Speaking and Listening
The teaching and learning of Speaking and Listening at Little Digmoor links directly to our whole school curriculum intent.
The skills of speaking and listening form the basis of effective communication and are crucial for success both inside and outside the classroom.
Speaking and listening skills are not just about the ability to talk and hear; they enable children to express themselves confidently, understand others, collaborate effectively, and build meaningful relationships. In the primary years, when children are at a critical stage of language development, nurturing these skills can have a profound impact on their overall academic achievement and personal growth.
In the Early Years, communication and language is an integral part of learning through play. There is a strong focus on vocabulary development, back and forth conversations, speaking in sentences and listening to understand. As children move onto the National Curriculum, speaking and listening is woven throughout all subjects for example paired work in maths, whole class debates in geography and ‘star words’ (vocabulary for that lesson) displayed and explicitly taught at the beginning of the lesson.
In order to ensure that all children get the support they need to develop their speaking and listening skills, we assess all our children using the ‘Talk Boost’ scheme. Talk Boost lessons are taught whole class in the autumn term, with those children who would benefit from some additional support having group sessions as well. Any children who have specific needs relating to their speech and language will be referred to SALT (Speech and Language Therapy). If you have any concerns please contact Miss Schofield (SENCo).
As part of our Enrichment programme, the children benefit from drama sessions and performance poetry as well as workshops such as ‘Play in a day’. We also have a debating club. Please see our enrichment pages for more information.