YOUTH SPEAKS COMPETITION
On Thursday 17th November Sunbury Manor entered the Youth Speaks competition for the second time. Having won the local round of the senior competition last year, there were high expectations. This year we took two teams: a senior team (Megan Bill, Jack Greaves and Holly Hunter) and, for the first time, an intermediate team (Donald Mashanda, Daniel McElroy and Nicole Watkins).
In the lead up to the competition both teams worked incredibly hard, giving up most lunchtimes to rehearse their respective speeches, and were looking really strong contenders in both competitions.
On the night, the venue at Spelthorne Council Chambers was amazing and a little intimidating. There were seven other teams present as well as members of the Rotary Club, three judges and The Mayor of Spelthorne.
Our Intermediate team were fourth to speak and were absolutely outstanding. Donald – the chairperson - was engaging, entertaining and lively, while Daniel’s speech about the way teenagers are portrayed in the media was outstanding and kept the room silent throughout. Finally, Nicole gave the Vote of Thanks brilliantly and ended a superb team performance.
Our senior team were on seventh, by which time everyone was a little tired from a long evening. However, the whole room was gripped by the performance put in by the Sunbury Manor Students who were faultless throughout. We were the only team to speak without notes and the entire team spoke with passion and clearly dominated the senior competition. We knew we must be in with a chance of retaining our trophy.
After the final two teams had spoken the judges retired to consider their notes, leaving everyone nervous and on-edge. There was one common opinion though… that, despite this only being our second year in the competition, Sunbury Manor are a force to be reckoned with in public speaking competitions.
Finally, the judges came out to announce the results. In the junior completion we were a close second, but Nicole won the trophy for the best Vote of Thanks – Well done Nicole! In the senior competition we won everything! Megan was the best Chairperson, Jack was best Speaker and Holly was the best Vote of Thanks. Of course that meant we retained the trophy we won last year. Out of eight prizes available, Sunbury Manor left with five of them.
Sadly, for the intermediate team, they won’t be going through to the next round. However they will be going back next year when they are determined to win their competition. For the senior team it means they go on in the competition which could lead to a national final. Watch this space.
It just remains for me to say that the teachers involved were incredibly proud of both of our teams and we wish the senior team the best of luck in the next round.
Mr Marshall, Miss H Batten and Miss B Batten