Our impact

We aim to work with schools with a greater proportion of economically disadvantaged students. Our measure for this is whether schools are in the top 40% when ranked by the proportion of students eligible for Free School Meals.

This doesn’t mean we won’t work with schools falling outside this range – we want to be able to respond to the schools and students that need us most, whoever they are. Rather, we use this measure to inform planning and prioritisation to keep our mission at the heart of what we do.

Where we work

Click below to see our interactive member schools map.

Understanding our impact

Voice 21 is an impact-led organisation. We listen to staff and students in Voice 21 Oracy Schools, gathering feedback throughout the year. Last year, our Annual Oracy surveys were completed by 8000+ of our teachers and 13,000+ students.

This is the difference that the Voice 21 Oracy Schools’ membership made to them:

95% of teachers agree that teaching oracy is important for students’ success in life after school.

Oracy helps young people flourish in further and higher education or employment.

83% of teachers agree/strongly agree that oracy has improved students’ engagement in school.

Learning is rich and enjoyable when students bring their own voice and experiences to school life.

79% of teachers agree that oracy has supported students' wellbeing.

Oracy supports students to build successful relationships and realise their voice has value, giving them the ability to express themselves.

After one year, teachers are twice as likely to be confident oracy practitioners.

82% of teachers agree that oracy has contributed to students’ academic attainment.

96% teachers agree that oracy is an essential part of teaching and learning.

78% of students agree/strongly agree that speaking and listening has helped them to share how they feel at school.

89% of students agree/strongly agree that speaking and listening has helped them make progress with their school work.

Supporting Voice 21 Oracy Schools throughout the pandemic

The impact of the pandemic has been felt by everyone, not least by students, teachers, and schools. It has shone a light on the inequalities all children are facing and exacerbated these disparities further in spoken language skills.

The Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group’s (APPG) Inquiry found that two-thirds of primary teachers (69%) and nearly half of secondary teachers (44%) said school closures had a negative effect on the spoken language development of students eligible for pupil premium.

If we leave current language gaps unaddressed, they are only set to widen with students from disadvantaged backgrounds disproportionately impacted. This is why we have worked hard to ensure we can support Voice 21 Oracy Schools to have access to a high-quality oracy education.

Who we work with