We are delighted to be working with Voice 21, the National Oracy Charity, to bring members an oracy project to help every child in school find their voice!
Oral communication skills (or oracy) are vital to young people’s success in school and beyond, and yet they are not skills which are taught explicitly. Voice 21’s mission is to support schools to help teachers get children talking in schools. We know that this is particularly important in supporting disadvantaged children who often start school with oracy skills well below the expected level.
How can Voice 21 support your school?
The National Curriculum places emphasis upon the importance of the spoken word and regards ‘Fluency in the English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects.’
These sessions will support teachers to ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions.
Outcomes:
- To become confident in the understanding of oracy and how it impacts and lifts the quality of learning
- To improve the knowledge of oracy and the teaching of it
- To help children find their voice at school
Session 1
Introducing Oracy
- The case for oracy
- Introducing the Oracy Framework
- Setting up exploratory talk
This session sets out the case for a high-quality oracy education based on the hallmarks of the Voice 21 Oracy Benchmarks. We’ll introduce the four strands of the Oracy Framework and share a few strategies that can be taken straight back to the classroom to start oracy development immediately.
Session 2
Developing Dialogue
- The role of talk in learning
- Questioning and whole-class interaction
- Dialogic teaching
In this session, we’ll examine how questioning can be used effectively to enhance students’ learning as well as exploring dialogic pedagogies and reflect on the quality of dialogue in your classroom.
Session 3
Planning for Talk: Part 1
- Reflecting on practice to date
- Developing oracy across a sequence of learning
In this first of a two-part session, participants will take on the role of the student and be immersed into an example sequence of oracy teaching and learning through the medium of a science curriculum.
Session 4
Planning for Talk: Part 2
- Strengthening subject knowledge through talk
- Working towards presentational talk outcomes
- Planning for an extended sequence of oracy teaching
In the second part of this extended session, participants will be supported to reflect on the sequence they were immersed in during session 3 and consider applications for their own practice. We’ll use these learnings to explore how oracy sequences strengthen subject knowledge and earmark time to begin planning for their own extended sequences of learning for their own setting.
Join the Oracy Project!
Sign up here!Dates
- Thursday 23 February 2023, 1.00 - 4.00 pm
- Wednesday 26 April 2023, 1.00 - 4.00 pm
- Thursday 8 June 2023, 1.00 - 4.00 pm
- Tuesday 27 June 2023, 1.00 - 4.00 pm
Oracy Project
- VNET members can access projects using 6 of their membership credits or for £600+VAT
- Non-members can access projects at £1000+VAT
- We recommend that two delegates attend the project including a senior leader - the second delegate is free!
- Access to the project includes access to an area on VNETCIC.com with all resources

Voice 21 Daniel Ford
Daniel is a Voice 21 Programme Lead and has spent the last four years supporting hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers from EYFS to KS5 across the UK to provide an oracy education for their students. Starting out teaching martial arts to children in his earlier years, Dan is an experienced primary school teacher and leader with a passion for giving all children the best chances in life.