Superb Standard at Queenswood’s Public Speaking Competition
Wednesday 11 March 2015
The standard was higher than ever at Queenswood’s John Fry Public Speaking Competition 2015, held in the Clarissa Farr Theatre on Thursday 5 March.
Each of the six finalists was tasked with preparing a seven minute speech defending a given statement, before answering two unprepared questions from the judges. We were honoured that Damian McBride, former special adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and now a bestselling political author and newspaper columnist, was able to join us as adjudicator.
The speakers and their challenging topics were as follows:
- Gabby Mazzoni, Year 10 – ‘Increasingly there is no need for men in society’
- Bella Massam, Year 11 – ‘Institutional intrusion into our privacy has gone too far’
- Toluwa Agboola, Lower Sixth – ‘We have an inherent need to worship’
- Priscilla Yu, Upper Sixth – ‘We should embrace fracking’
- Aoife Morgan Jones, Year 11 – ‘Schooling is detrimental to my education’
- Georgia Dallas, Lower Sixth – ‘Charity and aid do not work’
We would like to congratulate all six finalists, and to commend the eventual winner of the competition, Aoife Morgan Jones.
Watch a selection of the speeches:
Winner Aoife Morgan Jones with Mrs Diana Fry and Damian McBride