In line with the report of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England (October 2024), we view Oracy to be the fourth “R” in education along side reading, writing and arithmetic.
Every classroom is a language rich environment that fosters the development of every child’s oracy needs. We have a no hands up policy, enabling all children, including those whose oral skills are less developed to have opportunities to contribute.
This is intrinsic to children’s early development. Therefore, we place great emphasis on oracy and language development, right from nursery all the way through school. For example, through the continuous provision in early years, children are encouraged to use new vocabulary which is modelled by adults. Children have many opportunities to learn and retell stories rhymes and songs which develop their oracy. This builds throughout the school, so pupils by year 6 are able to use effective talk, listening and communication with a range of audiences, using subject specific vocabulary and full sentence structure. This lays the groundwork for their key stage 3 curriculum.
Our lessons across subjects emphasise the importance of pupil talk, so they learn more powerfully and deeply. As a result our pupils are actively engaged in their learning and listen to the views of others. For example in early years, children take photographs of their learning and share this with their peers. They respond to questions, which help them to clarify their thinking. Moving on to key stage two, where pupils discuss enquiry questions to deepen their understanding of subjects across the curriculum.
Pupils are provided with opportunities to develop their understanding, debating and persuading, negotiating, as well as expressing and performing. Such an example is in assemblies, open evenings and workshops for parents.
High quality texts, carefully selected to engage all our pupils, are the cornerstone of our curriculum and ensure that all pupils are exposed to a wide range of stories and non-fiction texts by a wide range of authors.
Alongside these ‘core texts’ we have linked texts to support the whole curriculum and ‘recommended reads’ for each year group. In addition, there are selected focussed authors for each class. Each classroom has a display, accessible to all pupils, of these ‘recommended reads’, linked texts and books written by the chosen authors. Alongside this, we have two well stocked libraries which are visited by each class every week and a science library. In addition, children in early years are introduced to the local public library.
Children need good language comprehension and good word reading to become good readers. Our pupils are taught word reading through phonics. Evidence show that teaching phonics is the best way for teaching children to learn to read.
We have exemplary practice in phonics teaching, with a systematic and robust approach. Our children start their reading journey through telling stories using pictures, moving to decodable books where they can use their phonics in a meaningful context and, once fluency is developed, transitioning to more complex stories which aim to develop confidence and enjoyment of books.
We place great emphasis on reading for pleasure and develop a lifelong love of reading. To support this we have a daily read aloud session where teachers share books with children exposing them to a range of genres. We have taken part in the Reading for Pleasure Programme with the Open University and now lead sessions for teachers across the borough. We regularly engage parents through workshops and reading cafes.
Each child receives their Chronicle Book on entry to Lady Margaret School. In this they capture the sequence of rich, cultural, active and character building experiences and opportunities that enrich the lives of our pupils. Every child keeps their own account of the events and opportunities they experience, to capture, reflect on and celebrate their own personal journey.
The Chronicles evidence the importance placed on building pupils’ cultural capital and provide a lasting memory of the activities within and beyond the curriculum, designed to ignite imagination and interest in the world.
Throughout the school, we encourage children to assume roles of responsibility. In Early Years, children become ‘captains’ to support other children to access areas of learning and proudly take responsibility for introducing their parents to their classroom experience through ‘stay and learn’ sessions.
This is continued throughout the school as children showcase their learning to parents, through visits to classrooms, workshops and exhibitions. In addition pupils have an influential role on decision making in school, holding positions of responsibility, such as being members of the Safeguarding Committee, Junior Leadership Team and Ambassador roles.