Oracy Project and OPAL (Outdoor Play And Learning)
Talk Matters Project
Torridon Primary School is proud to be part of the pilot Talk Matters project which aims to support children to overcome communication barriers which could affect their future outcomes.
In England, 17.3% of children have a Special Educational Need; most of whom will have a difficulty with some aspect of speech, language and/or communication (The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, 2000). In some areas of the U.K., over half the children starting school have delayed language development (Locke et al., 2002). Children with poor vocabulary skills are twice as likely to be unemployed when they reach adulthood (Law et al., 2009). Children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) are at a higher risk of behavioural problems, poor mental health and poorer outcomes later in life.
In 2023, the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) launched the Talk Matters programme, which supports speech, language and communication needs in primary school pupils. The aim is for early identification of learning gaps for children with speech and language needs to ensure they get early intervention. It will form a key part of the VRU’s overarching work to champion and invest in inclusive practices in schools through London’s Inclusion Charter.
Embedding Oracy at Torridon
The Education Endowment Foundation’s recent research indicates that raising the quality and rigour of classroom talk has a range of positive academic outcomes, in particular for children who are eligible for Free School Meals (Gorard et al., 2015 and Hanley et al., 2015).
In addition to good educational progress, classroom talk has a wide range of benefits on students’ personal and social outcomes during school, and beyond. In particular, structured dialogue during lessons is linked to:
- cognitive gains, including improved results in English, maths and science, the retention of subject-specific knowledge, and ‘transference’ of reasoning skills across subject areas (Jay et al., 2017);
- personal and social gains, including attitudes towards learning, enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence, and a reduction in anxiety (Hanley et al., 2015); (Gorard et al., 2015), and;
- civic engagement and empowerment, increasing children and young people’s ability to debate issues, while also increasing understanding about social issues and ability to manage differences with others (Nagda and Gurin, 2007).
Classroom Talk
Every aspect of learning relies on good spoken language skills which leads to academic success (Gascoigne & Gross, 2017). We have therefore been working hard to improve the quality of classroom talk at Torridon.
We have been using Kagan Talk Structures during our learning to do this.
We use: Rally Robin, Round Robin and Timed Pair Share.
We work in partners. Partner A will suggest one idea, then Partner B will suggest next idea. They take turns until the teacher calls time or they go up to a certain number.
During a Round Robin, we work in small groups and take turns to give one idea
First, we get thinking time.
Our teacher will tell us who Partner A and Partner B is.
Partner A will give one idea whilst Partner B listens.
Then, Partner B will give an idea while Partner A listens.
Classroom Talk in the Early Years
In reception, we have an ‘oracy charter’. The charter gives us rules that help us have better conversations.
Classroom Talk: Quality Discussions
We can extend the discussion in our classroom by using gestures and sentence stems. We can…
agree build on challenge
We can also use sentence stems to support our answers and ideas.
We use some of these sentence stems when we answer reasoning questions in maths:
When we give feedback on our learning, we use some of the below sentence stems:
Talk Boost Interventions
Oral language interventions for children have proven to be successful. The Education Endowment Foundation’s (2021) trials of oral language interventions in schools have demonstrated that pupils make approximately five months additional progress over a year, rising to six months for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Talk Boost is a catch-up programme for children who are behind with talking and understanding words to boost their language skills.
Using Talk Boost can significantly improve children’s talking and understanding of words. Two thirds of children make good progress after just eight to ten weeks of the programme.
Find out more here: https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/educators-and-professionals/programmes-for-nurseries-and-schools/talk-boost/
Oracy Project and OPAL (Outdoor Play And Learning)
Amazing play, every day, for every child.
Article 31 of the UNCRC (the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) says that children and young people have the right to have fun in the way they want to, whether by playing sports, watching films, or doing something else entirely.
As part of the oracy project, we have invested in OPAL to promote speaking and listening in our playground. We are delighted to be working with OPAL to transform our outdoor play experience.
What is OPAL?
Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) is a community interest company (CIC) dedicated to providing services to schools and organisations in England and Wales to improve the quality of play opportunities for all children. OPAL staff have expertise in teaching, school improvement, landscape design, project management, play and strategic planning.
The OPAL Primary Programme offers schools a structured process with mentored support and resources to enable schools to permanently change both their environment and culture to enable the provision of amazing playtimes.
OPAL addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. OPAL is the only programme of its kind that has been independently proven to sustainably improve the quality of play in British primary schools.
Learning through play is vital for each student. Play equates to 20% (1.4 years) of a child’s time in school at Torridon Primary.
In 2018, OPAL won first prize in an EU funded award for the best active school’s programme in Europe.
One reason we are carrying out this programme, is that childhood has changed and many children no longer get their play needs met from their school experience.
This is because children have:
5 hours per day of screen time on average
5 hours per week of outdoor play time on average
The percentage of UK children who only play outdoors with other children at school is 56%.
There are a number of benefits for schools which carry out the OPAL Programme.
This includes: more enjoyment of school, less teaching time lost to disputes between children, less accidents in the playground and improved behaviour.
As we embark on this journey to make improvements to play opportunities for your children, we are asking for any unwanted items you may have at home in order to create a creative learning space.
Your children may get a bit messier, be exposed to more challenges and have greater freedoms to play where, with whom and how they like. This means they will need suitable clothing such as coats, wellington boots, hats and gloves. The experiences we are developing are essential for children’s physical and mental well-being and development.
If you would like to learn all about OPAL and watch several videos about the programme please visit the OPAL website: