By Miriam Ananne-Sechere Head of Education Services Croydon

As a child, I was often told off in school for being a bit ‘too chatty’. I was that pupil who always had a question, who processed ideas by talking them through, and who loved to debate the teacher (perhaps a little too much… sorry, Mr Eve). Looking back, I realise that talking was how I made sense of the world, how I learned, connected, and grew in confidence. It’s funny how those early memories shape what you notice later in life. When my nephew began at Eton on the Orwell Scholarship last year, I recognised the same journey, the growing confidence that comes when a young person is encouraged to use their voice. The same boy who once replied in short, mumbled sentences was suddenly giving family speeches at birthdays, debating current affairs at the dinner table, and expressing his ideas with clarity and conviction. His school had given him structured, deliberate opportunities to develop oracy, through debate, public speaking, and collaborative discussion, and the results were more than obvious.

It made me reflect on just how powerful oracy is. Private schools often embed it deeply into their culture, valuing talk as a skill to be taught and refined. But these opportunities should not be the preserve of the few. Every child and young person, regardless of their background, deserves the chance to find their voice and use it well.

That belief has become the heartbeat of our work in Croydon

In Croydon, we’ve embarked on a bold new journey, putting oracy at the heart of teaching and learning. The borough’s first Oracy Conference in Summer Term 2025 marked the start of a long-term commitment to ensuring every child leaves school not only able to read and write, but able to speak and listen with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

With support from Oracy Cambridge, we are developing Oracy Hub Schools across Croydon, and exploring partnerships with the Little Wandle Early Years project and the National Gallery through their Take One Picture and Articulation programmes, bringing art, culture, and talk together as powerful vehicles for learning.

Oracy: The Missing Link in Learning

Oracy, the ability to express oneself effectively through spoken language, is far more than classroom talk. It underpins thinking, understanding, and connection. Children learn by talking: explaining, questioning, hypothesising, reasoning. Yet, for too long, oracy has been treated as the silent partner in education, valued, but rarely planned for, (or worse, a silent classroom has been viewed as good classroom where learning simply must be happening!)

In the recent review of the National Curriculum, recommendations by Becky Francis have placed a sharper emphasis on communication skills, highlighting that pupils should be able to “speak with confidence, clarity, and fluency” across all subjects. Ofsted’s subject reviews

have echoed this, identifying that high-quality talk is often the bridge between surface learning and deep understanding.

And research from Oracy Cambridge shows that effective oracy teaching improves not just attainment, but wellbeing, empathy, and employability. Their studies reveal that pupils who engage regularly in structured classroom dialogue are more likely to perform well academically and to participate actively in society.

Oracy isn’t a luxury or nice to have, it’s a necessity for equity. It empowers every child, regardless of background, to have a voice that is heard and respected.

 

A National and Local Movement

Across the country, momentum around oracy is growing. The Oracy Education Commission has called for a national strategy to ensure all young people have access to high-quality oracy education. Here in Croydon, we’re determined to be at the forefront of that movement.

The Croydon Education Partnership vision for oracy begins right at the start of a child’s journey. Through a partnership with Little Wandle, we are delivering the Early Oracy Project, supporting early years settings, PVIs, nurseries, and childminders to develop expert oracy practice at the very start of a child’s education journey. This collaboration helps to close the communication gap before it widens, giving young children the foundations to express themselves with confidence, curiosity, and clarity.

Our schools partnership with Oracy Cambridge will provide teachers with evidence-based professional development, giving them the tools to make spoken language a planned, progressive element of every lesson. Oracy audits will allow schools to identify their strengths and areas for development, shared practice and forums will allow us to ensure that Croydon schools are truly making this a priority.

Through collaboration with the National Gallery, Take One Picture will allow pupils to use art as a springboard for storytelling and discussion, while the Articulation Challenge will help older students master public speaking, critical thinking, and presentation, life skills that reach far beyond the classroom.

 

Why Oracy Transforms Education

1. It deepens understanding: Talk helps pupils organise and clarify their thinking.

2. It builds confidence: Structured opportunities to speak boost self-belief and resilience.

3. It promotes inclusion: Every child, regardless of background, can contribute and be heard.

4. It strengthens literacy – Oracy is the foundation of reading and writing fluency.

5. It prepares pupils for life beyond school – Articulating ideas, debating, and presenting are essential skills for future study and work.

As the curriculum and Ofsted framework both stress, it’s time to move beyond seeing speaking and listening as an “extra” it’s central to what it means to be educated.

A Call to Action: Building an Oracy Culture in Croydon

This is our moment to make oracy a defining strength of Croydon’s schools. Here’s how we can do it, together.

· Develop an Oracy Vision: Make spoken language a strategic priority in your school development plan.

· Join the Croydon Oracy Hub Network: Get involved with our Hub schools

· Model Talk-Rich Leadership: Use oracy in assemblies, staff meetings, and CPD, culture starts from the top. Please reach out to the Education Development team for bespoke CPD or support.

· Get involved with the National Gallery’s Take One Picture and Articulation Project: Find out more on the National Gallery website. For all schools that join the programme, we will be hosting a Croydon Exhibition in the summer term to showcase the amazing work completed by children and young people in the borough.

· Check out the Central Library: With new podcasting facilities at Croydon Central library there are so many creative ways we can encourage children and young people to use their voices.

· Sign up to our Oracy Newsletter: The Croydon Education Partnership Oracy team will be sending termly newsletters keeping you updated on the variety of projects taking place. Don’t miss out on all the amazing Oracy resources, training and events coming your way.

The Power of Voice

When children learn to use their voices well, they learn to use their minds well. Through this borough-wide oracy initiative, powered by the Croydon Education Partnership, Croydon educators, Little Wandle, Oracy Cambridge, and the National Gallery, we’re not just helping pupils speak better. We’re helping them think better, collaborate better, and lead better. Because when children and young people find their voice, they find their power.