At Roman Hill Primary School, we believe that speaking and listening are fundamental to the effective teaching and learning of all areas of the whole school curriculum. We want pupils at Roman Hill Primary School to develop effective communication skills for not only the here and now, but also in readiness for their lives beyond education. We are committed to providing a whole school curriculum offer which will provide pupils with opportunities to use spoken language and oracy skills as part of their routine learning experiences within the classroom.  

Opportunities for talk across the curriculum will enable pupils to elevate their oracy skills both in and out of the classroom. By building a culture of high-quality oracy within our school, we aim to develop pupil confidence, spoken language and outcomes in all areas of the curriculum. We aim for pupils to be able to communicate effectively and confidently in a multitude of contexts and scenarios as well as every area of their learning. Choosing and using language appropriate to the audience and purpose are skills which are encouraged and planned as part of the curriculum offer so that pupils become confident and able orators.  

 Purposeful talk is used to drive forward learning, through talk in the classroom, which has been planned, designed, modelled and structured to enable all learners to develop the skills needed to talk effectively.  We promote classrooms rich in talk, in which questions are planned, peer conversations are modelled and scaffolded and pupils have every opportunity to develop their oracy skills. 

 From EYFS to Year 6, children are given opportunities to develop oracy skills and build their confidence in talk for formal and informal situations, both in and outside the classroom. Opportunities for oracy with the curriculum ensures that children have an opportunity to practice a variety of types of talk and practise the skills needed for different oracy outcomes:  

• exploratory talk  

• interactive/negotiation  

• recitation  

• debate and persuasion  

• building understanding  

• informing/teaching 

• entertainment and expression  

Our curriculum offer employs the CUSP curriculum, Kapow schemes of learning, Discovery RE, Jigsaw PSHE, Access Art and Get Set for PE. We employ a six-part lesson structure for lessons with the explicit teaching of vocabulary at the beginning of each. We have made the deliberate choice to teach vocabulary in this way across the curriculum to ensure that pupils can support their oracy with a broad and ambitious vocabulary. This will also support them to speak and communicate effectively in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes.  

Oracy skills and expectations for age ranges have been mapped for the whole school. This mapping is supported by examples of where these expectations and opportunities can be found within the curriculum.