01223 518330

Northfield Avenue, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB4 2HU

office@kingshedges.cambs.sch.uk

King's Hedges Educational Federation

Excellence, achieved through care, creativity and challenge.

King's Hedges Educational Federation

Excellence, achieved through care, creativity and challenge.

Speaking & Listening

 

Speaking and Listening is an important part of children’s language development and has a direct impact on reading and writing. At KHEF we encourage pupils to develop these skills early on, with the main literacy focus in Nursery and Reception being on developing communication and language.

Across the school we embed these skills into every curriculum area, encouraging children to talk through their thinking and learning through group work and talking partners. All staff working with children in the school also ensure that they model high levels of these skills to the pupils, including the use of Standard English.

 

There are also unique opportunities within the school curriculum which allows children to focus on developing these skills:

  

Year 6 Production and Presentation Evening

At the end of Year 6 we always give our pupils the opportunity to perform and produce an evening to share with the rest of the school and with their parents and carers. This has in the past involved producing plays and productions. Last year children instead demonstrated their musical and acting abilities at a presentation evening. This involved children using the iPads to produce films about their time at KHEF.

 

P4C

A key element in our approach to the development of pupils’ speaking and listening skills are ‘Philosophy 4 Children’ sessions. These sessions give pupils the opportunity to explore and discuss a range of issues and concepts. Children are taught how to listen well to other pupils, how to clearly express their ideas and build on the thoughts of others. 

School Council

Each year pupils are given the opportunity to stand up and present a speech with the aim to persuade their peers to vote for them to be their class representative on the school council. Regular, weekly meetings take place in which the councillors discuss and develop ideas with Mrs. Wilde. Discussion skills are also developed in the classroom, as councillors are required to collect ideas and feedback from their class.

House Captains

Year six pupils are given the opportunity to apply for house captain. Their presentations are shared with the entire house who vote for their captain within their houses. They are then expected to host merit assemblies and house assemblies to share good learning behaviour and motivate the other pupils in school.

Peer Mediators

Year six pupils can volunteer to become a peer mediator. They are trained up by a member of staff so that they can effectively diffuse disagreements during playtimes. They have a designated area, and pupils will go there in order to help resolve a difference of opinion.

Presentations

My turn, your turn

This approach is embedded throughout the school so that pupils are learning how to articulate themselves successfully and improve elocution including enunciation, pronunciation and intonation. It is used across all subjects of the curriculum.