Page 5 - The East Sussex Way

Introduction

There are many important trios. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. Faith,
hope and charity. Blood, sweat and tears. In oracy, reading and
vocabulary, you might allow, we have found the most important trio
of them all.

Teachers have always had the power to make their classrooms
places where oracy is valued and promoted, reading is actively
taught and vocabulary is explicitly grown. In these classrooms, pupils
value their own and others’ opinions, read with pleasure and critical

skill, delight in words and express themselves with care.

This culture is one we all recognise as crucial to academic success
across the curriculum, as well as pupils’ wider social and emotional
development. Increasingly, schools are taking action on pupils’
entitlement to an education in oracy – and appreciating how this
improves outcomes. Some schools are curating pupils’ reading
journeys and tracking reading ages, using this data to ensure no
school leaver is unable to read. Many schools are emphasising the
importance of vocabulary, putting in place robust and meaningful
systems for its teaching.

The East Sussex Way aims to help more schools do all three of these
things equally well.

Here, primary and secondary teachers have worked together for the
Þ rst time to assert the value of effective and strategic communication
and language teaching for all pupils. They make a compelling
case for constructing primary to secondary transition around oracy,
reading and vocabulary.

Improvements in writing, of course, will follow, but even more
importantly, East Sussex schools will be carving out a new template
for truly effective transition.

Jane Branson

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