1. Staff meeting: why, what and how?

2. Why focus on speaking and listening?

3. Language and literacy... what comes first...?
words
ideas
sounds
concepts
The role of speaking and listening – oral language – for other areas of learning is actually not as puzzling a conundrum as the chicken and the egg.
Speaking and listening skills come first and provide the building blocks for developing literacy as well being essential for many of the skills needed for learning
For example – phonics is based on children’s understanding and use of speech sounds
Pupils write using grammatical structures and sentences that they know from their oral language skills – generally, if you don’t say it, you won’t write it...
Pupils’ understanding of subject content is based on their understanding of the words, concepts and ideas which are presented – without understanding what words mean, developing knowledge becomes very difficult, if not impossible
Many areas of the curriculum involve narrative skills – science experiments are a story where events follow a beginning, a middle and an end – same for work in DT etc. Developing pupils skills in oral story telling has benefits across all areas of the curriculum
So, speaking and listening have really crucial roles, both as the foundations for literacy and learning and as being central to pupils’ educational experience
telling stories
understanding
writing

4. We know that... Children with good oral language
Are likely to be good readers
Reading itself, helps language to develop
This is a virtuous circle – we know that children with good oral language skills are more likely to become skilled readers and that reading will itself help to develop oral language skills. We also know that the converse is true – children with poor or limited oral language are more likely to struggle to become good readers, thereby restricting their capacity to further develop their language through accessing text.

5. We also know that
Vocabulary and narratives skills are very strong predictors of later academic success

6. Language is the vehicle for learning
There ain’t no mystery Scoob...
How much of what happens in the school day is dependent on efficient oral language skills....?
Yet how much time and space is allocated to specifically developing these crucial, underlying, foundation skills?

7. Speaking and listening are really important skills
And oral language skills are necessary for all these other skills needed across the age range and across all subjects.
Speaking and listening skills are crucially important for learning – both in terms of helping us understand the content of what we’re being taught as well as many different skills that are important in education and the world of work
Additionally, these skills are important outside of school – with families and friends too

8. Speaking and listening skills support
Attainment
Employ-ability
thinking
Social
learning
involvement
behaviour
literacy

9. Focusing on oral language is beneficial for everyone...

10. And particularly vital for children who struggle...
Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)
-> 50% language delay in some areas
More have delayed language
10% long-term & persistent needs
This is actually a really complex picture, so this is something of a snapshot.
10% of all children have long-term, persistent speech, language and communication needs
Additionally, there are many other children who have delayed language for a number of different possible reasons.
Language delay is particularly common, but not exclusive to, areas of social disadvantage, where studies have consistently shown around/upwards of 50% of children have significantly delayed language, although in many areas, these children have not been identified

11. The impacts of SLCN are wide-ranging.
Behaviour/vulnerability
Mental health
Educational achievement
40% of 7 to 14 year olds referred to child psychiatric services had a language impairment that had never been identified
2/3 of 7-14 year olds with serious behaviour problems have language impairment
Vocabulary at 5 is a powerful predictor of GCSE achievement
Disadvantage Cycle
Criminality
Employability
Children from low income families lag behind high income counterparts by sixteen months in vocabulary at school entry
47% of employers say they can’t recruit staff with the communication skills they need
65% of young people in young offender institutions have communication difficulties

12. What’s our carrot? Helping attainment
Adding to our own range of teaching skills
Supporting literacy
Involvement, enjoyment and fun!
Ofsted
Supporting behaviour
What will a focus on speaking and listening do for our pupils and our school?
Schools may have other they want to include
There are lots of great reasons to support a focus on speaking and listening
Supporting learning
Narrowing the gap of disadvantage
Providing a focus for SLCN

