The first of this year’s Primary School Public Speaking Competitions was generously hosted by Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, by kind permission of Professor Watkins on 20 March 2019.
Teams from ten schools competed, each represented by a chair, a speaker and a questioner with teams paired together for authentic cross-questioning.
The whole event was magnificently compered by a number of primary school students in turn and featured the collective reading of the winning poem from an associated poetry writing competition. The competition adjudicators were ESU Governor, James Scruby, Toastmaster, Hugo Heij, solicitor, Paul Fenton and Chief Superintendent Ewen Wilson. Each school team comprised six members, including a captain who introduced their school, a poetry reader and another in a management role, resulting in a highly inclusive occasion.
The judges congratulated everyone who had taken part on their impressive performances. The winning team was from Our Lady Immaculate School, Chemsford, comprising chair, Juliet, speaker, Muna and questioner, Bethan. Second was St Mary’s School, Colchester, featuring Elsa, Tiasha and Imogen and third was Lawford Mead School Cedar Class, Chelmsford, with Erin, Gamalini and Heather. The best chair was Elsa of St Mary’s, the best questioner, Bethan of Our Lady Immaculate and the best speaker, Gamalini from Lawford Mead Cedar, who argued that homework should be banned. The poetry competition winner was Olivia from Rayleigh Primary School.
The chairs, speakers, questioners, captains, poetry readers and managers respectively of the participating teams were as listed below:
Rayleigh Primary 4JA – Mia, Olivia, Claye, Ava, Frankie, Isabella
Lawford Mead, Chelmsford, Cedar Class – Erin, Gamalini, Heather, Timmy, Jake, Bobby
Lawford Mead, Chelmsford, Chestnut Class – Faith, Josh, Suzi, Poppy, Ria, Moeez
Our Lady Immaculate, Chelmsford – Juliet, Muna, Bethan, Ava, Robert, Luka
St Pius X, Chelmsford – Tarun, Luke, Jayden D, Rishabh, Grace, Sarah
Great Leighs – Paige, Ruby, Elliott, Kai, George, Emily
Rayleigh Primary 4KL – Amelia, Freddie, Adam, Darcy, Poppy, Beren
St Mary’s, Colchester – Elsa, Tiasha, Imogen, Martha, Alice, Olivia
Trinity St Mary’s, South Woodham Ferrers –Jack, Lily, Kai, Connor, Harry, Nathan
St Luke’s, Canning Town – Erika, Kayla, Matthew, Olly, Chinonyerem, Jedediah
