Teach Primary Issue 19.6

54 | www.teachwire.net T he sounds of school are joyful; yells of games in the playground, chatter in the hallways, and the din of a class just let out for lunch. But if you zoom in on these sounds, what will you hear? Well, that depends on the children, and on the school. For Rokesly Juniors, it wouldn’t be unusual to overhear cogent, well-constructed arguments and points of view. Because, you see, Rokesly is firmly an oracy-forward school. It all started post-lockdown. The teachers at Rokesly Junior School in Haringey weren’t too concerned about academic performance; they’d been teaching online throughout the school’s closure, and pupils were advancing through the curriculum well. However, when the school opened up again, it was general life skills that the children were lacking. “Socially, they were isolated,” explains Joanna Neilson, the school’s inclusion manager. “They lacked the communication and social stamina they once had.” Various initiatives followed, says headteacher Bola Soneye-Thomas: “We added afternoon play and introduced Zones of Regulation to help children identify and manage their emotions. But we noticed a gap in communication skills.” Bola decided then and there to do something about this; there needed to be a focus on oracy, and on encouraging pupils to talk to one another, as well as to their teachers. “I appointed an oracy lead,” she explains, “because reading and writing are essential, but school should be about more than that. If students aren’t emotionally settled or socially skilled, they’ll struggle in the real world.” Real talk It’s the pursuit of this real-world skillset that continues to propel the leadership team and teaching staff at Rokesly towards developing their oracy focus. First stop: Madeleine Clinton, the oracy lead (and Y3 teacher) appointed by Bola. “I took on the role of oracy lead around two years ago,” Madeleine tells me, “and the idea was to develop an approach that wasn’t just about encouraging communication and speech skills, but about explicitly teaching them”. The first step in building this teaching framework was to create ‘talk rules’, says Madeleine, that help children stick to certain etiquette while conversing. “The rules include things like disagreeing kindly, and listening to the speaker,” Madeleine explains, “and they’re the same throughout the school, so that the children can develop under a framework with which they’re familiar”. The framework also allows the children to have debates, even arguments, without them descending into chaos, says Bola. “We expect disagreements; that’s life. But we want pupils to be able to explain their points of view, and discuss them calmly and fully with people who may not agree.” The proliferation of misinformation is a key aspect of this skill, as well. With all the different information available online, the nature of ‘fact’ can appear to be much more debatable these days. That’s why, Bola says, for Rokesly, “it’s essential we teach children to think critically, ask questions, and evaluate what they’re told. Too many people still believe whatever suits them.” Rokesly is also incredibly multicultural, explains Bola, and this informs its teaching, too. Strong oracy skills help with social cohesion between pupils from very different backgrounds. “Some children have never been to Oxford Street; others go skiing,” Bola says of Rokesly’s cohort. “They learn side by side, and that diversity teaches them to value different perspectives.” “Teamwork and learning with others have become easier since we started using the oracy tools.” “Talk trios are more fun than just working in our books, because we get to talk about what we think with others.” “We’ve learned how to speak up for ourselves, and share our ideas. It makes it easier to talk to friends and family, as well.” Theo Zayn Pupil Voice Bilan “I like that if you don’t agree with something, it’s not a big deal; we’re still encouraged to say what we think.” Margot