Strategic leadership, curriculum planning, and evidence-informed practice across phases

After the successful launch of the Let’s talk Oracy network Alban Education are delighted to announce dates for 2026-27.  This is a cross-phase professional network focused on the strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation of oracy across the curriculum.

Considering the national Curriculum and Assessment Review and the growing emphasis on communication, vocabulary development and classroom discourse within the Ofsted framework, oracy is increasingly recognised as central to high-quality education. Purposeful, structured talk strengthens thinking, supports literacy, deepens subject understanding, and promotes equity.

This network is designed not only to share research and tools, but to create meaningful opportunities for professional dialogue, collaboration, and shared problem-solving across a range of primary and secondary schools.

This network will include three face-to-face sessions at Samuel Ryder School from 4pm to 5.30pm on the following dates:

• Monday 12^th October 2026
• Thursday 7^th January 2027
• Monday 10^th May 2027

Booking in advance secures one place at all sessions for your school; however, a different staff member may attend each session if most relevant.

Your booking covers all three sessions.  Delegates joining part way through the year will be charged on a pro-rata basis.

Network Focus

Strategic Curriculum Planning for Oracy

• Establishing a clear whole-school vision
• Mapping progression in spoken language across phases
• Identifying disciplinary talk demands within subjects
• Sequencing oracy alongside knowledge, vocabulary, and writing
• Aligning oracy with curriculum intent, implementation and impact

Professional Dialogue and Shared Practice

Each session will deliberately prioritise:

• Structured discussion opportunities
• Sharing current school approaches — whether established or emerging
• Reflection on challenges and barriers
• Collaborative curriculum planning
• Peer feedback and strategic thinking

Schools at different stages of their oracy journey will learn from one another, building collective expertise across settings.

Evidence-Informed Practice That Works

• Research-informed input on effective classroom talk
• Practical strategies that explicitly teach speaking and listening
• A detailed understanding of exploratory and presentational talk
• Case studies from local schools
• Tools to audit, implement and evaluate impact

Who is this network suitable for?

This network is suitable for professionals across primary and secondary phases, including:

• Senior leaders seeking strategic oversight
• Middle leaders driving curriculum implementation
• Literacy and oracy leads
• Heads of department and key stage leads
• Classroom teachers

It is designed to be valuable both for those shaping whole-school direction and those refining classroom practice.

What will participants gain?

Delegates will:

• Develop a clearer strategic approach to curriculum-embedded oracy
• Gain practical tools to strengthen classroom implementation
• Engage in meaningful professional dialogue with colleagues across phases
• Share and refine their own school practice
• Build confidence in articulating and evidencing oracy within current frameworks
• Leave with concrete next steps tailored to their setting
• Become part of a supportive regional-wide professional network on oracy and dialogic learning

Meet the facilitator

Liza Timpson-Hughes is Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning at Samuel Ryder Academy, with a passion for transforming school culture through high-quality oracy. She led her school to achieve Voice 21 School of Excellence accreditation in 2024 and helped lead the NACE Challenge Award accreditation in 2025, embedding rich, disciplinary talk across curriculum, pedagogy and wider school life.

A secondary specialist with primary connections through an all through school model, Liza designs coherent progression from Early Years to post-16, ensuring oracy is sequenced, equitable and embedded across all aspects of school life. She contributes regionally and nationally, providing evidence to the Oracy Education Commission 2024 report The Future of Oracy, speaking at Education Conferences UK’s Oracy in Primary Schools, panelling at the Festival of Education for Voice 21 delivering a keynote at Apple Education Day on Digital Technology and Oracy, and participating in multiple national oracy conferences and projects, including the Voice 21 MAT Lead Case Studies Project in 2026. She is currently working with the Universities of Glasgow and Nottingham on a dialogic research project in maths classrooms.

Liza creatively contributes to oracy development across Scholars’ Education Trust as a workshop facilitator in a trust CPD programme. She directs the Samuel Ryder School teaching and learning conference and coordinates the Scholars’ Education Trust’s annual conference at multiple school sites. In every aspect of her work — from curriculum design to trust-wide and national initiatives — she positions oracy not as an add-on, but as the foundation of effective learning and a thriving school culture.