Voice 21: Blog items
Date: 7th Oct 2025 @ 6:34pm
Over this half term, we have been completing lots of tasks in our provision to practise our reading, writing, maths and oracy skills. We have retold stories, represented numbers, ordered numbers, practised number and letter formation and worked on fine motor skills, We have been working on completing these short tasks with increasing independence, to consolidate prior learning.
Date: 18th Sep 2025 @ 9:27am
In our first Oracy lesson, we explored the physical side of speaking and communication. We looked at how facial expressions, posture, voice projection, tonal variation, and pace of speech can change how we speak and how others understand us. It was a fun and lively session! We pulled funny faces in the mirror, practised breathing and humming exercises, and even recited Humpty Dumpty using different tones and speeds. It helped us understand that speaking clearly isn’t just about words—it’s also about how we use our bodies and voices. We can’t wait for the next session!
Date: 18th Sep 2025 @ 9:15am
In today's lesson we looked at the key question, 'How did the Maya become so successful?' We looked at a range of evidence and sources to determine what the Maya learned to do over timethat made them able to thrive and survive in their environment. We spent time looking through key vocabulary to enable us to fully understand our learning. Together we decided that the Maya were successful over time because they:
- Solved problems
- Used resources available to make tools
- They had a hierarchal system to ensure everyone played a key role in the tribe's survival
Year 4 - Guided Reading and Oracy
Date: 16th Sep 2025 @ 4:00pm
As part of our weekly guided reading journey, pupils spent today's lesson reading sections of a non-chronological report. Having listened to the class teacher model how to read it clearly and with expression, pupils read it to themselves and then aloud to a partner to build their confidence. Some pupils were brave enough to read small sections to the class.
Date: 11th Sep 2025 @ 4:12pm
This week, Year 5 have been exploring a news report about the potential ban of energy drinks for under-16s. The children engaged in thoughtful discussions around the topic and examined key vocabulary from the text, including excessive, fluctuation, signalling, ban, and voluntarily.
To deepen their understanding, pupils answered comprehension questions, developing their ability to retrieve information and interpret meaning. They also worked in groups to perform sections of the news report in front of the class, building their confidence in public speaking and teamwork.
It has been a fantastic opportunity for the children to develop both their reading skills and their awareness of current health-related issues.
Year 6 - Goals and Aspirations
Date: 8th Sep 2025 @ 7:02pm
In today’s lesson, we discussed our goals. We completed our leaves for Boundary’s tree of goals and then talked about how we could achieve these. We completed a ‘goal’ mountain where we looked at the goal, challenges that may stop us from achieving the goal and who can help us. We finished by discussing the importance of having high aspirations.
Date: 8th Sep 2025 @ 4:30pm
Today we began our Science unit of Light by recapping all the work the children did in Year 3. This included discussing sources of light and which were natural and which were artificial. We also talked in groups about what we could remember about reflection and shadows.
Date: 8th Jul 2025 @ 5:56pm
Alongside the rest of the school, Year 1 have spent lots of time over the past few weeks perfecting two poems for our Boundary choral speaking competition. Today, we perfomed 'Crabby' and 'Rumble in the Jungle' for the rest of our school. We impressed the judges with our beaming smiles, clear pronunciation and Makaton signs!
Date: 16th May 2025 @ 1:54pm
As part of their writing journey, year 5 pupils have been working collaboratively to write part of a historical narrative. Working together, pupils have changed part of the classical poem, The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes, into a narrative.
Date: 7th May 2025 @ 9:33pm
This week, we used our amazing oracy skills in our Maths lessons.
Date: 9th Apr 2025 @ 4:26pm
Today was No Pen Day and once we again we had a focus on Oracy. We started the day with some discussions topics and talked to our partners about what we thought. We then opened up the discussion to the whole class and used our talk tactics to include everyone, including agree, build and challenge. In Guided Reading we looked at orally answering questions on given texts and challenged each other to give thorough answers. In Reading into Writing, we took part in a teacher model/shared write session on explanatory texts.
Date: 8th Apr 2025 @ 8:13pm
Today, we celebrated our No Pen Morning by having a fantastic oracy lesson! We focused on the importance of listening and joining in when we're having discussions. We even recapped our amazing strategies like agreeing, building on someone else’s ideas, and challenging answers respectfully. We also shared the different roles we can take, like being the instigator who starts the conversation, the prober who asks questions, and the summariser who wraps it all up nicely. One of our fun activities was figuring out which objects were the odd one out and spotting similarities and differences—lots of great discussions were had! In Maths, we learned about volume and capacity. We measured different containers to see how much they could hold, ordering them from least to most. We discovered that some looked different but held the same amount of water, so we poured from one to the other! We even tackled some tricky capacity statements, working out intervals and volumes of jugs. What a brilliant day!
Date: 8th Apr 2025 @ 10:18am
For no pen morning, we used our oracy skills in both Reading into Writing and Guided Reading. We are learning about poems on a theme in Reading into Writing and we had a poem about Spring in Guided Reading. In Reading into Writing, it was over to us! It was time for our shared write. We used our figurative language skills and typed a few verses ecah. Then we put them together as one poem and performed them.
Reception Learn about the Lifecycle of a Frog.
