Case Study - Hoole St Michael CE Primary School, Preston (Runner up)
What did they do?
Speaking and listening forms a huge part of the Hoole St Michael’s activities with oral work underpinning all learning and featuring heavily not only in class but also in their wide range of extra curricular clubs. The school conducts a number of activities including visual literacy, talk for writing in literacy, hot seating, weekly sessions with BT Volunteers, pupil led assemblies, role play and oral work across the curriculum, circle times, talk partners and extra curricular drama club.
What did it involve?
The activities draw on a number of skills that use speaking and listening in a variety of ways. The school uses a number of visual literacy tools to improve communication at Hoole St Michaels including animated movies which uses imagination and encourage children to work in groups; photostory 3 presentations which encourage the pupils to talk about the photographs; interactive talking multimedia presentations which drawn on how they communicate with each other and portray themselves. To improve presentation skills and develop confidence when communicating with others, pupils are also encouraged to lead one school assembly on a weekly basis using a theme of their choice.
The school’s approach to speaking and listening incorporates the latest ICT programmes to make oral work fun and interactive. This involves working with external organisations and individuals. It’s even included a question and answer session with the Bishop!
For prospective students, the pupils have produced a school’s council DVD as a guide to the school for perspective pupils and parents.
What were the results?
The pupils and staff at the school are working extremely hard to raise standards in all aspects of school life. The pupils have worked tirelessly, both in school time and through extending extra-curricular clubs to do this. Pupils have been extremely enthusiastic in their approach to embracing speaking and listening activities and have showcased their presentations at local exhibitions. Last year the school achieved its best ever SATS results and it is wonderful that the pupils can now receive an award in recognition of their greatest improvements so far: Speaking and Listening Skills.