13. The Ofsted carrot...
In the most effective schools visited, inspectors saw teachers thread rich opportunities for speaking and listening into lessons. In turn, this led to improved standards in writing
“A common feature of the most successful schools in the survey was the attention they gave to developing speaking and listening.”
The new inspection framework includes a specific focus on communication skills for all plus progress of pupils with SEND and how schools are narrow gaps
Ofsted has reflected some of the benefits of focusing on oral skills, plus there is a new emphasis on their role reflected within the new inspection framework
“A common feature of the most successful schools in the survey was the attention they gave to developing speaking and listening.” (Ofsted, Removing Barriers to Literacy, 2010
“In the most effective schools visited, inspectors saw teachers thread rich opportunities for speaking and listening into lessons. In turn, this led to improved standards in writing.” (Ofsted Annual report, 2009/2010)
Inspection framework 2012: explicit judgements around communication skills + progress of pupils with SEND and narrowing the gap

14. What is No Pens Day Wednesday?

15. A national speaking and listening event...
A day when learning takes place without writing
A day to focus all learning through speaking and listening
A day to see the benefits of speaking and listening for learning
Not today, thank you !

16. ...endorsed by Sir Jim Rose...
As well as being the bedrocks of reading and writing, the ability to listen attentively,
and to speak clearly and fluently are essential life-long skills in their own right.
No Pens Day is a wonderful opportunity to design exciting and worthwhile activities to foster these skills - go for it!

17. ...Professor Mick Waters...
The idea of a 'No pens day' is a good one. It is a way of proving just how important speaking and listening are in the act of learning. I've seen it tried in a couple of schools. It raises all sorts of questions about the sorts of talk that make a difference.  Have a go....within no time pupils will be seeking a pencil to jot down something that someone said that is worth remembering...

18. ...and Professor Andrew Pollard, member of the National Curriculum Review expert group
No Pens Day is a wonderful idea and should attract attention!   What it offers, with the expert guidance and support of The Communication Trust, are explicit and structured approaches to speaking and listening.  These provide rich learning experiences and exciting teaching - and lead to improved self-confidence and standards from the children.   Why not give it a try?

19. How to run No Pens Day Wednesday

20. Preparation
The lead member of staff for the day {insert name here} will be available to support you preparing your lessons for the day
Check out the materials in the activity pack including lesson plans and activity templates
The day will begin with an assembly for pupils run by {insert name}
Discuss potential challenges and solutions – what might you / the pupils find hard?
Consider
Entering the competition to win resources for your school
Getting the media involved – check out the media pack
Distribute the activity pack and lesson plans / activity templates at end of meeting

21. Resources
The activity pack will give you all the information you need to know
The pack along with additional downloads such as school assemblies, are available to download from

22. Points make prizes Pupils to be judges
Which teacher best followed the 10 second rule
The lesson they liked best and why
Cross departmental / year challenge
Which department produces the best word wall
Best ways of recording learning
Best ways of recording – podcasts, posters, etc
Present results / certificates for teachers / students at end of week assembly
We might want to do some of this in our school. Students can be chosen to judge pieces of work. We could do this at the end of each lesson with voting slips, in tutor time the next day or during assembly time. Alternatively the student council could be tasked with deciding on overall winners of each category.
Discuss in staff meeting whether you want to do this, link back to opportunities for entering the no pens day competition

23. Reflections after the day
Use the next slides and / or information in the activity pack to reflect on No Pens Day Wednesday, to share good practice, consider impact on pupils and to decide which elements of speaking and listening you might want to retain in your school

24. Sharing learning For you to think about: For pupils to think about:
What worked well?
What was challenging?
What was the impact on pupils learning?
Did you learn something new about your teaching skills and pupils learning skills?
Did you get new insight into particular pupils?
What aspects would you do again?
What were the best activities – why?
What were the best lessons – why?
Were there times you wanted to write things? When?
What do you think about learning this way?
Would you like to do more of these activities?

25. Next steps we might decide to take
Choose elements of the day to use again
Try one new activity per half term until it is embedded in teaching and learning
Support colleagues to do the same
Include speaking and listening on staff meeting agendas to maintain momentum
For discussion, with opportunities of other suggestions