Date: 31st Mar 2025 @ 9:22pm
During our spring walk the children noticed some frogspawn in our school pond. We took a small amount of frogspawn back to the classroom to observe what was happening. The children enjoyed using the magnifying glasses to look closely at the frogspawn and used a range of new vocabulary to desrcibe what they could see. During our oracy session we introduced some new vocabularly and practiced projecting our voices when saying the words. We looked at some different images and watch some short video clips and discusses as a class what we could see and what we thought was happening in the pictures. The children practised using the a range of different sentence starters and expanding their sentences using because. The children used our signals for agree, build and challenge to beging to have a discussion with their peers.
"I think the frog is laying its eggs" Lily-Mae
"I agree with Lilly-Mae. IT's calle frogspawn" Lilah
"Next the tadpoles nibble a hole and swim in the pond" Freyja
"They get front and back legs" Rosie
"It's called a froglet because it has a long tail" Dennis.
The children then worked indentedently to correctly order the pictures in the lifecycle and label the pictures with the correct vocabulary. Some of the children even chose to paint a picture of the frog in the pond. Come and have a look at our learning.
Year 2- Science and Geography Day!
Date: 20th Mar 2025 @ 4:10pm
When Science and Geography come together…
Wow, what an amazing day we have had at Boundary today as we had a very special visit from Thomas, the Gorilla, and some of his rainforest friends. We started the day meeting Thomas and learning all about his habitat in the rainforest. We were shocked to hear about the impact human behaviour has on our world and Thomas’ home.
The morning was filled with utter excitement as we got the opportunity to meet an adorable baby Sloth and Cherokee and we learnt about how they adapt to their environments and the problems that they overcome.
We then focused on the rainforest, looking at the animals that live there and the plants that grow. We worked in teams to research different aspects of the rainforest and then used our oracy skills to present to the class, teaching them about our focus area.
Date: 18th Mar 2025 @ 11:10am
In this History lesson, the pupils in year 5 were in-role as ancient Athenians debating whether Athens should use their wealth to build the Parthenon. Half of the class were supporters of Pericles, who wanted to create a great monument, whereas the rest of the class thought the money could be put to better use: i.e. defending Greece against Persia. Pupils used their oracy skills to instigate a conversation; to agree, build or challenge others opinions; or ask for clarification if they are not clear on what was said. Pupils also learned about ostracism and how Ancient Athenians voted.
Date: 12th Mar 2025 @ 8:35am
In PSHE, we looked at how each one of us are different. We then looked at how we need to value and respect the differences between us all. We looked at some topic cards and had a class discussion about how we would act in different situations and how people would be feeling. We used our oracy skills to agree, build and challenge. The children looked at instigating the conversation and taking ownership of them moving the conversation on between themselves.
Date: 27th Feb 2025 @ 10:04am
In Oracy, we played a game of ‘Taboo’ to start. We had to use appropriate vocabulary to describe things on a card but we were not allowed to use some common words! Next, we practised how we would say a sentence in different ways. Finally, our main task was focusing on reasoning. We had to decide what we would do if we ruled the world and give a reason why. Other children in class then had to disagree with the statement and explain their challenge.
Date: 27th Feb 2025 @ 9:04am
As we continue to develop the oracy skills of the pupils at Boundary, pupils were given discussion prompts and asked to 'instigate', 'probe' and 'challenge' during their discussions and also ask for clarification if they were unsure of what someone was saying. Pupils followed our 'discussion guidlines' and showed 'active listening' during the debates.
Date: 7th Feb 2025 @ 9:34am
This week year 5 pupils took part in Relationship and Sex Education lessons. In these lessons we learned about the physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty and how this may affect our relationships. Pupils followed our class discussion guidlines to ensure they were being respectful of other children's ideas and giving everyone a chance to participate. All of the children were very sensible during these discussions.
Date: 28th Jan 2025 @ 3:40pm
This week in our Science we practised our oracy skills. We were given a concept cartoon and 'Challenge' stem sentences. First we practised our responses in a Nest then we did Pair work.
Year 5 - Aujourd'hui , c'est quel jour?
Date: 23rd Jan 2025 @ 10:06am
This half term, Year 5 are focusing on how to say the date in French. They have been learning how to say the days of the week, the months of the year and numbers up to 31. They have also been learning how to ask and respond in French to questions about the days of the week.
Year 3- Discussing stereotypes!
Date: 21st Jan 2025 @ 1:45pm
In this lesson we looked at the book ‘Julian is a Mermaid’. In this book it looks at a young boy who wants to become a mermaid. The children discussed people’s stereotypes and used our Oracy skills to discuss and share ideas on different topics. We discussed how people may think ballet it only for boys and football is only for girls, but how this is not true and we must challenge these stereotypes. From this book we will create a play script.
Year 3- Developing our Oracy skills!
Date: 10th Jan 2025 @ 4:06pm
In this session Year Three were developing their Oracy skills. The children looked at how to build a conversation and what was needed to structure talk effectively. The children then used this and took on a role in the conversation, to discuss different questions and listened carefully to the answers of other children.
Date: 9th Dec 2024 @ 10:45am
Through our Reading into Writing the children have been working on our oracy skills. We have looked at what our body language should be when we are listening to each other. We then looked at how to work as a team. The children discussed the key skills they would need and then used these skills to play a teamwork game.
