Speaking and Listening

It's good to talk!

Talk is a part of human development that helps us to think, learn and make sense of the world. All of us use language as a tool for developing reasoning, knowledge and understanding. Therefore, encouraging children to talk as part of their learning is essential. 

At Durweston, talking  is key to our teaching. Our approach to teaching writing that sees children talking as the first essential step towards literacy. In Maths, we encourage talk to help with explaining and reasoning.  Across all subjects, regular use of talk partners gives children the chance to discuss and extend their ideas. Our Picture News sessions explicitly teach the skills of listening, discussing and responding respectfully to the ideas of others in the context of current affairs.

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We want all of our children to be confident  and articulate, so we also  provide them with plenty of opportunities to speak in public from the very  moment the come in to school.  From speaking in class, they progress to speaking in assemblies, in  our annual Poetry competition, in the numerous services and performances that are part of our school life, and  in hustings for school council Perhaps one day, we will see a Durweston pupil speaking in Parliament!