Sign up for The Oracy Open 2026!
Year 5 & 6
Heats: March 2026
Grand Final: 8th April 2026
Want to give your young talkers an opportunity to develop and show-off their oracy skills?
Welcome to The Oracy Open, giving teams of up to 7 from Year 5 & 6 a chance to shine in using talk to enquire, debate, imagine, entertain and improvise!
(We will be launching a Year 7&8 version too – watch this space!)
Compete – but mostly enjoy and progress!
Held on Zoom, in your heat you’ll be one of up to eighteen teams vying to be one of the six top teams overall who will proceed to the Grand Final. The competition element is there to give some direction and extra excitement, but it’s mostly about having fun and developing confidence. Most often, the host is looking in part for how what your team said helped the other side shine too – for example, did you ask good questions that allowed them to give interesting responses?
The day before the demonstration workshop I attended a IAPS course on oracy, so felt I had a very good understanding of the theory behind unlocking children's voices. Watching Tom's workshop the next day I was amazed at how it hit EVERY box that I'd just learnt about. It was brilliant to see practical strategies to help every child find their voice.
Abby Brooks, Kimbolton Prep School
Why do it?
Not lots of work for you
You’ll receive a practice example of each round, so that teams can be familiar with how it works, but there are no “case sets” or anything like that to prepare. We recommend you use the practice examples with a whole class and then see who wants to compete – up to three teams from one school can enter a heat. Practice examples will be supported by video instructions from us – all you’ll have to do is press play.
There are five different chances to shine - read on for more!
Enquire!
Your host will give you a tricky scenario where it’s hard to decide what’s right or wrong. It could be someone choosing a charity for a big donation, or someone deciding who is to blame for something that’s gone wrong. Each team will have a question to think about. Then after some time to prepare, you’ll share your ideas. The two teams will respond to each other, not to trash each other’s ideas but to ask questions and help develop them. After that, you’ll join forces to ponder a Seriously Big Question inspired by the scenario! (Fans of philosophy for children, this is for you!)
One of the best parts was when we debated and gave our opinion on each side of the story and who we supported. I also enjoyed it when we split into groups and created a song/dance. I loved how everyone got involved and nobody felt left out. The activities were involving, and the oracy day allowed us to express what we knew on Greek Mythology so far. It was a great day!
Student, Walthamstow School for Girls
Debate!
Using the playful pedagogy of debateplanet.co.uk (participating schools will get three months free access), you’ll pit your wits against two other teams in debates with a twist. Instead of just “for” and “against”, the third team in each debate will be “the fence” – asking questions, making challenges and being open to being swayed by the other teams. Two people from each team will be the main speakers in each debate, followed by a free-for-all with the host throwing in some questions too. You’ll get to choose the topic of the debate from some freshly-minted motions.
Imagine!
You are a crew of sailors who have just washed up on a deserted island – at least, you hope it’s deserted…
You’re space travellers between planets – and you need to make repairs, fast…
You’re time travellers, and you’ve only got thirty minutes to repair the timeline the Time Wreckers have damaged before history as we know it gets thrown into chaos…
These are some of the now-get-out-of-that scenarios you might encounter in this round. It’ll just be your team, and a host who will incorporate your decisions into the unfolding story. Will you complete your challenge? And more importantly, will you have fun, be creative and a good team along the way.
Entertain!
If robots did all the work, show would we spend our time?
What other uses could you find for a spoon besides eating with it?
What would you, as an elephant, say to Noah to get the last place on the ark?
In this part of the day, you and another team member become a double act. Pick from a choice of three topics you’ve not seen before, from the ridiculous to the serious, and see if between you, you can speak for two minutes about it – with the host standing by with helpful questions if you need them. It’s an opportunity to think on your feet, bounce off a friend’s ideas and entertain.
Improvise!
Would it be better to time travel to the past or the future?
Convince the host to buy your classroom, not the other team’s.
You’re in the world’s worst school… what’s happening… and why do the teachers say that’s absolutely fine?!
After rotating round the other challenges, join five other teams for the Improtag finale. You’ll be paired up with a different team each round for a quickfire game where you tag in and out, responding to the other team in challenges that will use your creativity, passion and playfulness.
Logistical stuff
Cost is £240+VAT per team, but we don’t want money to be an obstacle to participation, so where schools are asking families to contribute, if a school is covering the cost for Pupil Premium recipients, contact us to enquire about bursaries to support the participation of others who might fall through the gaps and be unable to participate. To book, go to …
The heats will be held in March, and the Grand Final will be on Wednesday April 8th. We will fill up heats one or two at a time. You can enter up to three teams into a single heat, and can enter as many teams as you want. Participants must be in Years 5 or 6, or of the equivalent age for home-educated teams. Teams must be of between 4 and 7 members. The Debate round has speaker slots for 6 but the 7th person can join in the free-for-all part of each debate.
Practice materials, full guidance on how to use them and videos of us demonstrating the activities/instructing on the practice sessions will be made available to participating schools in January. All you’ll need to do is press play.
On the day, each team will need a member of school staff (we’d recommend a teaching assistant so that they don’t feel they’ve got to perform for a teacher) to ensure they’re in the right zoom at the right time. You’ll receive a custom timetable with links to where you need to be when, and there will be time between events for breaks.
By default, all teams need appear on one device and have their cameras on and a microphone that enables them to be clearly heard. We recommend having a second device, such as a mobile phone or iPad, located on a music stand that the group can stand round in a semi-circle, to improve sound quality. Please make sure you have tested your tech before joining, and that you have renamed to e.g. A – St Thump’s Team” as requested. .
Thanks to Tom’s workshops we saw improved communication skills, enhanced speaking and listening, more respect for what others are saying, deeper thinking about topics being coveredI
Sara Wilson, Assistant Head, Weston Green School
If you would like to find out more about oracy, check our availability, discuss prices or make an appointment to meet someone from our team, please get in touch.
01245 820123
tom@thephilosophyman.com