Oracy at Thorndown
Subject Leaders: Vicky Silvester (EYFS Class Teacher) and Sophie Brown (Year 5 Class Teacher)
What is Oracy?
‘The ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.’ Voice 21.
Click HERE to have a look at Oracy in action on World Book Day
Thorndown’s Oracy Intent
Children of all ages have the right to be heard, they have a right to express themselves and above all they have a right to be understood. At Thorndown we are passionate about giving children a voice and supporting them as they develop into resilient, compelling citizens of an ever-changing world. We are part of the Voice 21 Oracy programme which supports us to create an Oracy embedded curriculum and enables pupils to develop speaking and listening skills.
At Thorndown, Oracy is a powerful tool for learning. By teaching children to become more effective speakers and listeners we empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. The ability to speak eloquently, articulate ideas and thoughts, collaborate with peers and have the confidence to express your views (Article 12) are all vital life skills that support success in learning and life in general. At Thorndown, Oracy is weaved into every subject area throughout the curriculum from EYFS to Year 6.
At the heart of good oracy is a dialogic classroom. Our classrooms are rich in talk: from effective questioning, peer discussions to teachers skilfully using talk to develop and encourage critical thinking. There is a clear understanding in school of how talk aids learning and higher order metacognition.
For children to be able to read and write they need knowledge of words. Children begin their acquisition of words from a very young age, exposing them to a broad range of words is an essential stepping stone into facilitating their growth as talented readers and writers. As adults we always talk about our ideas before acting on them. At Thorndown we aim to give children the opportunity to do this in a wide range of contexts. From verbal feedback; peer discussions; oracy assemblies and debates.
Inclusion is at the heart of our oracy intention and all children including those with EAL, SEN and communication and language needs are given the support and opportunities they need to thrive in this subject. Pre-teaching is delivered where possible (whole school); daily communication groups (EYFS) focussing on all aspects of the language systems; language is modelled and scaffolded by adults (whole school).
Our oracy curriculum will enable children to:
- speak with confidence, clarity and eloquence;
- recognise the importance of listening in conjunction with speaking,
- be confident in the value of their own opinions and to be able to express and justify them to others;
- adapt their use of language for a range of different purposes and audiences,
- sustain a logical argument, question, reason and respond to others appropriately;
- concentrate, interpret and respond appropriately to a wide range of immersive experiences;
- be open-minded, to respect the contribution of others and to take account of their views;
- celebrate the diversity of languages, dialects and accents in the school and appreciate the experience and value the contributions of children with a wide variety of linguistic abilities;
- share their learning in an engaging, informative way through presentations, recitals, drama, poetry and debate.
Oracy Framework:
Implementation
At Thorndown Oracy is an essential and fundamental part of every lesson and subject across the curriculum. Oracy strands will be chosen and planned into every lesson across the school from EYFS to Year 6.
Thorndown’s Oracy Impact
We envisage that children will become confident and effective communicators and be able to use these skills in all areas of the curriculum and later in life. This will underpin the children’s ability to make a positive contribution and become effective global citizens. The children will be able to articulate their ideas, thoughts and feelings; a fundamental skill in today’s communication driven world.
Thorndown Primary School Oracy Progression Map EYFS – Yr. 6
Taken and adapted from Voice 21 Primary Progression guidance
| Skill | Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Physical | ● Speak clearly with appropriate volume
● Look at who is talking and who you are talking to ● Begin to use gestures to support delivery meaning e.g. pointing at parts of a plant they are discussing
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● Speak clearly and confidently in a range of contexts
● Use appropriate tone of voice in the right context e.g. To project their voice to a large audience. ● Continue to use gesture to support delivery e.g. pointing at parts of a plant they are discussing
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● Speak clearly and confidently with appropriate volume and pace in a range of contexts
● Gestures start to become increasingly natural to support speech e.g. gesturing towards someone if referencing their idea ● Use body language to show active listening and support meaning when speaking e.g. nodding along, facial expressions
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● Deliberately selects gestures that support the delivery of ideas e.g. gesturing towards someone if referencing their ideas
● Deliberately varies tone of voice in order to convey meaning e.g. speaking authoritatively during an expert talk ● Consider position and posture when addressing an audience
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● Deliberately select movement and gesture when addressing an audience
● To use pauses for effect in presentational talk e.g. when telling an anecdote or joke ● Use the appropriate tone of voice in the right context e.g. speaking calmly when resolving an issue in the playground
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● Deliberately varies tone of voice in order to convey meaning e.g. speaking authoritatively during an expert talk, or speaking with pathos when telling a sad part of a story
● Project their voice to a large audience ● Gestures become increasingly natural ● Consciously adapt tone, pace and volume of voice within a single context.
