This morning, all of Year 7 gathered in the Br Michael Naughtin Theatre for the finals of the annual Public Speaking Competition. This event is the climax of the assessment that all boys in the form have been preparing for some weeks now. I’m sure that your son has, at some stage, told you about his English assignment which was a “PowerPoint” presentation and speech about one of their class-mates.

All boys have presented this in class and from each class, the teacher chose the best presentation to go into the final against the best of each of the other classes.

The final this morning involved two presentations from each boy. The first was their speech from class about their class-mate. The second was a more challenging task of an impromptu speech. For the latter, the boys were given the topic and one minute to prepare before presenting a one minute speech. As you would appreciate, this is a very tough ask and the boys who represented their class did a wonderful job.

The topic for the impromtu for each of the boys was “Believe it or not!”. This topic certainly provided a diverstity of speeches which kept us not only interested but greatly entertained. It was fantastic to see the boys speak so naturally as they made their way through the heart-pumping minute.

Peter Ross and I were lucky enough to be the judges and were impressed not only with the content of the speeches but also the confidence that these boys showed in being able to get up in front of their peers and speak. We all know how tough it can be to speak in front of your friends – to do this at the age of 12 or 13 and in front of 150 other boys is a massive credit to each of the boys.

Special congratulations should go to Bayley O’Donnell (Hong Kong)who won the Public Speaking Competition. Bayley delivered a very interesting prepared presentation which was well balanced with content and humour. When it came to his impromptu, he showed a high level as confidence as he kept us all entertained with his animated but natural manner. Bayley was closely followed by James Ramm (North Epping) and Oliver Sumsky (Alexandria).

All six of the boys who participated this morning should be commended for their courage and efforts. Further to this, all the boys in Year 7 should be credited with the effort that they put into their English assessment task. The English teachers were very impressed with the standard of presentations.

Pictured in Photo 1:  Bayley O’Donnell (Hong Kong)

Pictured in Photo 2:  Oliver Sumsky (Alexandria), Alec Du Maurier (Northwood), Max Reginato (Turramurra), James Ramm (North Epping), Will O’Leary (Elong Elong) and Bayley O’Donnell (Hong Kong)