Oracy at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School
Intent:
At St Augustine’s Primary School, everyone in our school community has the right to a voice: to be heard, respected, included and value We support every member of our school to have the confidence and emotional intelligence to communicate effectively, build positive relationships and prepare for their next steps in life.
Spoken language (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.
We aim for every child will leave our school confident and able to use spoken language in different contexts and with different audiences.
Implementation:
The national curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.
Teachers will therefore ensure the continual development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills. Pupils should develop a capacity to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others, and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions. Pupils will also be taught to understand and use the conventions for discussion and debate.
All pupils will participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils 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, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances.
At St Augustine’s pupils are taught to:
- listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
- Use non-verbal cues – voice; volume; intonation; eye contact; pitch; pauses; pronunciation; posture; personal space.
- ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
- use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
- articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
- take turns
- 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
Vocabulary:
At St Augustine’s there is a rich diet of language and vocabulary which is deliberately planned with an emphasis on oracy (speaking and listening) and vocabulary acquisition and retention.
The teaching of vocabulary and the acquisition is vital to ensure a good level of development and growth both academically, socially and emotionally, and will increase pupil life-chances in later life. Vocabulary forms a key part of all interactions, planning, teaching and learning. Lessons contain an element of teaching, recalling and using in context subject specific vocabulary.
Impact:
Our children communicate with a range of audiences with confidence and share their learning. They understand and use of wide range of vocabulary which is subject specific
