Oracy

Introduction to Oracy at Meridian High School

The ethos of Meridian High School is encapsulated within our core values: our students are challenged, learn and achieve in their academic careers whilst personally developing resilience, ambition and respectful attitudes.

Our Oracy Policy aims to outline the principles supporting our Oracy in Practice guide for staff at Meridian High School. The working guide outlines the expectations for our Oracy in practice and has been developed with all teaching staff through a series of staff meetings.

Intent

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. At Meridian High School, we believe the development of spoken language to be fundamental to the achievement of students. Our oracy curriculum seeks to ensure all students are able to communicate effectively and confidently in front of any type of audience so that any door of opportunity is open to them in the future.

These skills are developed across all areas of our curriculum where students are encouraged to explore ideas through talk; challenge each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments, as well as talking in full sentences with a clear and confident voice.

Our Challenge – Learn – Achieve ethos and values of Resilience, Ambition and Respect mean that we place respectful and productive relationships at the heart of all that we do. As staff, we therefore foster good communication amongst ourselves and with our pupils, their parents and carers, and with the wider community. We place a high priority on supporting the development of good speaking and listening skills amongst our pupils.

Our oracy curriculum will enable students to:

• speak with confidence, clarity and fluency in full sentences
• recognise the value of listening
• be confident in the value of their own opinions and to be able to express them to others building their self-esteem
• to adapt the use of language for a range of different purposes and audiences, including using Standard English
• converse, sustain a logical argument and respond to others appropriately
• concentrate, interpret and respond appropriately to a wide range of listening experiences
• be open-minded, to value the contribution of others and to take account of their views
• appreciate the diversity of languages, dialects and accents in the school and value the experience and contributions of children with a wide variety of linguistic backgrounds
• develop empathy through drama and debate

Implementation

Correct spoken language is fundamental to learning. Speaking and listening play a large part in a student’s progress in all curriculum areas and teachers plan to develop these skills in a wide variety of ways.

We aim to develop and encourage fluent speakers, who can confidently articulate their ideas in a wide range of situations through the following whole school strategies:

• Upgrading students’ spoken language to standard English
• Direct vocabulary instruction
• Debate
• Sentence stems to structure spoken language

Students should also be exposed to a range of planned oracy experiences across the curriculum which include:

• Drama
• Talking partners
• Listening to stories
• Reading lessons
• Preparation for writing
• Visiting speakers
• Giving and receiving instructions
• Paired/collaborative work
• Problem solving
• Presentation of learning

Oracy experiences should not be limited to the curriculum and students should have the opportunity to develop their oracy skills outside of the classroom including:

• Assemblies
• School Council and other student voice opportunities
• Extra-curricular productions
• Participating in cross-MAT events

Impact

The impact of this policy will be evidenced through the monitoring of attainment and progress of all students by class teachers.

Oracy skills will be assessed using the oracy framework. Each year group has oracy objectives which build on the preceding years’ study to ensure progression in this area as students move through the school. The Progression in Oracy document is available on the school’s website.

The English Lead, SLT, Head teacher and link Governor will be responsible for monitoring the impact of this policy and standards of spoken language across the school, through work scrutiny, planning scrutiny, learning walks and lesson observations and any other relevant monitoring activities.