As Ely College’s Vice Principal and Oracy Lead, Sam Rasmussen is dedicated to developing Oracy throughout Meridian Trust and using it as a tool to increase students’ confidence and self-belief. We recently caught up with Sam to learn more about her role...
Sam, can you share a bit about your career journey leading up to your current role as Vice Principal and Oracy Lead?
I began my career as a Business Administrator apprentice before pursuing a Business Studies degree in Sheffield. Following this, I enrolled on a PGCE program, discovering my passion for teaching students who required extra support to succeed. In 2003, I joined Ely College as a Newly Qualified Teacher, where I was given the exciting opportunity to design a bespoke curriculum for years 7-9 without relying on national guidelines or pre-existing resources.
When CMAT took over Ely College, I was promoted to Assistant Principal, responsible for teaching and learning, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) developing my leadership skills and gaining experience in embedding excellent teaching and learning across an entire school. In 2020, I was appointed Vice Principal, with responsibilities for Curriculum and Middle Leadership alongside Teaching and Learning and CPD. Through this role I worked with Voice 21 to embed an oracy curriculum at Ely College, culminating in our accreditation as an Oracy Centre of Excellence in July 2024.
What is oracy, and why do you believe it is so important for young people in today’s educational landscape?
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through speaking. Students who have experienced opportunities to develop their oracy skills both in ‘learning to talk’ and ‘learning through talk’ develop increased confidence and self-belief. We often take for granted the ability to present to groups of people, start conversations, argue a point respectfully or actively listen to the views of others, but these are skills that are developed over time. The pandemic shined a light on the lack of oracy opportunities for many students where communication online became normalised. The impact of receiving an oracy-rich education positively impacts disadvantaged students more than non-disadvantaged and provides them with a critical skill that not only supports their academic success but their personal success too. I believe oracy should have the same level of importance as literacy and numeracy in education.
In your view, what are the key strategies for developing strong oracy skills in students?
The Oracy Framework outlines the four dimensions of oracy skills – Physical, Linguistic, Cognitive and Social/Emotional. At Ely College we have identified opportunities to actively teach these aspects of oracy in the curriculum of every subject, through tutoring and academic mentoring. In addition to this we have actively sought to develop student confidence and experience through high-quality oracy experiences outside the classroom including speech days, debate club, science fairs, presentation evening, open evenings, assemblies, training students as tour guides and through the student council. Over time, making oracy a part of everyday learning and an expectation for every student builds their experience and confidence over time.
Tell us more about how you’re leading oracy across the Meridian Trust. What specific initiatives or programs are you implementing?
This is an area I hope to grow over the next few years through sharing the approach taken at Ely and the impact we have seen on our students and working with other schools to implement oracy into their curriculum. I have begun to have conversations with some of our secondaries and one of our link primaries, but this is certainly something I want to see develop. I am delivering a PBBL this year around implementing oracy in school for anyone interested in starting that journey!
How do you ensure that oracy is integrated into the curriculum at both Ely College and throughout the Trust?
At Ely, we have approached it as a valuable part of the curriculum for all subjects and I have worked with middle leaders to build one high-quality oracy experience into their curriculum for each year group each half-term. This has worked well, and Curriculum Leaders are now focusing on how you can develop skills over time in the subject. Voice 21 provides key stage expected levels for oracy that allow teachers and students to assess and recognise progress with the four domains of the oracy framework. In addition to this, we are focusing this year on developing student conversational skills through academic mentoring meetings to increase their skills and confidence in talking one-to-one with an adult. All staff have received oracy training, and we have an annual table-sharing conference where staff can share approaches they have taken and learn from each other. To maintain our focus on oracy we now have seven ‘oracy champions’ at Ely that all take responsibility for different aspects of the oracy curriculum.
Can you share some success stories or impacts you’ve seen from the oracy initiatives at Ely College?
Some comments from our Curriculum Leaders that contributed to the evidence presented to gain accreditation is below:
Heather Clark- Hope, Curriculum Leader for English: “In English oracy is part of the bedrock of our teaching. Class discussion is essential in the understanding of texts and viewpoints taught in both English Language and Literature. Main class discussion is teacher-led; however, we use small group table discussions and discussions between shoulder partners beforehand to increase confidence in answering during Q&A discussion. Confidence in the classroom has improved. We have far less refusals for the spoken language endorsement presentation.”
Debbie Woods, Curriculum Leader for Business: “In Business, we use Presentational techniques, group work of 2-3 with specific roles, subject-specific vocabulary activities such as match key subject-specific vocab with definitions and highlighting and explaining subject-specific vocabulary from business case studies. We use the talk guidelines in discussions and debates.”
The impact of the Speech Day with Year 10 was measured by the Speakers Trust through their post-event survey and culminated in two of our students going to the regional final, with one coming second place. We will be running this event again in March 2025. The feedback from the students showed significant benefits; 75% believed the workshop helped them realise they can succeed at new things, 88% of students improved how they can present through content, structure and delivery, and 100% agreeing they learnt skills they can apply to their next phase of life.
What makes Meridian Trust a great employer, and how does it support the professional development and wellbeing of its staff?
Meridian Trust is hugely supportive with professional development, and I have been able to access a wide range of training and opportunities for myself and staff in my school. I believe that the professional development and wellbeing of staff is a critical part of any school or trust’s success. It has been fantastic to see the developments in the last year with the range of opportunities in the Meridian Learning catalogue, increased networking groups and courses like the ‘Ready to Lead’ program and becoming a coach. I have been supported to complete the NPQH during the past few years, the ‘Ready to Lead’ program and am currently working on the Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeship, along with being part of the East 100 (a program developing future headteachers in the East of England to address educational disadvantage in the region). There are opportunities for the development of teacher pedagogy, subject knowledge and leadership skills for all career stages which gives everyone the flexibility to develop in areas of interest to them.
What advice would you give to educators looking to champion oracy in their schools?
I found working with Voice 21 invaluable in shaping the approach at a whole-school level as they had the research, the resources and the experience to support me as school Oracy lead, and the team of oracy champions we have at Ely. Oracy is a really powerful tool to develop students both academically and personally and if you haven’t tried it yet in your school or classroom perhaps start with one of the oracy-based WALKTHRUs in the Meridian Learning catalogue and see where it takes you.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work to recharge?
I enjoy spending time outdoors, reading (when I can), and travelling to new places. I am really enjoying taking my children to different countries and seeing the impact of that experience on them and their ambitions for the future.