By Miss Gordon, Public Speaking Co-ordinator

We are excited to announce that Matilda J from Year 11 won her semi-final at Northwood College of the Chrystall Carter GDST Public Speaking Competition! The Chrystall Carter Prize for Public Speaking is an annual event open to Year 11s across the whole of the GDST and was set up in memory of former GDST Deputy Lega Secretary, Chrystall Carter. The competition offers a platform for students to build confidence and have their voices heard on a topic of their choice.

Matilda spoke on the topic of ‘Is Van Gogh’s Sunflowers more important than real sunflowers?’ and was thrilled to go through to the grand final which will take place on march 14th at Sheffield High School GDST.  The other two students in the semi-final, Bea and Charlotte were incredibly engaging in their discussion of complex subject matter and controversial material – ‘Do we over-romanticise mental health issues today?’ and ‘Freedom is an unattainable thing’ respectively.

It was also truly inspiring to have 4 esteemed female judges who spoke of the importance public speaking has in their respective positions (from entrepreneur, to star of the West End, to an English Teacher who also works for a company campaigning for wider availability of sanitary products, to a legal professional about to embark in work in Texas exploring the Death Penalty).

A huge thank you to Northwood College for hosting such a wonderful event. We look forward to supporting Matilda in the final next month!