Sandy Hill Academy

*English - Oracy

‘Aspiring to achieve, determined to succeed’

In English - Oracy we aim to:

Provide pupils with the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. In school, oracy is a powerful tool for learning; by teaching pupils to become more effective speakers and listeners we empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. Through a high-quality oracy education, pupils learn through talk and to talk. This is when they develop and deepen their subject knowledge and understanding through talk in the classroom, which has been planned, designed, modelled, scaffolded and structured to enable them to learn the skills needed to talk effectively.

Develop pupils’ ability to learn through talk and talk.
Provide all pupils with opportunities to articulate their ideas across the curriculum.
Develop pupils’ confidence in talking with and in front of different audiences.
Provide pupils’ with opportunities to develop their confidence in oracy skills to support their ability to discuss their mental health and well-being.
To equip pupils’ to thrive in life beyond primary school.

Please see the document links at the end of this page to learn about the full English - Oracy Curriculum at Sandy Hill Academy.

Nursery

In Nursery English - Oracy is incorporated within the Communication and Language and Literacy aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The children in Nursery have opportunities to develop their oracy skills through 'small-world' role play experiences and adult-led 'Together Time' sessions. Our 'small-world' role play areas are updated regularly to provide enriched learning opportunities for children to learn and use new vocabulary.

Over the Summer holidays, the children created their very own 'All About Me Boxes' containing different objects which are special to them. This half term, the children have had the opportunity to share their 'All About Me Boxes' with their friends. The children loved sharing their special objects and photographs with each other, using their developing language and communication skills.

"That is a picture of my Mummy and Daddy and me!" Nursery child, aged 3.

"This is my toy snake." Nursery child, aged 3.

Reception

In Reception, English - Oracy is incorporated within the Communication and Language and Literacy aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The children in Reception have opportunities to develop their oracy skills through planned activities where new vocabulary is taught, activities that encourage time to talk and interact and a carefully planned environment where children can practise their speaking and listening skills.

The children have enjoyed sharing their 'All About Me' boxes during transition. This was a great way for the children to find out about each other.

"I like telling my friends about my home learning. I stand up at the front like a teacher!" Reception, age 4.

"We talk about lots of things at school!" Reception, age 4.

Year 1

In Year 1 we have enjoyed learning new vocabulary during European Languages Day. We have worked collaboratively during sorting activities and given reasons for our answers. When learning about Seasonal Changes we made observations in our local environment and discussed them with our peers.

"My favourite weather is the rain because I get to splash in the puddles with my wellies." Year 1 child, age 5.

"When you start you are a baby and then you keep growing until you get to be an old person. I am a child now because I am 5 and it was my birthday soon then I'll be six!" Year 1 child, age 5.

"We know 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in English and today we learned it in Spanish. Cabeza means head." Year 1 child, age 5.

"This is Hilly Billy Hedgehog. We learnt a poem about him!" Year 1 child, age 6.

Year 2

In Year 2 we learnt our lines for the Nativity play and practiced our songs. We have also learnt a song with Makaton about fire.

'I have been practicing at home and in school.' Year 2 pupil aged 7

' have really enjoyed learning the song with sign language' Year 2 pupil aged 6

Year 3

Year 3 enjoyed participating in a debate discussing the question 'Should The Egyptian Cinderella have a happy ending?'. The children prepared for the debate and planned counter-arguments. They learnt the rules of debating and practised delivering their argument using a clear voice.

'I felt quite nervous before the debate but when we started it was exciting debating against the opposite team.' Year 3 child, age 8.

'I feel very proud because I planned counter-argument ideas for the debate which nobody else had thought of or planned for. It meant my argument was really strong.' Year 3 child, age 7.

Year 4

In Year 4, we learnt the poem 'The Romans in Britain' by Judith Nicholls and performed it in small groups to the rest of the class.

Year 5

In Year 5, we value talk and the power of our words. We use discussion to further our learning. We have also been working on our presentation skills and how to effectively deliver and present information to an audience.

"I really enjoyed presenting my Eco-Coucil manifesto to my classmates" Year 5 pupil, aged 9.

Year 6

In Year 6, talk is at the centre of learning - effective communication is a valued attribute. Conversation and debate form large parts of lessons and this supportive learning is enabling learners to develop their understanding further.

Here a Year 6 pupil, talking about World War 2 in detail.

'Working with a partner and talking about the learning helps me understand what we are learning' Year 6 pupil.