On Wednesday 13th March 2019 a group of six Year 8 students took part in a public speaking competition held at Blenheim Palace. The group were challenged to create their own speech about a topic they felt strongly about but had to make sure that there was a link to the values and ideas of Sir Winston Churchill. Our team chose to discuss global warming and worked collaboratively to research the topic. Global warming was not a world issue during the lifetime of Churchill and our students showed a high level of skill to be able to interpret and incorporate Churchill’s views into their own ideas.
After an early start on the day of the trip (7 am) our team competed against many other schools. Whilst not being placed in the top three, they all spoke clearly and were able to argue their case with confidence. The team came away with a collection of books on public speaking for the school library.
We already have a number of Year 7 students who took part in the preliminaries in school during February who will form next year’s team. Our experts from this year will be able to work with them in order to share the tips received from the judges. In the meantime, any students who are keen to develop their public speaking skills should practise giving reasons to support their views, using expression and tone to engage their listeners and projecting their voice clearly.
