The Intermediate and Senior Rotary Public Speaking competitions judged by members of the Rotary Club took place at the Brentwood Council Chambers.
The competition entitled ‘Youth Speaks' proved to be a great success for the school's public speaking representatives.

The Intermediate level was held on the evening of 17th January against The Ursuline and The Penial Academy. Students Lauren Tai, Matthew Smith and George Lewis spoke on ‘Is the traditional child an endangered species?' an interesting subject which was delivered brilliantly and William Norris, James Gooderson and Charlie Whittaker spoke exceptionally about ‘Teamwork' which gained them the runners up position allowing them to go through to the next round in the competition.

The Senior group was held on 24th January and pupils competed against The Ursuline and St Martin's. The first team included Eleanor Lowe, Rachel Farant and Stephanie Hunter who spoke on the subject ‘Only average' This won them first place in the competition and Eleanor Lowe received the overall prize for best speaker.

Salsabiel Masood, Nick Dheir and Victoria Hill spoke on ‘Re-hab: Accessory or necessity?' which gained them the runners up position putting both teams through to the next heat which will see them compete against schools from a wider area.

The Intermediate competition for this will be held on Thursday 31st January and the Senior competition will be on 7th February.

Mrs Gordon-Johnson, the team's coach said; All teams have given outstanding performances and shown great enthusiasm. They put in a tremendous effort and should be very proud of their success.