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● Speak fluently in front of an audience.
● Have a stage presence ● Consciously adapt, tone, pace and volume of voice. ●Gestures to become increasingly natural.
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| Skill | Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Linguistic | ● Use talk in play to practice new vocabulary e.g. lighter, heavier.
● Begin to speak in sentences joining phrases with words such as ‘if, because, so, could, but’
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● Using vocabulary appropriately specific to the topic in hand e.g. lighter/heavier rather than bigger and smaller.
● Take opportunities to try out new language, even if it is not always correctly used. ● Use sentence stems to link to other’s ideas in group discussion e.g. ‘I agree with… because…’ ‘linking to…’ ● Use conjunctions to organise and sequence ideas e.g. firstly, secondly, finally.
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● Speaking in sentences using joining phrases to create longer sentences.
● Adapt how to speak in different situations according to the audience e.g. asking questions of a museum curator or having a conversation with a visitor to the classroom. ● Use sentence stems to signal when they are building or challenging others’ ideas in group’.
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● Be able to use specialist language to describe their own and others’ talk.
● Use specialist vocabulary e.g. speak like an archaeologist. ● Make precise language choices e.g. instead of describing a cake as ‘ice’ using ‘delectable’.
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● Carefully consider the words and phrasing they use to express their ideas and how this supports the purpose of the talk e.g. to persuade or to entertain.
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● Use an increasingly sophisticated range of sentence stems with fluency and accuracy to cite evidence and ask probing questions.
● Consider the words and phrases used to express their ideas and how this supports the purpose of talk.
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● Use and innovate an increasingly sophisticated range of sentence stems with fluency and accuracy.
● Vary sentence structures and length for effect when speaking ● Be comfortable using idioms and expressions
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| Skill | Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Cognitive | ● Use ‘because’ to develop their ideas.
● Make relevant contributions that match what has been asked. ● Ask simple questions. ● Describe events that have happened to them in detail.
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● Offer reasons for their opinions.
● Recognise when they haven’t understood something and ask a question. ● Disagree with someone else’s opinion politely. ● Explain ideas and events in chronological order.
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● Ask questions to find out more about a subject.
● Build on others’ ideas in discussions. ● Make connections between what has been said and their own and others’ experiences.
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● Offer opinions that aren’t their own e.g. taking on the role of an astrologist etc.
● Begin to reflect on discussions and their own oracy skills and identify areas of strength and areas to improve through the introduction of Talk Detectives. ● Be able to summarise a discussion. ● Reach shared agreement in discussions.
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● Give supporting evidence e.g. citing a text (using sentence stems), a previous example or a historical event.
● Ask probing questions. ● Reflect on their own oracy skills and identify areas of strength and areas to improve and begin to set own targets.
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● Draw upon knowledge of the world to support their own point of view and explore different perspectives. E.g. In a discussion about vegetarianism, rather than saying ‘my mum is a vegetarian so eating meat is wrong’ to be able to say ‘lots of people don’t eat meat because they believe killing animals is cruel’
● To be able to give supporting evidence e.g. citing a text, a previous example or a historical event ● Identify when a discussion is going off topic and be able to bring it back on track with support and use of sentence stems e.g. That might be true, however what do you think about …?
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● Construct a detailed argument or complex narrative
● Spontaneously respond to and offer increasingly complex questions, citing evidence where appropriate ● Reflect on their own and others’ oracy skills and identify how to improve.
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| Skill | Reception | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Social and Emotional | ● Look at someone who is speaking to them
● Wait for a turn. Taking turns to speak, when working in a group.
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● Listen and respond appropriately to others.
● Be willing to change their mind based on what they have heard. ● Begin to organise group discussions independently of an adult.
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● Start to develop an awareness of audience e.g. what might interest a certain group.
● Start to show awareness of others who have not spoken and invite them into the discussion e.g. saying their name, asking them a question, turning to them. ● Recite/deliver short pre-prepared material to an audience.
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● Speak with confidence in front of an audience.
● Begin to recognise different roles within group talk e.g. chairperson ● Adapt the content of their speech for a specific audience.
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● Use more natural and subtle prompts for turn taking.
● Start to develop empathy with an audience. ● Consider the impact of their words on others when giving feedback.
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● Listen for extended periods of time including note-taking, drawing visual.
● Adapt the content of their speech for a specific audience e.g. use of humour. ● Speak with flair and passion.
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● Use humour effectively.
● Begin to be able to read a room or a group and take action accordingly e.g. if everyone looks disengaged, moving on or changing topic, or if people look confused stopping to take questions.
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