Bridmore Speaking Competition
This Thursday we held the finals of both the Junior and Senior Bridmore Public Speaking Competition, one of the highlights of the Sandroyd calendar. It represents the culmination of much hard work; selecting topics, researching, drafting and re-working speeches, practising, further editing and then taking part in class heats to select the finalists.
Every child in the Prep School takes part, writing a speech to either inform (Years 3-6) or persuade (Years 7 and 8). This is a wonderful opportunity for the children – particularly those who may not shine in other areas – to challenge themselves and to hone their writing, oratory and performance skills to engage their audiences.
The quality of the speeches and the poise of the contestants, from the youngest to the oldest, was superb. The Juniors regaled us with details of mythical creatures, favourite hobbies, famous and lesser-known, explorers and topics as diverse as African elephants, coral reefs and jellyfish.
The breadth of the topics chosen by the Seniors was incredibly ambitious, and topical, and ranged from the hazards of plastic surgery, the over payment of sports personalities and the potential colonization of Mars to the pink tax, the environmental impact of fast fashion, and the effects of sleep deprivation and parental pressure on children.
All contestants spoke with confidence and clarity and our guest judge for the Senior final, Mr Stephen Davies, Housemaster and English teacher at Bryanston, was extremely impressed by the calibre of the Sandroyd pupils.
As ever, it was very difficult to select the winners as there was so little to choose between them.
The overall winners of the Junior Competition were, Annabelle B and Red.
Y3 winner Arthur W
Y4 winner Teddy B
Y5 winner Chiara G-W
The overall winner of the Senior Competition was Gigi S,
Highly Commended prize to Kitty P and Georgia L
Y7 winner Ottilie M
Congratulations to all our pupils, finalists, and of course the winners, for a superb competition that was both informative and highly entertaining.
Sam Williams.
