Speaking and Listening

Intent

At Scissett CE Academy we know the importance of speaking and listening skills and their key role in learning. From the moment children enter our school, we aim to provide the children with a rich range of experiences which will develop vocabulary, knowledge and communication skills.

We aim for all our children to be able to:

Express their opinions, articulate feelings and listen to and respond appropriately in a range of situations;
Participate with different groups of children to present ideas with confidence, valuing the views of others;
Speak audibly and confidently before an audience and be able to debate an issue.

Whatever a child’s starting point, we will work hard to ensure that they can reach their true potential.

Implementation

Within our school, we build in opportunities daily for children to experiment and learn with their speaking and listening skills based around the ideas and coverage found in the National Curriculum. In EYFS, children are taught to listen to each other and to share their ideas. Throughout school, children will work in small group and class discussions to process their learning and ideas. At Scissett, we recognise that this allows children to embed their ideas and understanding.

Vocabulary and sentence stems are used through the curriculum to expand and extend thought and ways of expressing ourselves. Within each subject area, carefully selected vocabulary will be introduced and used repetitively to enable children the opportunity to explain and build upon the knowledge learnt.

Drama will be used across the curriculum to allow children the chance to understand others, express their own ideas and internalise ideas and thoughts. There are also opportunities for children to perform to a range of audiences, evaluating their own and the performances of others.

Speaking skills are developed over time, ensuring that children build confidence and complexity. We encourage our children to express thoughts in a clear way and we use deepening questions across the curriculum to promote these opportunities and to challenge thoughts and ideas.

Opportunities for debate are currently being threaded through our curriculum, to ensure children have the chance to use knowledge learnt across the curriculum with purpose.

Impact

In a safe and encouraging environment, children develop into confident communicators who illuminate the goodness in each other by listening, speaking with kindness and empathy and explaining with clarity and confidence. These qualities match our Christian Values. Children recognise that speaking and listening can lie at the heart of conveying character, and that through speaking and listening effectively, knowledge, understanding and relationships are enhanced.