Lower Sixth Form students excel at public speaking workshop

The Lower Sixth Form recently took part in a public speaking workshop which was designed to give our students an opportunity to hone their communication skills.

Mr Pietersen explains: “Provided by a diverse cast of energetic and inspiring ‘mentors’ with a wealth of professional experience, our annual Lower Sixth public speaking workshop is always a highlight in the Sixth Form calendar, and this year was no different. Having spent the morning learning public speaking strategies, from body language to form and structure, each student in the year group was tasked with preparing and delivering a short speech on a topic that meant something to them, either personally or academically.

“The day culminated with an outstanding finale, with 14 finalists speaking on a range of topics from rubber ducks and failure, to pizza toppings, the problem with school lunches, why God is a woman, linguistics, and the importance of science literacy. Whilst there could only be one winner – with Joe Marvin being commended for his down to earth, humorous and personal exploration of rugby as a metaphor for life – the whole year group deserve commendation for the way in which they threw themselves in to the day. We look forward to seeing these skills again shortly in their Sixth Form Project and EPQ presentations.”

Joe adds: “This was my first time doing a speaking competition like this and it was a fun experience. I didn’t expect to do so well; I think I just happened to pick a popular topic and made a few jokes! However, I learnt a lot from the day and it was an engaging workshop where I learnt many valuable skills that I’ll use in the future.”

Arun also performed well, getting as far as the final. He comments: “At the start of the day I wasn’t particularly keen on public speaking and the thought of presenting to the rest of the year group seemed very daunting! However, through some really useful sessions led by our external mentors, my confidence improved greatly and overall I am very proud of what we all achieved by speaking to the rest of our peers. I now feel much more comfortable and at ease when speaking publicly.”