Voice 21

Oracy at Penrhiwceibr Primary School 

• We have identified the importance of oracy in delivering a curriculum that develops knowledge and skills in the Curriculum for Wales. We recognise the importance of our pupils being able to express themselves well as they develop the skills needed to succeed in our curriculum, to place them in good stead to continue to progress in MACS, and be fully prepared for life after they leave school. Developing Oracy has been identified in our SIP and we recognise that Voice 21 can support us in improving oracy skills in our pupils.

What is Oracy?

• “Oracy is the ability to communicate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.” 

“It is also a route to social mobility, empowering all students, not just some, to find their voice to succeed in school and life”

(Voice 21) https://voice21.org 

Why do we have to focus on oracy?

• At Penrhiwceiber Primary we have been actively developing the AoLE of LLC over the recent years, especially since the introduction of Curriculum for Wales, we have invested time in assessing how we develop reading and writing skills, and have seen progress in these areas. We also have interventions in place to support these areas. However we did not feel that we were as well skilled or resourced in the delivery of oracy and recognised the need to invest in this area. Therefore we have identified this as a priority focus in our SIP for 23/24.
• When our children enter nursery their oracy skills tend to be very low, our aim is to assess them and set time for staff to lead oracy interventions after they have been with us for 6 weeks. 

Our Key actions

• GP/RW to attend Voice 21 Development Days, cascade back to staff in INSETs and Staff Meetings
• To specifically plan for oracy
• To familiarise ourselves with the Oracy Framework (see below)
• Evidence and track our our learning journey
• Celebrate success
• Improve listening skills
• Develop discussion skills
• Utilise Voice 21 resources e.g. listening ladder, talk tactics, sentence stems
• Engage in professional dialogue regarding oracy
• Share progress with stakeholders
• Timetable staff to deliver interventions - Wellcomm, Language link, DEST, ELKLAN

What is the intended impact?

• This project is a long term, ongoing project and not one that will complete by the end of this academic year.  We envisage that children will become confident and effective communicators and be able to use these skills in all areas of the curriculum and later in life.  This will underpin the children’s ability to make a positive contribution and global citizens as is clearly identified in the Statements of What Matters for LLC, as seen below:

How are we teaching oracy?

• During the first year of our project we identified the need to improve listening and discussion skills, we utilised the ‘Listening Ladder’ to enforce positive behaviours, and created ‘Discussion Guidelines’ along with the pupils. These resources were referred to in all aspects of the curriculum to improve pupil’s skills. Through this, we had set the foundations to build upon our pupils oracy skills, to do this teachers were asked to plan specific opportunities for oracy. We then introduced the ‘Talk Tactics’, giving pupils opportunities to take on different roles in discussion and recognise the oracy skills being developed. This is still ongoing and teachers are encouraged to take opportunities to evidence oracy, in all its forms, both good and bad, celebrate successes and share good practice.

Opportunities we are currently experimenting with

• Y5/6 experimenting with oracy activities in ‘Guided Reading’ sessions
• Pupils sharing what learning has been taking place in their classes during our weekly Celebration Assembly
• Circle time activities in class assembly and Jigsaw PSHE sessions
• Monthly podcasts with pupil guests
• Helpwr Heddiw activities
• Cornel / cabin iaith
• Rich vocabulary being developed - Word of the Week (Y5/6)
• Sharing good practice with stakeholders and the wider community e.g. Twitter, Governor Days, Parent Pupil sessions, Podcast.