The need: Strong oracy skills have been linked to better attainment, employment, and wellbeing outcomes, but children from disadvantaged backgrounds start school with significantly lower spoken language development than their better-off peers on average.
Our portfolio partner: Voice 21 provides a membership offer to help schools deliver a high-quality oracy education. They support teachers to become expert oracy practitioners and provide deep support to individual schools to embed oracy across the curriculum and more broadly across school life. Schools then have the opportunity to seek accreditation with Voice 21 as an Oracy Centre of Excellence.
Our impact: We’ve worked with Voice 21 on refining their strategy, building their governance, and developing leadership to deliver better results. They have exceeded their targets and are reaching more than 150,000 young people eligible for free school meals in over 1,100 schools across the country.
Our partnership with Impetus has already been transformational for Voice 21 in maximising our impact. Their funding and other support will make an enormous difference as we drive forward in our mission to ensure that every child has access to a high-quality oracy education, in every school, every day. We know we can achieve great things together with Impetus, so that every child can use their voice to thrive in school, work, and life.
Dr Kate Paradine, CEO, Voice 21
