Intent

In Oracy, we aim for all of our children to see themselves as Orators. We endeavour to inspire a sense of curiosity in our children and develop their enthusiasm for Oracy, recognising that the skills and knowledge they learn through Oracy can be used to have a positive impact on God’s world around them. 

To be able to be an Orator, children will need to build up the skills, knowledge and understanding of Oracy.  They will need to understand and use the language of Oracy and apply these speaking and listening skills and knowledge across the curriculum, making connections both within Oracy and across other curriculum areas too.

To be an Orator, children need to hear and use a variety of language in order to develop their vocabulary, grammar and understanding. This will support their development in reading and writing. Children will have opportunities to develop their confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills. Children will be able to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and will have the opportunities to prepare their ideas before they write. They will be able to make their thinking clear to themselves and others, and they will be able to discuss and debate to address and remedy their misconceptions. Children will participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with drama. Children will be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They will have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences. They will be able to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama performances. 

Statutory requirements which underpin all aspects of spoken language across the six years of primary education form part of the National Curriculum which are reflected and contextualised across each subject in the National Curriculum.  
 

Implementation

The aims of the National Curriculum (2014) for Oracy (spoken language) are to:

• listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers 
• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge 
• use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary 
• articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments 
• use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas 
• speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English 
• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates 
• gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
• consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others 
• select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.

How we plan for progression in Oracy at St Gregory’s:
The St Gregory’s Curriculum is designed around year group themes. Each has been structured and sequenced in order to engage pupils in purposeful learning by building on prior knowledge and helping connect knowledge, understanding and skills year-on-year both within Oracy and across other subjects too.

For Oracy, activities and opportunities are weaved throughout all lessons across the curriculum from EYFS to year 6. In Early Years and KS1, children have a daily Oracy session where they are given opportunities for speaking and listening to others and to develop their vocabulary. They also have a weekly circle time session.  In KS2, children have a weekly 20-minute circle time session with a focus on Oracy skills.  Vocabulary is displayed in all classrooms for a range of subjects. Children are taught new vocabulary regularly and are given opportunities to use their new vocabulary in written work and conversations. Children revisit and build upon vocabulary learned in previous years as learning and topics build upon each other throughout the school. 

We recognise that foundations for becoming an Orator are laid in the Early Years Foundation Stage through all seven strands of the Early Years Framework, especially Communication and Language, and to be ready for the next stage in their education, the starting point that we strive for every child to have upon entry to Y1 and working towards the aims of the National Curriculum is: 

• To have back and forth interactions
• To hold quality conversations with adults and peers
• To be exposed to and build new vocabulary
• To have opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts
• To engage in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems 
• To share ideas through conversation, story-telling and role play
• To answer questions and elaborate on thoughts and ideas

Once children enter Y1, they work progressively towards the aims of the National Curriculum.  To ensure progression, the teaching team worked together to plan out curriculum coverage and then the subject leader identified the progression of skills and vocabulary required at each stage of learning to prepare children for the next stage in their learning.

See Oracy vision 2022 for more information