THE PUBLIC SPEAK COMPETITION

THE PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION 2022

After a two year hiatus we are delighted that the annual Year 3 – 6 Public Speaking Competition was able to take place this year and this was the tenth edition of the competition. It was a privilege to attend all the Semi Finals and Finals and to witness the enthusiasm with which the pupils undertook the challenge and the confidence they displayed in doing so. This was the first time that any of Years 3 – 5 had been able to participate but the standard remained very high. As Mr Spicer, the Senior School’s Headmaster, said in his adjudication comments at the Year 5 and 6 final, “You never get beyond being nervous, you just learn to hide it away.”

All pupils in Year 3 – 6 participate, choosing a topic on which to speak, either from the list of suggestions or on a topic of their choice. This year topic choices ranged from Qatar to The World Cup, from Tennis to Egypt and from Recycling to Ocean pollution. Two pupils from each form progress from form heats to Year group Semi Finals which, in turn produce four finalists for the section finals.

Although the size of the audience was necessarily smaller than usual, parents of the finalists were able to attend and all were very proud of their children’s achievement in reaching the final and of their performance on the day. The year group winners for 2022 are: Year 3: Filza Frahan Year 4: Yusuf Choudhury Year 5: Maira Khan Year 6: Mariam Rizvi

Our thanks and congratulations to all the pupils for their participation, to all the members of staff who gave their time to judge the various stages and to Mrs Williams who organised the whole competition.

The overall winners of the Jo Slatter and the Roy Withey Public Speaking Cups will be announced at Commem.

Richard Williams