While we may traditionally think of oracy as within the classroom environment here at BMS the Physical Education (PE) and Health Faculty have been working very hard to build a curriculum that supports our students’ oracy skills. This is by providing students with effective language experiences through the promotion of specialist and technical vocabulary, questioning and feedback on performance.

One effective method for facilitating this is the creation of lanyards providing students with prompts and criteria so that they, like teachers, can provide meaningful commentary to their peers. Students are therefore not only developing their physical development skills through PE sessions and outdoor activity but also transferable skills of leadership and communication.

The benefits of oracy skills go far beyond students’ academic achievement in P.E they boost a plethora of social, emotional and interpersonal skills, which are important at this time. Most notably, self-confidence, self-awareness and empathy as well as embracing one of our 3R’s – resilience. As the Mental Health Foundation recently published,’ it is crucial that children enjoy good mental health as this forms the basis of an emotionally and physically healthy adult life’.