Mrs Graves (Head of English)

This year’s Year 9 Public Speaking competition presented the judges with an even tougher challenge than speaking in front of an audience of over 120 of their peers and teachers: they needed to decide on a winner from the outstanding field of performances.

Ten finalists were chosen - two from each English class- but within those ten performances there was an impressive diversity of topics and performance styles. Whilst some students chose to speak about global issues which they were clearly passionate about, like the climate crisis or trust in the police force, other speakers presented on topics which might have seemed on the surface to be more light-hearted. The messages were still powerful, however, as winning speaker Nawaal Qazi demonstrated through her speech on being shameless, which ultimately challenged the audience to think about the thought-provoking idea that embarrassment is a social construct.

One of the overarching themes of Year 9 English is to consider how different literary texts allow us to explore ideas about concern for society, and public speaking encourages students to go one step further and think about how they can use their voices to effect change in the world. The performances given by the finalists were an excellent representation of the powerful voices that the students are developing; they were articulate, imaginative and engaging communicators, and this was reflected in the comments made by their peers as well as the judges. Thinking about the overall experience, many Year 9 students reflected that they had enjoyed the opportunity to learn from their peers about topics which they might not have known about before, such as colourism and the practice of skin lightening, or the struggles faced globally by people suffering from lifelong conditions like allergies without access to affordable healthcare.

Organised by Mrs Everitt (Deputy Head of English), the event was a wonderful opportunity for the students to both experience the formality of a public speaking competition and celebrate each other’s successes. We would like to extend a particular thank you to our adjudicators, Mrs Pagliaro and Miss Higginson, who brought their own experiences and views on the performances to the table, demonstrating the value of seeking multiple perspectives. 

Congratulations to all of the finalists: Nawaal Qazi (1st place), Pippa Barney (runner-up), Sonia Erwig (commended), Jyoti Balaji (commended), Alice Challacombe (commended), Isla Campbell, Ruva Maposa, Keyah Longdon, Issy Wright and Emmanuelle Devile. View a photo of them all here.