Oracy

At The Vale Primary Academy we prioritise oracy as a powerful tool for elevating learning by teaching our pupils how ‘to talk’ and ‘through talk’.

This means: –

We explicitly teach the speaking and listening skills pupils will need to communicate effectively and confidently in a range of situations both in and outside of the Academy.
We embed the teaching of these skills across our broad and balanced curriculum and wider life of the school so that oracy supports and improves pupils’ learning.

The ability to communicate effectively is essential in preparing children to live happy and successful lives into adulthood, and we uphold our trust promise of enabling pupils ‘to become active members of society with the skills, confidence, knowledge and experience to actively engage in social debate and discussion.’ We teach our pupils to be creative and critical thinkers with the ability to express their feelings and ideas eloquently whilst listening respectfully and compassionately to the opinions of others, changing their minds when necessary.

We will be staring our partnership with the national charity for Oracy, Voice 21, as part of a trust wide project in Autumn 2022. In collaboration with Voice 21, we deliver ongoing professional training to every practitioner to ensure they are equipped with the subject knowledge, skills and expertise to provide a high-quality oracy education for every single pupil in our Academy. Any learning gaps in a pupil’s oracy proficiency are addressed swiftly to prevent both academic and social disadvantage.