Six Minutes a Day.

Vocabulary for Life.

Speak and Grow® helps schools build confident communication, stronger writing and richer classroom talk through a simple six-minute daily routine.

Amanda Smith founder of Speak and Grow® | Whole-School Vocabulary Programme

Created Through Real Classroom Experience

After 29 years teaching and leading in both UK and international school settings, Amanda Smith repeatedly saw the same challenge: children with ideas and potential, but not always the vocabulary to express themselves clearly and confidently.

Speak and Grow® was created in response to that need — a practical, whole-school vocabulary programme designed to build confident communication, stronger writing and richer classroom talk through a simple six-minute daily routine.

Speak and Grow® was designed to help every child find the language to think deeply, communicate clearly, and participate confidently in learning and life.

• 29 years in education • UK and international settings • Leadership and whole-school improvement

A Simple Daily Routine With Lasting Impact

Introduce

One carefully chosen Tier 2 word is introduced each day through explicit teaching and discussion.

Speak and Grow® is built around a consistent six-minute daily routine designed to strengthen vocabulary, classroom talk, confidence and writing across the whole school.

The programme is simple to implement, low workload for teachers, and designed to fit naturally into everyday classroom practice.

Rehearse

Children practise speaking, explaining and applying vocabulary aloud before writing.

Display

Vocabulary is added to working walls and revisited regularly across the week.

Retrieve

Weekly recap sessions strengthen long-term retention and confident usage.

An educational bulletin board nd working wall titled 'Speak and Grow: Bridging the Vocabulary Gap,' featuring vocabulary words, their definitions, synonyms, and usage examples, with colorful border and various instructional labels.

Speak and Grow® is currently being piloted in international and multilingual school settings, with strong early potential for scalable implementation across EAL contexts.

Speak and Grow® is designed to build sustainable vocabulary culture across the whole school.

Real Impact in Schools

Implementation of Speak and Grow® has demonstrated strong improvements in vocabulary understanding, classroom confidence and spoken language across KS1 and KS2.

KS1
50% → 93%

Secure vocabulary understanding following implementation

Richer Classroom Discussion

Teachers reported more confident talk and stronger explanations.

KS2
21% → 88%

Secure vocabulary understanding following implementation

One Year 5 cohort reached 100% secure understanding of targeted Tier 2 vocabulary within four weeks of implementation.

Stronger Vocabulary Recall

Regular retrieval helped pupils remember and use ambitious vocabulary.

Transfer into Writing

Teachers saw increased use of targeted vocabulary in independent writing.

For Schools

Speak and Grow® is designed to work across whole-school settings, including international schools, multilingual classrooms and EAL contexts.

The programme is intentionally low workload, easy to implement and designed to build long-term vocabulary culture through consistent daily practice.

Whole-School Consistency

A shared vocabulary spine and daily routine create consistent language development across all year groups.

Low Teacher Workload

The six-minute structure fits naturally into existing classroom practice without additional intervention timetables or extensive planning demands.

International & EAL Friendly

The spoken-language approach supports multilingual learners by building confidence, vocabulary understanding and classroom participation.

Designed for sustainable implementation

Speak and Grow® is designed to become part of everyday classroom culture — not an additional intervention programme.

Schools receive:

  • structured implementation guidance

  • vocabulary resources

  • assessment materials

  • staff training support

Interested in bringing Speak and Grow® to your school?

Speak and Grow® is currently being piloted within international school settings.

To learn more about implementation, pilot partnerships or whole-school rollout, please get in touch.

Building confident communication through daily vocabulary practice.