Keyham Barton’s Oracy Curriculum Statement

  Intent

At Keyham Barton we believe spoken language to be fundamental to the achievement of our pupils. To ensure we are teaching oracy skills across the curriculum and providing our children with a range of oracy opportunities, and a variety of audiences, we partnered The Plymouth Oracy Project for the academic year 2018 – 19 and have continued with the project within the school. This project will ensure that teachers and leaders are equipped with the skills to develop oracy for teaching and learning, to plan for talk across the curriculum and to elevate speaking beyond the classroom. The project is developing a culture of oracy within our school to support and develop our pupils’ confidence, spoken language and written outcomes across and beyond the curriculum.

Our aim is to enable the children to improve their levels of oracy so that all pupils are able to communicate effectively and confidently in front of any type of audience. These skills are being encouraged in every area of our curriculum as good communication skills can enhance every type of learning. The children are encouraged to explore ideas through talk; challenge each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments, as well as talking in full sentences with a clear and confident voice.

Implement

Keyham Barton promotes correct spoken language from the first days in school, speaking and listening play a large part in a child’s progress in all curriculum areas and teachers plan to develop these skills in a wide variety of ways. We aim to develop and encourage fluent speakers, who can confidently articulate their ideas in a wide range of situations.

Pupils should have a range of planned oracy experiences (this is not an exhaustive list), which include:

talking partners;

listening to stories;

reading lessons;

preparation for writing;

giving and receiving instructions;

paired/collaborative work;

problem solving in maths;

presentation of learning;

It should also be recognised that there are opportunities for children to develop their oracy skills outside of the curriculum, including (but not limited to):

assemblies, including class assemblies;

school council and other pupil voice activities;

topic showcase events;

extra-curricular and year group productions;

Impact

The impact of this policy will be evidenced through the monitoring of attainment and progress of all children by class teachers. Each year group has oracy objectives which build on the preceding years’ study to ensure progression in this area as children move through the school. 

The Oracy Lead and  SLT will be responsible for monitoring the impact of this policy and standards of spoken language across the school, through work scrutiny, planning scrutiny, learning walks and lesson observations and any other relevant monitoring activities.