On Monday 23 June, House teams competed in the finals of the Baroness Brigstocke Memorial Public Speaking Competition. Earlier in the term, teams from every House competed in the heats to win places in the final.

This year, we had two sections, introducing an unprepared debate competition for students from Upper III and Lower IV. This took place in the morning and the audience took part too! Each team was involved in two debates. For each debate, they only had ten minutes to prepare (without electronic devices). The motions were: ‘Social media does more harm than good’; ‘Peer pressure is a good thing’; ‘Zoos should be banned’ and ‘Winter is better than summer’. All the students rose to the challenge and successfully presented their ideas clearly and effectively in front of an audience of students and staff.

Miss Holliday, Head of German, who has previous experience with public speaking in schools was the main judge, supported by Ms Quant. They were very impressed by the standard of the speeches, especially in terms of structure, counter arguments and delivery. Paget’s team of Sophia and Jess from Upper III came through as winners, closely followed by the Carrington team of Alyosha from Upper III and Janani from Lower IV.

In the afternoon, we had the usual prepared public speaking competition for Upper IV and Lower V students, based on the Rotary Debate Competition. Each team put forward a Chair, a Proposition speaker and an Opposition speaker. After their fifteen minute presentation, they were posed a challenging question by Dr Cuthbertson. They chose their own motions which were very different: ‘Free speech is irrelevant’; ‘We should continue teaching nursery rhymes to children’; ‘The economy should take priority over climate change’ and ‘Euthanasia should be legalised in the UK’.

The judges, Mrs Bennett (an experienced public speaking coach at another school whose daughter attended The Abbey) and Dr Bellamy (who took part in Rotary competitions at school) were impressed with all the speeches, considering content, structure and delivery as well as team work to decide the winner. This year, all the competitors avoided overusing their notes and most delivered with virtually no reference to them at all. Whilst the judges were deliberating, Mr Bradley posed questions about the debates to give the Upper IV audience the opportunity to put forward their own ideas.

Pageteers Nikita (Upper IV), Krisha (Upper IV) and Ellanya (Upper IV) claimed first place, with the Ducat Team of Anshula (Upper IV), Matilda (Upper IV) and Shriya (Upper IV) coming in close second. Following on from last year, role specific awards were also presented. Krisha claimed Best Chairperson, Nikita received Best Opposition Speaker and Margherita (Lower V) won Best Proposition Speaker.

All the students enjoyed the competition, despite having to perform in front of students, teachers, governors and parents. Mr le Fleming presented the certificates and cups for both competitions.

From the winners:

Unprepared Debates (Upper III)
‘I really enjoyed competing in this year’s Baroness Brigstocke Public Speaking Competition. It was my first time doing anything like this, so I was not sure what to expect, but Ms Quant and Dr Cuthbertson were really helpful, and I soon understood what my partner and I had to do. We made a few errors, but we must have done well, because it was announced that my partner Jess and I had won! All in all, I really enjoyed competing, and I would love to enter again.’ Sophia, Upper III

‘This was my first time in a debate competition and speaking in front of a large group of people. Winning was amazing, especially for my house. I loved working with Sophia and I think we made a great team planning our speeches together, which definitely helped our success. I can’t wait to participate(and hopefully win) next year!’ Jess, Upper III

Public Speaking (Upper IV and Lower V)

I have participated in Brigstocke for the past two years and this is my second time winning for Paget! Additionally, it was my first time being the chairperson, controlling the debate. Brigstocke is one of the events that I always look forward to every year. I think that we gave the best performance we could and I’m so excited to take part next year.

Krisha, Upper IV

This was my first time competing in Brigstocke, and it was a blast! I loved developing our topic and a special thanks to my Mum for suggesting such a great idea! I’m so proud of our team as we worked incredibly well together.

Ellanya, Upper IV

This year’s Brigstocke was absolutely brilliant! From the wide variety of interesting topics, to the snippets of humour from all across the board that kept the audience laughing – I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. It was riveting to watch our friends and seniors alike, and for that, I’d like to applaud all my fellow participants!

Nikita, Upper IV

I found it very interesting to research my chosen topic and learn more about current world events to do with the economy and climate change. I like to take part in events like Brigstocke because they provide a great opportunity to become confident, whilst talking in front of an audience.

Margherita, Lower V