Voice 21: Blog items
Date: 29th Jan 2026 @ 7:57am
This week, the children explored the story Julian Is a Mermaid, focusing on the message behind the text and its link to managing and challenging stereotypes. They discussed common stereotypes, such as the idea that girls can’t play football, and shared their own views and experiences. The lesson also developed Oracy skills, with a focus on probing, challenging, agreeing with, and building on others’ ideas. The children made links between these discussion skills and dialogue between characters in a playscript. They also discussed the importance of asking questions and using body language to show active listening and respect for others’ opinions.
Date: 22nd Jan 2026 @ 8:14am
During our Reading into Writing lesson, the children explored Charlotte’s Web as part of our journey into playscripts. They acted out scenes from the story, bringing the characters to life through performance. The focus was on using voice effectively by projecting clearly, as well as developing body language and facial expressions to match each character’s feelings and personality. The children also practised following stage directions, helping them to understand how actions and movements are written in a playscript. This active approach supported their understanding of character, dialogue and performance, while building confidence and engagement.
Date: 8th Jan 2026 @ 9:19am
Date: 7th Jan 2026 @ 8:28pm
During the Year 3 oracy lesson, pupils focused on how to structure clear and effective sentences while taking part in group discussions. Each group used discussion roles such as instigator, builder, prober, challenger, clarifier and summariser to help ideas develop and stay focused. The children discussed imaginative and engaging topics, including what they would do if they could stop time for a day, what job they would like to have when they are older, and whether they would rather hop or crawl everywhere. The lesson supported confident speaking, active listening and collaborative thinking.
Date: 6th Jan 2026 @ 4:10pm
Our focus this half term in oracy is the social and emotional element of oracy. We recapped the elements we have looked at in previous half terms, then moved on to discussing structuring our oracy properly, taking turns and show active listening skills.
Date: 6th Jan 2026 @ 9:01am
In today’s lesson, Today, Year 5 recapped their physical oracy skills by experimenting with tone, pitch and pace. Pupils practised saying the same sentence in different ways, including formal, excited and nervous, to understand how voice can change meaning and impact. The children then focused on their cognitive oracy skills, learning how to structure an argument. They explored what a biased argument is and discussed how viewpoints can be shaped to persuade an audience. Working collaboratively, pupils generated points to support their argument and justified their reasoning. The summariser in each group was responsible for structuring and delivering a clear summary sentence that reflected the group’s viewpoint.
Date: 16th Dec 2025 @ 2:29pm
🎄 The Christmas carol service was a truly joyful occasion, filled with festive music 🎶 and a warm sense of community.
⭐ Year 6 took the lead with confidence, guiding the younger pupils through the readings 📖 and setting a wonderful example.
✨ Their clear voices and expressive delivery brought the Christmas story to life, making the service both meaningful and memorable.
🎶 The combination of traditional carols, thoughtful readings, and the children’s enthusiasm created a magical atmosphere that everyone enjoyed.
Year 4 - Parliament assembly and workshop
Date: 16th Dec 2025 @ 1:25pm
Today, we had a visit from Parliament. The afternoon started with an assembly all about the UK Government then Year 4 were lucky enough to have a workshop with Rachael Dodgson (Education and engagement officer for the North West). Rachael talked to us about the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Did you know that the King isn't allowed in the House of Commons at all? We also learned that school is in the Blackpool South constituency and our MP is called Chris Webb. Rachael told us we can find all of his details if we want to contact him about something or find our MP for our home address if we live further away by searching 'find my MP'. We discussed what qualities an MP would need. Rachael was impressed with our answers such as good oracy skills, confident and approachable. After the assembly, Rachael did a workshop with us where we debated like we were in the House of Commons. To start with, we watched a video of MPs debating and learned what to call each other and how to act/ speak. Rachael was super impressed with our oracy skills during our debate about whether all pupils should walk to school at least once a week. One member of Year 4 acted as the speaker and each person debating had to address her as Madam Speaker each time. What a fun afternoon!
Reception learn about the Christmas Story
Date: 5th Dec 2025 @ 10:32am
This week we have been learning about why Christians celebrate Christmas. We have been nusing our oracy sessions to explore a range on new vacabularly and have been building sentences using widgets to explain dwhat happened in different parts of the story. The children have then been using our storytellingtable to retell the story in their own words.
Date: 1st Dec 2025 @ 6:31pm
Over the next week, Year 1 will be reading the story 'Stickman' and completing lots of different activites relating to this story. Today we began with an oracy session, to learn more about the characters, setting and key vocabulary. We then ordered the story, focusing on the key events and retelling the story with our peers.
Date: 27th Nov 2025 @ 9:56am
In this lesson, children explored oracy skills by immersing themselves in the story Cave Baby. After listening to the book, pupils became different characters from the story, such as Cave Baby, the mammoth, and the parents. They used key phrases from the text alongside their own imaginative ideas to bring the narrative to life through role play. This activity encouraged expressive language, turn-taking, and active listening, while promoting confidence in speaking. By adopting character perspectives, children practiced using tone, gesture, and vocabulary effectively, deepening their understanding of the story and enhancing their ability to communicate creatively.
Date: 27th Nov 2025 @ 9:49am
This week, our children have been developing their Oracy skills, focusing especially on tone and intonation as they read aloud the opening of their own traditional tales. Our new class story is set at Christmas, following a main character who adores the festive season—until a miserable goblin appears, determined to destroy Christmas and dampen their joyful spirit.
As the children shared their stories so far, they experimented with using warm, excited tones to capture the magic of Christmas, then shifted to grumbly, low voices to bring the goblin’s gloomy personality to life. It was wonderful to see them thinking carefully about how their voices can enhance meaning, atmosphere, and character.
The classroom was filled with expression, confidence, and creativity. We can’t wait to continue developing our tales and see how our young storytellers bring their festive adventures to life!
Year 2- Working on our oracy skills!
Date: 10th Nov 2025 @ 5:16pm
In this lesson the children worked on the Social and Emotional strand of Oracy- Working with others. The children thought again about the importance of listening and then focussed on the skills of teamwork. We firstly did group activities in which we had to solve problems. We then used our ABC to discuss debate topics and had to express our opinions while listening to others.
Date: 6th Nov 2025 @ 8:21pm
In our Oracy lesson to start this half term, we looked at Social and Emotional Working with others. We recapped how we show we’re listening and how to take turns appropriately by listening carefully but also responding using our ABC talk tactics. We looked at problems, such as being stranded on an island surrounded by wild animals and we discussed what our solution would be. The children organised themselves into talking trios to discuss these problems and then used the agree, build and challenge stem sentences to support their discussions as a whole group.
Date: 9th Oct 2025 @ 4:31pm
This week Boundary Primary School celebrated Harvest Festival. Year 6 led the celebration assembly together with our special guest, Reverend Peter. We talked about being thankful for the food we eat, our good health and the life we live. The children and their families helped by donating food to Vincent House.Thank you to everyone for their support.
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.
