By Miss Gordon, Public Speaking Co-Ordinator

The debating season is well and truly up and running with several competitions coming up over the next few weeks.

English Speaking Union Churchill Public Speaking Competition

We had two teams from Year 11 representing NHEHS on Mon 27th November in the national ESU-Churchill Public Speaking Competition. Sponsored by the International Churchill Society, this is the largest competition of its kind in England and Wales, with around 400 teams (each comprising a speaker, questioner and a chairperson). NHEHS Team A were Ishani A (Chairperson), Tryphena L (Speaker), and Dain K (Questioner). NHEHS Team B were Isabella P (Chairperson), Maya M (Speaker), and Roma S (Questioner). This competition is always a fun and spirited event, in which each team’s Chair and Questioner are partnered up with the Speaker from another school to run a fascinating discussion about a topic. With only 15 minutes for Chairs and Questioners to interview their speaker before the event starts, it is a valuable opportunity for students to practice thinking on their feet, gaining important life skills in conducting interviews and hosting events.

Ishani and Isabella, in their roles as Chair, really set a warm and welcoming tone to proceedings, injecting a sense of curiosity about the speakers’ chosen topics (in this case, ‘Is the ballot stronger than the bullet’, and ‘The extent of racism in the film industry’ by students at Harrow School and Haydon School).

Tryphena spoke for 5 minutes with such conviction and aplomb on her topic, “What is there left to explore?” with well-researched lines of argument covering, quite literally, all aspects of our universe. She also responded to tough Q&A, making an important point that even if we are physically limited by circumstances in our ability to travel, our classroom studies and learning is a limitless exploration in itself.

Maya used her 5 minutes to capture the imaginations of her audience in arguing that, “Fiction can teach us more than fact.” She successfully persuaded many audience members to change their minds and see the value in the alterity and insight that fiction can bring in enriching our lives. She also responded with powerful ideas to her Q&A session, linking her topic to the dangers and blurred lines of online news content and fake news.

Dain and Roma excelled in their roles as Questioners, asking succinct questions that allowed speakers from other schools to develop their topics. Adopting an encouraging, non-combative tone, they truly exemplified how a good interview can deepen everyone’s understanding of concepts.

After the event, the three judges had a hard task in deciding which teams would progress to the next round. We were delighted that NHEHS B made it through, with NHEHS A narrowly missing out. That said, comments and feedback from the judges was instructive and encouraging, duly praising their skills in this, their first attempt at a public speaking competition.

Huge congratulations to all six. Details of the next round to be released shortly!

English Speaking Union MACE Competition

Last week Katherine M, Hope G and Salem Y represented the school in the prestigious ESU MACE National Competition, the oldest and largest debating competition for schools in England and Wales.  Involving around 300 schools each year, it offers students from Key Stages 3 to 5 the opportunity to discuss and debate a wide array of controversial subjects and current affairs. Facing Featherstone and Nishkam School, they proposed the motion, “This House Believes that environmental campaigning should focus on changing government policy rather than individual behaviours.” Read how the team won through to the next round in January.

GDST Chrystall Carter Public Speaking Prize

We held our final round of auditions last week for our week. Students spoke without notes on a variety of topics as part of their audition piece, as well as responding to on-the-spot questions.  We are delighted to announce that Jaan W (Year 11) has been chosen to represent NHEHS at this year’s Chrystall Carter GDST Prize. Ishita N will be Vice. Both students gave very convincing auditions.  NHEHS will be hosting the semi-final, towards the end of January, which will be a wonderful event and a chance for Year 11s to see Jaan and other GDST student speakers in action. Jaan will be speaking on the topic, “Travel does not broaden the mind” and we eagerly anticipate seeing her in action!