First Round
On Monday 14th January we had the first round of the Rotary Youth Speaks competition, a national competition for public speaking. The Priory School entered three teams:
– Our Intermediate team (Sam Johnson 9CA, Elliot Mainwaring 9HF and Alice Blackford 9CA) spoke about ‘the secret sin of stereotypes’.
– The first of our Senior teams (Molly Root 11AA, Erin Berry 11AA and Sam Grady 11HB) spoke about ‘the influence of music on young people’.
– The second Senior team (Grace Ramsey 12NW, Harry Huckle 12NW and Euan Gilfillan 12LJ) questioned ‘has right-wing extremism become the new moderate?’
They were up against teams from Hitchin Boys’ School and Fearnhill, but our Year 9 Intermediate team were the runners-up and the Sixth Form senior team won! Both teams went through to the next round.
Semi Finals
The Intermediate team (Sam, Elliot and Alice) came third in the District Semi-Final and made it into the District Final, which took place on Tuesday 26th February 2019 at Vandyke Upper School, Leighton Buzzard. The Senior team (Grace, Harry and Euan) came first in the District Semi-Final and also made it into the District Final, which took place on Wednesday 27th February 2019 at the same venue.
Finals
Both teams did exceptionally well at the finals and performed the strongest I have ever seen them perform; the Seniors, in particular, were outstanding. However, unfortunately neither team made it through to the Regional Finals.
Congratulations to all the students who really did TPS proud.