LP Students in Inaugural ISA Public Speaking Competition

Three students took part in the very first national public speaking competition organised by the Independent Schools Association on Tuesday 19th March.

Devan (Year 8), Leander (Lower Sixth) and Millie (Upper Sixth) headed to the Bateman Theatre, Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge, accompanied by Head of English, Matt Taylor. Devan’s 2-3 minute speech was presented in the KS3 category with the title ‘If I had a superpower it would be…’ whilst Millie and Leander had 4-6 minutes each on the topic of ‘The most significant day of my life’.

The ISA’s competition aims to enable pupils to practice their presentation skills and build self-confidence by performing a speech in front of their peers, which will then be judged by public speaking experts from the English Speaking Union. The judges evaluated the speeches across four key skill sets: Reasoning & Evidence, Expression & Delivery; Organisation & Prioritisation; and where oracy is interactive; Listening & Response.

Leander was able to use the ISA competition as a dry run for her public speaking slot in the JBH Speech Competition at Leighton Park on Wednesday evening where she is facing the hecklers with her speech ‘Stop Smiling’. At the Cambridge event, Leander commented, “Standing in front of the crowd was initially terrifying. When I started talking, however, I realised everyone was listening to me with the intent of learning something, and I focussed on speaking to them, not at them. I feel much more confident and eloquent now. I also loved writing my speech because of how personal it was, I learned more about myself. My speech was about a moment following the end of the COVID-19 Lockdown, where my ‘androcentric’ mindset shifted. During the lockdown, I and many other young girls had limited access to female role models, and art (mainly portraiture), became a way for me to almost create a version of myself which appealed solely to the ‘male gaze’. My speech focussed on encouraging girls to be confident in being women. We arrived very early, so we got to walk around Cambridge for a bit to take photos. It was really beautiful, and it was inspiring to see all the students in the libraries, and the University culture.”

Millie added, “It was a brilliant trip and it was really nice to speak in such a prestigious building (Cambridge lecture hall) and to witness everyone’s speeches which had such varying style. My speech was titled ‘What you should learn from teenagers’ and I spoke about the criminalisation and alienation of teenagers in Western society, then described some teenagers and lessons to be learned from them, before asking he audience if they truly wanted to learn. I really enjoyed the experience and in particular the act of putting personal, seemingly mundane stories into a spotlight showing how everyone should be appreciated.”