At Holy Trinity we believe that teaching pupils to speak fluently enables them to communicate their ideas and emotions to others, which will be paramount in many aspects of their future lives. In class, these skills may take the form of discussions in order to learn, elaborating and explaining clearly their understanding and ideas, making formal presentations and participating in debates. Our English lessons are based around high quality texts that expose our pupils to adventurous and varied vocabulary. 'The Write Stuff' approach we use for explicitly teaching writing also focuses on developing pupils' vocabulary so that they have a wide repertoire to select from.

National Curriculum

• The national curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically.
• Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing.
• The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.

The following objectives underpin all aspects of spoken language across years 1 - 6, and they are reflected and contextualised within the reading and writing domains. 

Year 1

• listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge

Year 2

• use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions

Year 3

• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English

Year 4

• 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

Year 5

• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates
• gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)

Year 6

• consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
• select and use appropriate registers for effective communication

Our pupils have a wide range of opportunities to practise their spoken language skills in front of audiences in collective worship, church services including Harvest, Christmas and Easter, class assemblies, nativities and productions.