Congratulations to Year 11 student Jaan who won the semi final round of the Chrystall Carter Public Speaking Prize yesterday.

The annual GDST competition for Year 11 students was hosted by NHEHS, with student representatives from South Hampstead High School, Norwich High School and Northwood College joining our own candidate.

Each speaker delivered a seven-minute prepared speech on a topic of their choosing, from a list sent to all schools after ‘mini heats’, followed by three minutes of questioning from the audience. Students could not use aids such as OHP, PowerPoint or handouts.

The four judges included: Government and Energy sector management consultant Clare Hines who has worked on digitising the NHS, the Smart Meter rollout, and immigration transformation at the UK Border Agency; judge Vera Mayer who specialises in child protection cases alongside international private law work and being a tutor judge; conductor, pianist, composer, NHEHS school governor and local Conservative councillor Julian Gallant; and Nicky Sargent, founder of the award-winning broadcast post-production company The Farm Group.

Contestants were judged on their ability to engage an audience, the appropriateness of style and language to both subject and audience, grasp of subject matter, clarity of expression, effective use of time and ability to deal with questions.

The public speaking prize was set up twenty years ago to honour the legacy of Chrystall Carter, who was legal adviser to the GDST for nine years. Ms Carter truly believed in the power of reasoned argument and pushed for public speaking to have a greater profile in the GDST. Her husband set up the competition as a wonderful way for GDST students to build confidence and have their voices heard.

Well done Jaan and good luck competing in the Final in March!