The Thinking Triangle: Weaving together Talk for Writing, Oracy and Metacognition
This second blog from Advanced Accredited Thinking School, Stanley Park Infants, explores how they have developed writing by tying it in with both oracy and metacognition.
Written by Charlotte Wheatland, Research & Development Lead at Stanley Park Infants' School
At Stanley Park Infants, our school’s identity as an Advanced Accredited Thinking School underpins every decision we make, from how we teach phonics to how we scaffold story writing. Since the reintroduction of Talk for Writing across Reception to Year 2, we’ve seen a deepening of our pupils’ metacognitive awareness, especially when combined with the rich oracy culture we have carefully embedded. We chose to reintroduce the Talk for Writing scheme because of its proven impact on developing children’s language, storytelling, and comprehension skills. Having used it successfully in the past, we recognised its strong alignment with our focus on oracy and metacognitive development, providing a consistent and engaging framework to support pupils’ thinking and communication across the curriculum.
In our last blog, we shared how Liezel Jacobs and the team launched a school-wide oracy strategy built on structured talk, weekly discussion topics, and even a vibrant Debating Club. This has not only raised the profile of talk but given it a clear and purposeful structure. Now, in this second instalment, we take a closer look at how Talk for Writing complements this oracy focus and, crucially, how both together act as powerful levers for developing metacognitive learners, even from Reception.
Starting Early: Building Foundations in Nursery
Our youngest learners in the school nursery are already laying the foundations for metacognitive thinking through rich storytelling experiences. Immersed in tales brought to life through drama, role play, and sensory exploration, pupils begin to see themselves as storytellers. These experiences are deeply rooted in oracy, as children learn to listen actively, express ideas, and engage in dialogue with peers and adults. Alongside this, they are introduced to our school’s Super Learners characters that embody key learning dispositions such as questioning, collaboration, listening, and perseverance. Through this blend of story, talk, and reflective learning behaviours, our nursery children are already beginning to think about their thinking and talk about their learning, laying a strong foundation for metacognitive growth.
Making Metacognition Meaningful in the Early Years
In Reception, we talk a lot about “thinking about our thinking”, though not always in those words. Through Talk for Writing, we’ve found that metacognition becomes something tangible, something children can do. It starts with story immersion: when pupils step inside a tale, taking on characters’ thoughts and feelings, they begin to reflect on choices and consequences—“Why did the giant climb down the beanstalk?” or “What would I have done differently?”
Using oracy techniques like hot-seating and decision alley, children start to voice inner reasoning – an early sign of metacognitive thinking. In hot-seating, they inhabit the character, thinking aloud about their actions and feelings. In decision alley, they must listen, weigh up contrasting advice, and make a reflective choice. These are powerful moments. For our pupils with EAL and SEN, it’s been especially transformative: they are not only participating but leading in these sessions, showing confidence in both speech and thought.
From Talking to Thinking to Writing
The progression from talk to writing is not linear, it’s recursive. As children build oral fluency and learn to internalise story structure using the Talk for Writing framework, they are also developing key metacognitive strategies:
- Planning: Through story maps and shared planning, children learn how writers organise ideas. They begin to ask: “What do I need to say first? What happens next?”
- Monitoring: As they rehearse a story aloud, they notice gaps or inconsistencies. They’re encouraged to stop and think: “Does this make sense? Have I missed something?”
- Evaluating: After telling or writing a story, pupils reflect on their choices—“Did my ending work? How could I make it better next time?”
These are core elements of metacognition: self-questioning, strategic thinking, and reflection. At our school, we actively integrate these core elements into daily writing and oracy activities, ensuring pupils continuously improve their skills and become more effective communicators.
What is particularly effective is that these strategies emerge organically through the Talk for Writing process; pupils aren’t simply taught the mechanics of writing, they are guided to think like writers, developing an understanding of the decisions and thought processes behind effective storytelling.
Oracy and Metacognition: A Learning Relationship
The oracy strategies we introduced school-wide—talk partner skills, sentence stems, and structured turn-taking—have created the perfect foundation for Talk for Writing to thrive. These tools help children verbalise their thinking at every stage of the process.
For instance, before innovating their own story endings, pupils often use sentence stems like:
- “I think my character should… because…”
- “I agree with you, but what if…”
- “In my version, I want to change the problem because…”
These scaffolded phrases give children the language they need to think critically about their ideas and justify their choices—both orally and, eventually, in writing.
The impact so far …
Already, we’re seeing exciting progress. Our children are developing not just as storytellers, but as thoughtful learners. Reception pupils who once spoke in single words are now offering opinions, questioning characters’ motives, and crafting their own narrative twists. Year 1 and 2 pupils are taking greater ownership of their stories and reflecting meaningfully on their writing choices.
For our EAL and SEND learners, the Talk for Writing approach has shown particularly positive outcomes. Teachers report that the structured repetition, use of drama, and collaborative storytelling help pupils internalise vocabulary and gain confidence in spoken language. Many pupils are now able to recite key parts of the model texts and actively participate in whole-class discussions. These successes contribute to a growing sense of agency and self-awareness as learners—an important step in developing metacognitive skills. In line with the EEF’s recommendations on the importance of oral language and metacognitive strategies for disadvantaged learners, we are closely monitoring the impact on pupil progress and look forward to analysing outcomes over time.
Looking Ahead
As we continue on our journey to re-accreditation as an Advanced Thinking School, we are excited to delve even deeper into how Talk for Writing and oracy can continue to strengthen metacognition. Our next phase will involve more systematic observation and pupil conferencing to capture the full impact of this approach on learner self-regulation and agency. We also look forward to contributing to the wider Thinking Matters Network, sharing not just what we’re doing, but why it works, because helping our pupils become meta-learners starts with us, the teachers, being metacognitive too.
