At Voice 21, we are proud to work with over a thousand schools supporting their students’ learning and life chances through talk. Our ambition is for a future where all students, whatever their background, ability, or circumstance, can use their voices to find success in the classroom and beyond. 

We’re therefore delighted to announce significant new funding for Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provisions to join its schools’ membership programme. The funding, provided by Allen & Overy, will mean that for an oracy membership of up to three years, each participating PRU/AP would receive a discount of over 60%, paying only £1000 for oracy support to include: whole-school CPD throughout the year, resources, consultancy, in-school visits and lots of tools to aid with the action planning and assessment of the progress of oracy.

Voice 21 and PRUS

We have had a great experience working with PRUs since our inception as the National Oracy Charity. Read about our work with Sandwell Community school here  

We have operated two projects, Get Talking in PRUs 1 and Get Talking in PRUs 2 in 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively. This was a project aimed to develop students’ oral communication, listening, and collaborative skills, in order to improve their social, emotional, and cognitive competence. We worked with PRUs and AP settings across the UK, which offer a high-needs context for oracy.

Across the board, at the end of the two-year project, a survey of participant teachers suggested that oracy had a positive impact on their students, particularly with regard to their well-being, engagement in school, and academic attainment. You can read more about Get Talking PRUs here.

Work with Voice 21

If you work at a PRU and are interested to learn more about what Voice 21 can do for your school, or would like to join the Voice 21 Community but require funding support, get in touch with our recruitment team here.

Further reading

If you want to read more about the importance of language skills for emotional regulation, check out this from the royal society of publishing.

For more on designing an oracy curriculum for PRUs, check out this link.