Oracy at Prenton High School
Every voice matters. Every conversation helps us learn.
At Prenton High School, we believe that every student deserves to develop the confidence, knowledge and communication skills to express their ideas, engage with others and participate fully in learning and life beyond the classroom.
Oracy is the ability to use spoken language effectively to communicate, learn, reason and build relationships. It is not simply about speaking confidently; it is about listening carefully, asking questions, exploring different perspectives, developing ideas and choosing language appropriate to different situations.
Our approach, Talking: The Prenton Way, is informed by research and evidence from Voice 21, the Oracy Cambridge framework and the work of education researcher and author Alex Quigley on vocabulary, language and literacy.
We recognise that talk is both a powerful tool for learning and an important skill to be explicitly developed. Through purposeful classroom dialogue, students have opportunities to rehearse their thinking, deepen their understanding, develop subject-specific vocabulary and learn from one another.
Our approach is built around four key principles:
- Inclusive participation: Creating a classroom culture where every student feels valued, supported and encouraged to contribute.
- Purposeful dialogue: Using structured routines, including Turn and Talk, to help students think, discuss, question and build on ideas.
- Language development: Explicitly teaching vocabulary and helping students communicate increasingly precise and sophisticated ideas across the curriculum.
- Thinking through talk: Encouraging students to explain, justify, challenge respectfully, reflect and develop their understanding through discussion.
We recognise that effective talk takes different forms. Students need opportunities for exploratory conversations, where ideas may be tentative and developing, alongside more formal speaking opportunities where they learn to present their thinking clearly and confidently.
Through Talking: The Prenton Way, our ambition is to ensure that every student develops a voice, knows that their contribution matters and leaves Prenton equipped to communicate confidently and thoughtfully in education, employment and everyday life.
