Impressive speeches given at Public Speaking Competition

Is the British nation obsessed with diet? Does it matter that we exaggerate too much? Is the pen mightier than the sword? These were just some of the topics up for debate as Churcher's College hosted the West Sussex heat of the English-Speaking Union Public Speaking Competition...

Our two teams competed against Ditcham Park, Mayville High, Portsmouth Grammar, Seaford College and St Philip Howard Catholic High School.

In Heat One, Fourth Year student Zoe Blackburn won Best Speaker for her passionate bid for fewer standardised tests and more scope for creativity in the British education system.

She was ably supported by Anqi Stenning, Tommy Howells and Will Bentley but in the end the team was crowned runner-up to St Philip Howard, who were very worthy winners.

In the second heat of the day, Fifth Form student Molly Steele asked the audience, 'Are we growing into an evermore angry society?', impressing with her confident manner and ability to think on her feet when questioned by members of the opposing team, as well as the audience.

Maddie Macey and Annabelle Smith had the task of chairing and questioning the guest speaker from Ditcham Park on the intriguing topic, 'Should we follow Nike's advice and 'Just Do It?' and their experience in the competition really shone through.

The team worked incredibly well together but were up against some stiff competition and it was PGS who progressed to the next round after an inspiring and impressive speech on whether or not we need more revolutionaries.

Well done to all who took part!

For more on the competition, please visit: https://www.esu.org/our-work/public-speaking-competition