Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes (Ouse Valley) | ESU

Join | Donate | Volunteer:

Join

Become part of a 5,000+ community which believes that speaking and listening skills are central to personal fulfilment and cultural understanding

Become a member

Donate

One-off or regular donations are vital to our work, helping us ensure that young people everywhere have the oracy skills they need to thrive

Support our work

Volunteer

We’re hugely grateful to those who volunteer their time in helping to organise and run ESU programmes and competitions. Find out how you could help

Volunteer

‘We rely on the generous support of our members, donors and volunteers to ensure we can reach those children who need our help most’

Home > ESU branches in England and Wales > Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes (Ouse Valley)

Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes (Ouse Valley)

Welcome to the Ouse Valley branch

The Ouse Valley Branch primarily serves Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, but also includes members and schools from Northamptonshire and the rest of Buckinghamshire.  It is a large and very active branch providing a continuous platform of opportunities for pupils of every age from year 4 to year 13 to participate in public speaking, debating and Shakespearean activities and competitions.

In 2011 the branch pioneered the use of structured programmes of speaking and listening activities for children in primary schools to help build self-confidence, and improve their command and use of the English Language and their levels of oracy. A simplified format for a public speaking competition was included to give pupils the opportunity to practice their new-found skills in the classroom, and subsequently to nominate representative teams for annual inter-school competitions.  The number of schools involved has grown considerably over the years, and the programme is extremely popular.  In conjunction with the University of Bedfordshire, the branch undertook a controlled action-research project which established that such activities significantly improve school performance, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those whose first language is not English.

More recently a Junior Debate Academy was formed to enable pupils in years 5 and 6 to extend their skills to formal debating, with annual schools’ debates being hosted by the local university – the branch’s main sponsor.  In the secondary sector we organise the local heats of the ESU-Churchill Public Speaking Competition, hold an annual sixth form debate evening, and participate in the national schools’ programme Performing Shakespeare.

Every year we also arrange a stimulating programme of luncheon talks for our members on a wide variety of interesting topics, as a way of bringing together the membership to update them on our important educational activities and seek their support in whatever way they are able to give.  We are an open and friendly branch, and welcome both old and new members and their guests to our events. Full details of the current programme can be found in the entries which follow.

Join the ESU today.

Give more young people the speaking and listening skills to thrive

Donate

Become a member

Volunteer

Share Page