Oracy
Our School Vision
Empowering ourselves to become expert communicators and so enrich our learning.
At St Michael’s Primary, we aim to give every child the opportunity to become expert communicators who can confidently express and discuss their knowledge, opinions and feelings with others. We recognise the role of Oracy as central to learning as well as ensuring everyone feels listened to, respected and valued in our community. We understand that oracy enriches children’s lives and their wellbeing. As a result, by providing a high quality oracy education, we ensure that our children will thrive both during their time at school and in their future lives.
Why Teach Oracy?
Oracy is the ability to express ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.
- Incredibly beneficial to all children
- When you help a child to find their voice, you’re giving them self-belief, social validation, increased life chances and confidence (Hughes, 2019)
- Develops pupils’ character so that they are ready for next phase of education, training or employment
- Oracy helps to develop a range of skills such as relationship building, coping with stressors, respond to set backs, motivation, resilience, confidence, social skills, self-esteem and listening.
- 94% of employers thought these skills to be as important as academic skills (‘Life Lessons’- The Sutton Trust Oct 2017)
- Extroversion, self-esteem and positive outlook are the most important personality traits for success (‘A Winning Personality’, The Sutton Trust Jan 2016)
- On entry to school, disadvantaged children’s spoken language development is lower than their more advantaged peers
- These gaps grow as children move through school. Widening from just a few months at age six, to five years’ difference by the age of 14
- On leaving school, children with poor verbal communication skills are less likely to find employment and more likely to suffer from mental health difficulties
(Voice 21, 2020)
Oracy Framework
We have used the Oracy Framework created by Voice 21 to help develop our use of Oracy at St Michael's. The Oracy framework uses four vital strands; physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional. Through the use of guidelines based on these strands, we support the children to develop and enhance their ability to learn through talk and learn to talk. This ensures that the children receive a high quality Oracy education which deepens children's understanding and subject knowledge.
Activities for Home
Look out for more Oracy activities you can use at home on Class Dojo.
Oracy Question of the Week
World Mental Health Day is on Thursday. How can we look after our own mental health?
These roles help to support effective discussions both in school and at home. You could try them as a family when discussing anything at all!
Useful Websites