Oracy
"Reading and Writing float on a sea of talk." (J. Britton)
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage effectively with others through the spoken language. At Hillcroft, we believe the teaching of these skills is inherently important: indeed, they are the building blocks of a child’s learning; setting children up to be successful during their time in education and within the wider world. By nurturing and developing these skills, we intend for every child to leave primary school equipped with them – ready for their future journeys.
From Nursery to Year 6, we have developed a multi-layered approach to oracy at Hillcroft, ensuring each layer is truly embedded before moving children on. When children first begin their journey with us, they are taught the rules of speaking and listening to each other. They learn when and how to respond to others, and it is on these foundations that other skills are then built. Sentence stems are used throughout the school and curriculum areas to support the children’s understanding of how to speak in full sentences, using Standard English. This understanding of how to articulate a sentence serves to support and nurture their writing skills.
Understanding how to speak appropriately to different people is a critical life skill we focus on developing. Our intention is for children to leave equipped with the ability to interact effectively with people from all walks-of-life; supporting them as they enter the next stage in their education and beyond.
Everyone’s voice is important and through nurturing the children’s confidence in speaking and articulating their thoughts clearly, we develop their self-belief that their voice has value. Opportunities for this occur in the classroom but also through our Pupil Parliament from Years 1 to 6. By the time the children finish their time at Hillcroft, our aim is that each and every one of them will be confident young people who understand the value of their voice and how and when to use it effectively.
Pupil Voice:
I like oracy because without it the world would be hard to understand. Tabitha, Year 5
Oracy means speaking fluently. Harrison, Year 4
Oracy is important so you can speak to people about your opinions. Richard Year 6
Oracy is important so that people can understand you. Robert, Year 6
Progression of Skills and Knowledge:
At Hillcroft Primary School, we follow the National Curriculum. From this, we ensure that skills and knowledge are taught in the appropriate year groups to ensure progression and sequencing.
Across Early Years, to ensure progression from the newly published Early Years Framework into KS1, we follow the revised and updated July 2021 version of Development Matters. In our Nursery, children are aged three and four, and so the progression maps show the objectives related to Three and Four year-old objectives. However, some children join after just turning three, therefore, with these children and following rigorous assessment of starting points, it may be deemed necessary to look at the Birth to Three objectives too.
For more information on this, please see the Nursery and Reception year group pages. Below are links to our Progression of Skills and Knowledge documents.
