St Cross Catholic Primary School

Oracy Vision

At St Cross Catholic Primary School, we believe every child is created in the image of God and has a unique voice that deserves to be heard. Through a culture of purposeful talk, attentive listening and respectful dialogue, we empower all pupils to communicate with confidence, compassion and conviction.

We are committed to developing articulate, thoughtful and courageous learners who can express their ideas clearly, listen deeply to others, and use their voices to serve their community and live out Gospel values. Oracy is at the heart of teaching and learning, enabling every child to flourish academically, socially, spiritually and emotionally.

Our Oracy Aims

At St Cross, pupils will:

• Speak with confidence and clarity, adapting their language for different audiences and purposes.
• Listen actively and respectfully, valuing the perspectives and experiences of others.
• Think critically and collaboratively, using discussion to deepen understanding and solve problems.
• Grow in faith and character, expressing their beliefs and values with kindness, empathy and integrity.
• Become leaders and advocates, using their voices to contribute positively to school, parish and wider society.

What This Looks Like

We will create classrooms where:

• Talk is planned, purposeful and valued as a key tool for learning.
• Every child has regular opportunities to discuss, debate, present and perform.
• Teachers explicitly teach the skills of speaking and listening.
• Pupils feel safe to share ideas, ask questions and take intellectual risks.
• Respectful dialogue reflects our Catholic ethos and commitment to human dignity.

Our Commitment

By embedding oracy across the curriculum and throughout school life, St Cross Catholic Primary School will nurture confident communicators who are ready to thrive in secondary education, contribute to their communities and live as faithful, compassionate citizens of the world.

"Speaking with confidence, listening with respect, and living out our faith through our words and actions."

The Oracy Framework

From Reception to Y6, we have introduced The Oracy Framework. This breaks down Oracy skills into different strands, allowing our children to grasp a deeper understanding of how we can develop and improve our speaking and listening skills. All classes have introduced ‘Discussion Guidelines’; co-constructed discussion rules that ensure everyone can speak, be heard and respected.

Talk Tactics

At St Cross, we teach our children specific talk strategies to help them facilitate purposeful talk in the classroom. Moving from surface level talk to quality discussions is imperative for learning across all areas of the curriculum. For example, challenging the ideas of others, reasoning our opinions and, sometimes, being brave enough to disagree or change our minds!

What can you do at home?

Talk to your children whenever you can!  Help your children to develop their vocabulary by suggesting better words they might have used in your conversations - in a friendly and constructive way!

Oracy activities to try out!

• How many? Ask a question about a specific quality and see how many your child can think of! For example: How many animals can you name that hatch from eggs? How many vehicles with four wheels can you name? How many things can you name that are cone shaped?
• I’m thinking of… Start by saying “I’m thinking of something…” and name a feature of the object or thing, for example, “I’m thinking of something that is blue.” The other players are welcome to make a guess or ask a question until they can work out the correct answer. Encourage them to use challenging, specific vocabulary too!
• What’s better? Ask for their preferences between two things - ask them if they can explain why they prefer one to the other! For example: What’s better, apple or banana? What’s better, cheese or chocolate? What’s better, the beach or the city? What’s better, space or the ocean? 
• Odd one out: begin by naming three things and ask children to choose which is the odd one out and explain why. You can make this as simple or as challenging as you’d like. For example, with “train, bus, hair” it’s easy to identify the odd one out. With “platypus, cobra, horse” this may be more challenging. You could make this a phonics challenge with similar sounds, using words like “chop, chicken, ship” or even a maths challenge with numbers, like “21, 63, 78”.

Oracy in Action

Speak Out Challenge 2026

Our pupils recently took part in the Academy Speak Out Challenge, a fun and exciting event that encouraged children to share their ideas and develop their speaking skills.

Each year group (Year 4 and 5) prepared a short talk based on a different question, giving pupils the opportunity to speak confidently in front of an audience and express their thoughts on topics that matter to them.

The challenge helped children to:

• Build confidence
• Improve their speaking and listening skills
• Share their ideas clearly
• Learn how to engage an audience
• Have fun while developing important life skills

We were incredibly proud of all the children who took part. They showed courage, creativity and enthusiasm as they used their voices to inspire others.

Well done to everyone who took part – be brave, be bold, and speak out!