Confident stage presence and flawless delivery at the Boys’ School Speech Finals

After battling off worthy opponents in the semi-finals, the selected Middle and Senior School speakers came prepared to present their speeches at the Speech Finals held over two separate days in Term 2. Our boys had been working hard on their speeches and those who were shortlisted had the opportunity to present to the adjudicators.

This year, our finalists had the privilege of welcoming the Director of Head Held High School of Confidence Kate Laurence, and an Old Collegian and well-known New Zealand television presenter Jordan Vandermade to adjudicate their speech finals.

Our Year 7-8 boys chose a variety of different topics from ancient civilisation, the ocean and the internet to self-discovery. Both adjudicators took time to provide feedback to each of the participant for improvement prior to announcing the winners. After much deliberation, the adjudicators named Mathew Sawden as champion for his convincing and flawless delivery of ‘Discovery is scary but worth it’. Due to the high calibre of speeches, the adjudicators decided to recognise two joint runner-ups; Hugo Friis who spoke about ‘Mythical creatures’ and Toby Wigglesworth on ‘Discovery of peace’.

Competition was equality fierce at the Middle School Speech Finals with finalists in search of discoveries covered a broad range of topics from underwater world and television to colours and beautiful Aotearoa. For each participant, our adjudicators were looking for those that spoke clearly and with confidence, drew connection with the audience and leave them with a strong message.

For the Middle School, the winner, Thomas Bottomley articulately spoke about ‘Ships of Discovery’ and convincingly laid out his supporting argument. Forbes Leighton who presented his speech through video was placed second for his effortless delivery of ‘Discovery of catching the school bus’.

All finalists performed exceptionally well across all areas that were being assessed for the competition which included delivery and presentation, content and engagement, use of language and overall impact and message.

Winner from both of Middle and Senior School, Thomas and Mathew, will go on to compete in the Remuera Lions Speech competition for their age groups in Term 3. Well done!