Oracy

Giving everyone a voice to empower, inspire and flourish,

today and always.

The Importance of Oracy: Empowering Students to Find Their Voice

At Joseph Cash, we believe that the ability to speak clearly, confidently, and effectively is as essential as reading, writing, and numeracy. Oracy — the art of speaking and listening well — is a foundational skill that not only supports academic success but also nurtures personal growth and lifelong learning. 

At Joseph Cash, we are working with Voice 21 to develop the children's Oracy skills to enhance their speaking and listening.

What is Oracy?

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language (Voice 21). 

Oracy encompasses the skills, knowledge, and understanding required to communicate effectively in various contexts. It includes:

• Speaking skills: Articulating ideas clearly and adapting tone, pace, and style to the audience.

• Listening skills: Actively engaging with others' perspectives and responding thoughtfully and respectfully. 

• Collaborative communication: Participating in discussions, debates, and group activities to build shared understanding. Having the confidence to challenge another idea and give reasons why. 

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Use of the Voice 21 Framework

We follow the Oracy Framework to teach children how to express themselves correctly through talk:

Learning to talk, learning through talk and learning to listen.

How We Promote Oracy at Joseph Cash

• Classroom Discussions: Teachers integrate structured talk activities, such as debates, role-plays and group discussions into daily lessons. Springboards for talk are used often across the curriculum:

  

• Public Speaking Opportunities: Students participate in assemblies, presentations, and debates to promote speaking aloud and in front of an audience. 

• Listening Skills Development: Active listening exercises are incorporated into the curriculum to help students process and respond effectively. We use ABC actions to agree, build-on or challenge others ideas. 

   

   

  

   

We also use WALKTHRUs to support children in formulating their ideas independently before sharing with a partner and then the whole class. 

How you can support at home?

Talk! Talk! Talk! The more you talk at home, the more words children will understand and use. 

We send home Sticky Questions for you to discuss as a family. There are no right or wrong answers as long as you can explain your reasons why. 

If you ruled the world. what would you do? Does everyone in your family agree?