Talking Tales

Talking Tales – Raising oracy skills through drama, story and play

Talking Tales is a drama and storytelling programme designed to develop children’s oracy skills through drama-based learning across the curriculum.  

During our 2-year pilot we worked with six primary schools, 20 teachers and over 1,800 pupils across London, exploring how drama can, strengthen communication, build confidence and create meaningful classroom talk. Our Polka Oracy Framework has been shaped, refined and strengthened through close collaboration with teachers, ensuring the approach is responsive to classroom practice and adaptable across a range of school settings and curriculum areas.

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Children who never put their hands up, now go into the middle of the circle, speak loudly and are coming up with ideas that I would never have thought of.

Head Teacher

My vision is that Talking Tales will continue to have a high profile in our school, with governors, senior leaders and the whole community recognising the value of embedding the Polka Oracy Framework and keeping it at the heart of learning across the curriculum.

Assistant Headteacher

Now entering its next phase, Talking Tales is expanding to partner with 10 new schools to start in Spring 2027. Over a period of 4 terms, we will work with two teachers from each school from KS1 or KS2. They will receive our bespoke training, mentoring support from their allocated Practitioner, reflection opportunities and collaborative learning across the cohort. By the end of the programme, they will act as champions for embedding drama and oracy practice across their whole school.

With the announcement of a new Primary Oracy Framework from the Department of Education, Talking Tales offers a perfectly timed and exciting school programme that can positively impact the lives of thousands of children, supporting them to grow into confident, imaginative communicators, ready to navigate an increasingly complex world.

Register your interest below to hear when applications open.

Register your interest

Talking Tales in Your School

    • Our mission is to equip teachers and schools with the skills, confidence, and shared understanding to embed drama and storytelling as powerful tools for oracy. Through Talking Tales, we support schools adopting the Polka Oracy Framework, placing drama as a central approach to teaching and learning.
    • The programme is distinctive in its focus on developing project teachers through close partnership with a specialist Polka Practitioner. This collaborative approach builds teachers’ expertise and confidence to lead and deliver supported training across their schools, ensuring all staff can integrate opportunities to develop oracy across the curriculum and embed the Polka Oracy Framework as part of a whole-school approach.
    • By empowering project teachers as confident champions, supported by the strategic vision of school leadership, we foster a whole-school culture where teachers feel equipped to use drama for thinking, exploration, and expression. Talking Tales sparks lasting change, enabling schools to sustain this work beyond the programme.
    • 5 x CPD days at Polka
    • 6 x in school workshops, delivered by Polka Practitioner
    • Resource packs and access to our online hub
    • Ongoing mentoring from Polka Practitioner, including co-planning, co-leading and co-reflection
    • Allocated time for SLT member to with project manager to create wider sharing plan
    • 1 x CPD session in school for all staff, led by project teachers and their Polka Practitioner
    • Schools can apply from January to March 2027
    • 10 schools will be selected, and we will let you know if you application has been successful by May 2027
    • The Talking Tales Programme is heavily subsidised; however, the cost of the programme to each school is £1,000. This fee is split over 2 academic years
    Register your interest
    • Increased teacher confidence and creativity – All teachers reported greater confidence in using drama, storytelling, and oracy-based approaches across their teaching. Working alongside Polka Practitioners encouraged experimentation, reflection and more creative approaches to learning.
    • More purposeful and inclusive teaching – Senior Leaders reported that teachers embedded drama and storytelling more intentionally across the curriculum, creating richer opportunities for communication, critical thinking, imagination and meaningful participation for all pupils.
    • Increased pupil voice, confidence, and engagement – Teachers observed increased pupil confidence and willingness to communicate through structured talk opportunities, drama conventions, storytelling activities, and collaborative exploration. Pupils became more articulate, more willing to contribute, and increasingly confident in expressing their ideas, opinions, and emotions.
    • Greater belonging and participation – Children reported feeling listened to and valued, contributing to a stronger sense of belonging, agency and self-esteem within the learning environment.
    • Stronger professional practice and collaboration – Teachers reported that working in partnership with Polka Practitioners strengthened professional practice through shared expertise, practical strategies and collaborative reflection, building confidence in delivering high-quality drama and oracy approaches.
“I feel like I have become a better teacher, I’m now thinking outside of the box and finding new creative ways of teaching a topic.”

Teacher

“Bringing together my knowledge of the school and pupils with the practitioner’s creative expertise meant our ideas worked incredibly well in practice”

Teacher

“The teachers have an air of assurance now to not only use the activities but to embed with within their classrooms – they have embraced the process, and it has been wonderful to see.”

English Lead

“Drama should have a wider place in the curriculum because it allows all children, no matter their ability, to take part. Every child in my class has been able to take part in this project, and they all had a voice.”

Teacher

“The shift wasn’t about confidence magically appearing; it was about changing the conditions in which a child’s confidence could grow.”

EDI Consultant

“What stood out was how they embraced the idea that it was a safe space to have an opinion even if it wasn’t really theirs and that it was okay to question or critique other perspectives.”

Teacher

Talking Tales is kindly supported by the Garek Trust

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