About us

Our Oracy Mission

You’ll all have seen (or been!) the small child who, asked, “What’s the magic word?” anxiously cycles through the possibilities. “Please? Thank you? Pardon? Sorry?” before landing on the right one. That’s the ultimate example of inauthentic talk. The push to speak comes from the adult and the child’s words are not really their own.

In the classroom, that is seen in talk that is inhibited because children feel they are being assessed and adult presence looms over the conversation. So how do we shift from inauthentic “talk for” the teacher to authentic “talk with” one another?

In a practical, logistical sense, we support schools by easy to use, practical resources that make a real difference to children’s oracy skills.

We also model excellent oracy pedagogy with of workshops with classes of different ages, observed by teachers, followed by a staff meeting to unpack the principles. We’ve found it’s seeing your children talking and listening enthusiastically at a high level that enthuses teachers to embrace our three principles of oracy. We also INSET days or give a terrific interactive keynote for a conference. Drawing on years of experience in the field of philosophy for children, we’ll show you how to identify the questions within your curriculum that have the greatest oracy potential.

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for your sessions with our Year 12s earlier this week. It was exactly what we were looking for…

…in terms of building critical thinking and debating skills, and getting them to think on the spot.  It was fascinating to see who rose to the challenge and equally who found it quite difficult.

 In particular, those of our students who will face interviews for competitive Uni courses / degree apprenticeships will have found it beneficial in terms of having to justify their reasoning and respond to counter-arguments.

As far as I know, we are looking to re-book next year.

Katy Powis-Holt, Head of Year 12, Eltham College

Who are we?

We’re Jason and Tom.

We have been supporting schools develop their students’ oracy skills for over fifteen years. We continue to work week-in, week-out with schools in various ways.

Together, we’re “The Philosophy Man”. We partner schools deepen thinking yet lighten planning through Philosophy for Children (P4C).

We co-founded Debate Planet - a brand-new approach to debating that gives schools everything they need to make debating for everyone.

We’re also co-authors of Thinking Moves - a groundbreaking approach that makes metacognition simple and understandable for teachers and students.

Tom is Director of Hidden Leaders - delivering team-challenge days for every year group that develop students’ problem-solving, critical-thinking and collaborative skills.

Jason set up Outspark: supporting schools to deliver the expedition element of the Duke Edinburgh Award. He’s also Director of GIFT, which runs residential trips for gifted and talented young people. 

Weve also created resources for Voice21, helped train staff at The Economist Education Foundation and we’ve also collaborated with SAPERE, the UK’s P4C charity, on P4C.com.

We’ve distilled insights from all these settings to capture and innovate the best of oracy practice. Oracy for Schools brings all of these resources to you in one place so you can find the best option for the maximum impact on oracy in your school.

Meet the Team

  • Jason Buckley

    The Philosophy Man
    Director, GIFT
    Founder, Outspark

  • Tom Bigglestone

    The Philosophy Man
    Director and Co-Founder, Hidden Leaders
    Chief of Skills, Debate Planet

  • Alex Bryant

    Director, Hidden Leaders

  • Jenny Cusick

    Activity Leader

  • Martin Brooke

    Activity Leader

  • Charlie Sturgeon

    Activity Leader

  • Tim Davis

    Administrator

  • Marley Davies

    Activity Leader

  • JT Stocks

    Activity Leader

Sticky Questions

Our year-round, whole school programme. Children take home a juicy philosophical puzzler stuck to their jumper, chat at home and share back at school.

Debate Planet

Sign up for our flagship debating programme that makes debating for everyone - not just an exclusive club for mini-Boris Johnsons.  

Contact us

Have a question about oracy at your school? Reach out and start a conversation with us!