At Boringdon pupils are taught to:

• listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
• use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
• use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
• speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English
• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play/improvisations and debates
• gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the audience
• consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
• select and use appropriate registers for effective communication and tailor their communication to the audience
• speak with grammatical accuracy
• recite poems learned by heart with correct intonation to make the meaning clear
• These skills are embedded in our planning across all curriculum areas and so developed through a range of contexts.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary acquisition, and importantly the meaning and use of new words in context, is part of all subject planning and words are taught explicitly as well as embedded in the lesson and medium term planning of subjects to ensure repetition and embedding in long term memory. Low stakes retrieval activities are used, where appropriate, to reinforce and assess vocabulary acquisition, where appropriate, as it is key to supporting understanding of new knowledge and supporting reading comprehension and development.

Oracy

Oracy is embedded in our curriculum for all subjects and also for the wider curriculum. It starts with an expectation and with the support of how we interact with peers and adults: being appropriate and using standard English. It continues to be developed by embedding oracy activities and approaches into lessons. For example, this could be an oracy starter in English or could be through the use of talk partners and different discussion formations across many subjects. The opportunities to develop oracy skills are wide and span the full and wider curriculum.

Children discuss and agree a set of expectations which set out the guidelines for small group or whole-class discussion.

In addition drama, performance, debate and discussion are also embedded in the wider curriculum. Presenting to an audience is developed through ‘Show and Tell’ opportunities.

We work closely with the Theatre Royal Playhouse project to develop our students' drama skills and also have debate and discussion within our humanities and PSHE topics. They also form part of the school's wider pastoral approach.