Monday 16th December 2019
Students present at inaugural Stamford Speaks competition
Pupils from across three year groups of Stamford School have participated in the new ‘Stamford Speaks’ initiative, to help promote oracy and encourage confidence in writing and public speaking. Ted P, Year 7, Finn H, Year 8, and Felix M, Year 9, were presented with engraved pens as overall winners for their year groups.Each pupil had two weeks to prepare, write and rehearse a speech, which was presented to their classmates, with the winner from each set presenting at the final. English staff, alongside Year 10 and Sixth Form students helped judge the competition and provided feedback to each finalist.Each year group’s speeches considered a different topic, relating to their current curricular studies. Year 7 considered ‘My Life’, fitting in with their Autumn term unit on autobiography. Year 8, who have been learning about rhetorical devices and political speeches, wrote persuasive speeches on issues of their choosing. These covered a diverse range of subjects, from ‘Parents should not be over-protective’ to ‘we should maintain natural lawns in our gardens’. Year 9 students were challenged with writing speeches to ‘tell us something that we don’t know’.Mr James Stephenson, acting Head of English, said: “Seeing our 280 boys prepare, deliver and listen to each other’s speeches was a great experience. The new Stamford Speaks competition fosters all of the valuable skills that public speaking brings, and there will undoubtably be many future opportunities for our pupils to develop these further going forward.”