On Wednesday 3rd March, a group of Wolgarston sixth formers took part in the Brewood and District Rotary club public speaking competition. Facing stiff opposition from Thomas Telford, St Edmund’s, St Peter’s and St Dominic’s, Wolgarston’s three candidates Emma Dugmore, Rebecca Roberts and Frances Griffiths presented speeches on the subjects of ‘Glen Hoddle and Karma’, ‘There is no such thing as the average persons and ‘The problems of youth in our society’.

Speaking to an audience of over thirty people for four minutes each and having to go after all the other schools, the girls showed passion and a

wonderful talent for public speaking. The judging went on for over half an hour, but eventually St Dominic’s were declared the winners, with Wolgarston coming a close third.

There will hopefully be more of an opportunity to perform in such events in the future with the planned formation of a Wolgarston debating forum.

As part of the literary key skills initiative, Year 9 students are developing public speaking skills in their weekly Personal Social and Health Education sessions. Students in all tutor groups have already delivered a talk on "What we want to achieve in life" to a small audience and in later sessions will be developing these public speaking skills. This will involve practising and improving their delivery in order to talk to an audience of their whole year group. This activity will be spearheaded by a group of students. Warren Grigg, Tom Glover, Heather Bond, Kim Crane, who have been preparing for public speaking competitions

Post-16 students will be working with Year 9 to develop public speaking and debate in the school and we hope to have established a lively forum of debate with visiting adult speakers soon.