently referred to whenever a pupil is engaging in any activity requiring speaking and listening skills.

Sentence Stems

Our pupils are encouraged to speak in full, coherent sentences when sharing their ideas and using spoken language. In all lessons, pupils have key sentence stems which they are encouraged to use to help them articulate their ideas.

Talk Tactics

Talk Tactics are used in all lessons to encourage pupils to think strategically about their contributions to group talk. Providing pupils with roles to play in discussions helps to manage talk and encourages the development of certain speaking and listening skills.

Oracy Assemblies

At St Michael’s, we are committed to helping every child find their voice. Our Oracy Assemblies take place once a week, giving pupils regular opportunities to develop confidence, speak clearly, listen respectfully, and share their ideas with others.

Each assembly focuses on a key theme linked to our wider learning and school life. This term, pupils have explored topics including Winter Solstice, our school core values Achieve, Include, Inspire, The St Michael’s Code, as well as our Playground Code and Lunchtime Code to promote kindness, safety, and positive choices. We have also reflected on important events such as Bonfire Night and Anti-Bullying Week, focusing on the theme “Power for Good.”

These assemblies help children build strong communication skills, deepen their understanding of our expectations, and celebrate the values that make our school community a welcoming and respectful place.

What can you do at home?

Talk to your children whenever you can!  Help your children to develop their vocabulary by suggesting better words they might have used in your conversations - in a friendly and constructive way!

Oracy activities to try out!

• How many? Ask a question about a specific quality and see how many your child can think of! For example: How many animals can you name that hatch from eggs? How many vehicles with four wheels can you name? How many things can you name that are cone shaped?
• I’m thinking of… Start by saying “I’m thinking of something…” and name a feature of the object or thing, for example, “I’m thinking of something that is blue.” The other players are welcome to make a guess or ask a question until they can work out the correct answer. Encourage them to use challenging, specific vocabulary too!
• What’s better? Ask for their preferences between two things - ask them if they can explain why they prefer one to the other! For example: What’s better, apple or banana? What’s better, cheese or chocolate? What’s better, the beach or the city? What’s better, space or the ocean? 
• Odd one out: begin by naming three things and ask children to choose which is the odd one out and explain why. You can make this as simple or as challenging as you’d like. For example, with “train, bus, hair” it’s easy to identify the odd one out. With “platypus, cobra, horse” this may be more challenging. You could make this a phonics challenge with similar sounds, using words like “chop, chicken, ship” or even a maths challenge with numbers, like “21, 63, 78”.

A copy of our Oracy Policy can be found here.