Oracy for every child, in every lesson
Speaking and listening are about to sit alongside reading and writing in the national curriculum. now>press>play gives every child something to say, and a structured way to say it.
"The other success we have seen is in our children’s oracy, as they are able to use the vocabulary they have heard in the story and apply it to their learning.”
Teacher | Ryders Hayes Primary School
How now>press>play builds oracy
Children can only talk well about something they have lived. A now>press>play Experience gives the whole class a shared, first-hand story to talk about, and our follow-on resources turn that excitement into structured speaking and listening.
The Experience
Every child puts on headphones and steps into the story, moving, acting and meeting characters. Nobody watches from the edge. They hear the topic and Tier 3 vocabulary used in a real context.
Recap, Discuss and Quiz
Image-led questions take children back through the story. Factual, critical thinking, social and emotional, and visual questions each build a different skill. A curriculum quiz tests the children's learning.
Oracy Opportunities
Three or four ready-made activities for every Experience: a whole-class debate, an interview or hot-seating exercise, a presentation, and a short script to perform in class or in assembly.
Early Years and Key Stage 1
Younger children have Recap, Create and Play, with simpler questions, drama games that children lead themselves, and role play in which they improvise their own version of a scene.
Oracy sits within the Experiences schools already use, so it does not become one more subject to fit in. The activities work alongside frameworks such as Voice 21's.
Schools in their own words
TRUST-WIDE
LEO Academy Trust: oracy as a trust-wide priority
LEO Academy Trust has used now>press>play since 2019 across 12 of its schools. Oracy was already the trust's priority when its digital leaders spotted the pink headphones at BETT.
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Quiet pupils find their voice. With headphones on, children who would normally stay on the edge take part fully.
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Vocabulary that sticks. Six weeks after a Shang Dynasty Experience, pupils recognised bronze and jade in real artefacts.
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Joined-up practice. Oracy leads and sentence stems help pupils speak like a scientist or a historian.
"Every child is engaged."
EAL AND INCLUSION
Greenmount Primary School: oracy where 89% of pupils have EAL
Many children found it hard to share personal experiences and communicate effectively, because of a mix of language and social and emotional challenges.
The school used the Experiences to focus on characters' feelings and link them to children's own lives. Teachers now see even the most reluctant children share their own experiences, and richer communication, because pupils recall so much of the language they heard.
'Twenty-five minutes after an Experience, a Year 1 class could retell the moon landing in detail."
Oracy, inclusion and inspection
Ofsted's inspection toolkit asks whether all pupils are explicitly taught to communicate effectively through spoken language. The Chief Inspector has also said that oracy can help pupils with speech, language and communication needs access the curriculum. now>press>play helps schools show both.
Everyone takes part
Movement and acting-based participation includes children who do not thrive behind a desk.
Language in context
Pupils hear and use topic and Tier 3 vocabulary inside a story, which supports children with EAL.
A visible structure
Recap, Discuss and Quiz and the Oracy Opportunities give you something concrete to point to in planning and with inspectors.
Emotional literacy
Every Experience includes questions about how characters, and pupils themselves, feel.
Questions schools ask
What is oracy?
Oracy is the skill of speaking, listening and communicating effectively. The Curriculum and Assessment Review defines it broadly, to include sign language, non-verbal communication and alternative and augmentative communication.
Is oracy statutory yet?
Not yet. The Education Secretary announced on 15 October 2026 that oracy will have equal status with reading and writing in the revised national curriculum. The details, including the primary oracy framework and how oracy will be assessed, is still to come. Ofsted's toolkits already ask whether pupils are explicitly taught oracy.
Does now>press>play replace the oracy framework we already use?
No. The activities work alongside frameworks such as Voice 21's. Teachers can choose which strand of the framework to focus on in each activity.
Which year groups is it for?
Experiences and follow-on resources cover Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Key Stage 2 has debates, presentations and scripts. Early Years and Key Stage 1 have sentence stems, drama games and role play.
How much planning does it need?
Very little. Each Experience comes with the follow-on resources: a glossary that pre-teaches Tier 3 vocabulary, and a transcript that teachers can use to write success criteria.
Be ready for oracy, without adding to your workload
Tell us what your school or trust is doing on oracy, and we will show you how now>press>play can support it.