Oracy

What is Oracy?

“If you can speak, you can influence.

If you can influence, you can change lives.”

Oracy skills sit between learning to talk and learning through talk. It is the ability to express oneself fluently and grammatically in speech.

At West Norfolk Academies Trust we value being able to express ourselves confidently, articulately and with passion. We believe it is an essential life skill weaving itself through every aspect of our curriculum and every stage of a child’s development.

Our children are encouraged to explore ideas through:

Talk
Listening to each other
Building on and challenging each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments
Talking in full sentences with a clear and confident voice to a variety of audiences.

Aims

Our aim is to enable the children to develop their skills in oracy so that they 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 and are a vital life skill.

The four key strands of the Oracy framework are:

Physical aspects – how we use our voice and body to communicate;
Linguistic aspects – how we structure what we say and choose appropriate vocabulary;
Cognitive aspects – staying focused whilst speaking and when listening to others, asking appropriate questions and explaining opinions using reasons;
Social & emotional aspects – working with others, listening and responding, increasing confidence.

Impact

Our aim is that oracy will be embedded in our curriculum and this will have a very positive impact; children and staff will become much more aware of their spoken literacy and children will grow in confidence with speaking in front of big groups.

How can Parents and Carers help at home

You can help to:

Encourage your child to speak in full sentences;
Encourage your child to give reasons for their choices;
Encourage your child to explain something to you as accurately as possible (the rules for a game, how to make a sandwich, how to solve a calculation);
Encourage your child to read out loud using a confident voice, thinking about tone of voice, and appropriate volume.

For further information and guidance please take a look at the YouTube video about The Importance of Oracy by the English Speaking Union.

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