Oracy
Oracy is a key focus across our school and is embedded in all lessons and daily routines. Children are given regular opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills through discussion, collaboration and meaningful talk in every subject.
Our Oracy Ambassadors help promote effective communication across the school, while classroom oracy displays provide children with clear prompts and strategies to support high-quality talk. We also have a dedicated oracy display in the lunch hall, featuring current topics and discussion prompts to encourage conversation and debate.
Through our oracy assemblies, children are given valuable opportunities to speak confidently in front of an audience, helping them develop the communication skills they need to succeed both in school and beyond.
Oracy Expectation at SWFS
Oracy Sentence Stem progression
Oracy Ambassadors
Our Oracy Ambassadors play an important role in promoting high-quality speaking and listening across the school. They meet regularly with Mrs Robson to share ideas for school improvement, support whole-school initiatives and help launch new topics by modelling excellent oracy skills.
They work alongside the School Council, welcome visitors, support younger pupils and act as positive role models for the Wellfield Way. Through their leadership, confidence and teamwork, they help ensure that every child's voice is heard and valued within our school community.
Oracy Across the Curriculum
Oracy Newsletters
Oracy in English
At South Wellfield First School, oracy is an integral part of our English curriculum. We recognise that speaking and listening underpin success in reading and writing, so pupils are given regular opportunities to develop their communication skills through purposeful talk.
Using the Physical, Linguistic, Cognitive and Social & Emotional strands of oracy, children learn to speak clearly, listen attentively, build vocabulary, explain their thinking and engage in meaningful discussions. Teachers explicitly model and teach sentence stems, discussion skills and subject-specific vocabulary, enabling pupils to articulate ideas with increasing confidence and accuracy.
Through storytelling, book talk, role play, drama, partner discussions, debate and oral rehearsal for writing, children develop the language skills needed to become confident communicators, thoughtful readers and successful writers. As pupils progress through school, they learn not only what to say, but how and when to say it, preparing them for learning and life beyond the classroom.
Oracy in Perfomance
At South Wellfield First School, we believe that performance plays a vital role in developing children's confidence, communication and oracy skills. Opportunities to perform begin in Reception, where each week one child is chosen as a Golden Puffin or Emerald Starling and is given the opportunity to share news, stories and special items during daily show-and-tell sessions. This helps children develop confidence in speaking to an audience from an early age.
As children progress through school, they are encouraged to bring achievements and special items to share in our weekly Friday assemblies, providing opportunities to speak in front of the whole school community. Every child also takes part in class assemblies and Christmas performances, allowing them to rehearse, present and perform to a wider audience.