Girls’ School Speech Competition
Girls’ School Speech Competition
September 02, 2016 at 3:14 PM
In welcoming students and guests to the 2016 Girls’ School Speech Competition, Principal, Ms Juliet Small said, ‘Having the confidence to speak well is such an important life skill.’ Whilst for many, the idea of public speaking may invoke a sense of trepidation, that certainly wasn’t evident amongst the 27 girls who took to the stage this morning to deliver their prepared speeches to a large audience.
During Speech and Drama classes in recent weeks, the girls have been investigating and writing about the topic for their year group, rehearsing and then delivering their speeches in class. The top orators from each year level then progressed to today’s final.
The School welcomed Ms Emma Bishop, Head of Drama at the College as adjudicator. Ms Bishop is also the current president of Drama NZ with extensive experience in the performing arts both as teacher and performer. She welcomed the opportunity to hear the girls and lend her expertise.
Each year group had an assigned topic on which to base their speech to ensure variety across the age groups with the Year 4-8 competitive speeches interspersed with talks from selected students in Years 1-3. Regardless of the age group, the confidence was astonishing!
Jiya Raj was the winner for Year 4 with her information-packed speech about skiing – it pays to learn how to stop, there’s no brakes on skis! Year 5 student, Xarya Knox notched up her second consecutive win with her humorous personal experience about getting her ears pierced and offered up some tips on how to persuade parents to allow you to get your ears ‘blinged.’ Year 6 was tasked with exposing the mysteries of chocolate, with winner, Julia Koeman explaining the devastating effect of the palm oil industry on rainforest habitats – ‘A chocolate bar lasts a minute but extinction is forever.’ In the Year 7 persuasive speech category, Lola Wiltshire made it quite clear why women make better leaders than men, finishing with two simple words to prove her point – ‘Donald Trump!’ J’Adore Harris-Tavita won the Year 8 section with a worrying, yet humorous look at the amount of time spent on cell phones.
In summing up, Ms Bishop said she could not have thought of a better way to celebrate her birthday! She gave the girls some sound advice. Successful speechmakers don’t only know their words but know how to deliver them, connecting with their audience using expression, pace and pitch to drive their message home. This skill set two students apart. Xarya and J’Adore will be representing the School at the upcoming zone competitions. Well done girls!
YEAR 4: A SKILL OR ACTIVITY
Winner: Jiya Raj Skiing
Amelie Heeney Flippaball
Sophie Yan Cupcakes
YEAR 5: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OR EVENT
Winner: Xarya Knox Getting my ears pierced
Keeley Berkovits The Gold Coast
Alexandra Lamb Outer Reef snorkelling
Chloe McGregor My trip to Bahamas
YEAR 6: THE MYSTERIES OF CHOCOLATE EXPOSED
Winner: Julia Koeman The origins of Chocolate
Bridget Dennis The palm oil in our food
Freya Michell The devastation of palm oil
Cassandra Wood Do we need palm oil?
YEAR 7: PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Winner: Lola Wiltshire Women make better leaders than men
Eva Colyer Short is better than being tall
Vivian Pettigrove The music industry is unfair to women
Sharmaine Tapling Why you should eat broccoli
YEAR 8: PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Winner: J’adore Harris-Tavita Cellphone Addiction
Rachel Black Why you should be against child labour
Anastasia Mulcahy Why parents shouldn’t say…..
YEAR 1: MY FAMILY
Daniella Gillard
Phoebe Wakelin
Violet Lindsay Smail
YEAR 2: BIBLE STORIES:
Sascha Newland The wisdom of Solomon
Rosie Ward Creation
Gemma Berkovits Noahs Ark
YEAR 3: SOMETHING I HAVE CREATED
Phoebe Wood My sourdough mummy
Amelia Avery My spider storage box
