Following the workshop on public speaking on Wednesday 6th March, we welcomed back eight teams of local primary school children to the Great Hall to compete in the seventh English-Speaking Union Primary School Public Speaking Competition on the evening of Wednesday 20th March. Three students from each school formed a team consisting of a Chair, Speaker and Questioner and presented on a topic that had been given to them during the workshop. We were delighted to welcome Derek Morgan, Katherine Kettle and Stephen Page from the English-Speaking Union, who had the unenviable task of judging the competition.
The winning team this year was from St Mary’s Primary School, whose first time it was taking part in the competition. They were faced with the tricky topic Mobile phones are beneficial to our lives. In second place was Howell’s own Prep School who presented on: Junk food is killing our nation – the government should do more to promote healthy living. Third place went to the team from Herbert Thompson Primary School, who discussed the topic: Advertising which targets children is wrong. Congratulations to all the children who took part, who presented brilliantly and were a real credit to their schools. A very big thank you to the English-Speaking Union for sponsoring the event and for judging the competition. Mrs Yilmaz has been the driving force of this event at Howell’s and it was very fitting that Derek Morgan and Marjorie Page, from the ESU, presented her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the end of the evening. Thank you also to the parents, staff, friends and ESU members who came and supported such a fantastic evening.
