Public Speaking Competition

Throughout Term 3, we have been teaching our students how to write a speech that they can use to enter the Public Speaking Competition. This competition involves other schools in the Georges River Network competing against each other to see who will be the overall champion. The teachers and students worked very hard to have the speeches ready so that all students had the opportunity to enter. Students also had the option to write their own speech at home if they wished.

Class Finals

In Week 6, the Class Finals were held. The class teachers had the difficult job of picking 2 representatives to move onto the next division of the competition, the Stage Finals. 

Stage Finals

On Tuesday the 3rd of September, the Stage 3 representatives battled it out and produced 4 students who would compete at the School Finals Night. They were Thomas Wang 5/6S, Audrey Wyllie 5/6P, Willow Parry 5/6P, and Murphy Byford 5/6K. Congratulations to these students! 

On Wednesday the 4th of September, the Stage 2 representatives competed in their Stage Finals to pick 4 students who would move on to the next division of the competition. They were Harper Choker 3/4D, Lucas Har 3/4D, Samhita Venkatesh 3/4S, and Zenji Parry 4/5N. Well done on making it to the next round!

On the same day, we also had the Stage 1 Finals. The adjudicators had a very tough decision, as they had to choose 1 winner to compete at the Network Finals, and 1 highly commended student. The winner was Aaliyah Mawassi 1K who presented a speech on ‘Why we Should Listen to our Teachers’, and the highly commended student was Lucas Chen 2P who spoke about ‘Why we Need to Ban School Uniforms’. It was lovely to hear their speeches! 

In Week 8, on the 10th of September, the Early Stage 1 Finals were held. It was another very challenging decision from the adjudicators as they also had to choose 1 winner to compete at the Network Finals, and 1 highly commended student. The winner was Felicity Ho KS who presented a speech about ‘Why Exercise is Important’, and the highly commended student was Harla Gregory-Gaughan KM who spoke about ‘Why we Need to Protect Koalas’. Amazing work, Kindergarten!

Thank you to our adjudicators for the Stage Finals; Mrs Wilson, Mrs Parsons-Tran, Mr McLeod, and Mrs Whitfield for making the incredibly difficult decisions.

School Finals

On the 12th of September, Peakhurst Public School held their School Finals Night for the Public Speaking Competition. Our School Leaders helped out to host the night. Thank you to Henry Taylor 5/6P, Abbey O’Mara 5/6P, Samuel Deuis 5/6A, and Daniel Corbett 5/6S for all your dedication with practising and hosting. 

Our adjudicators for the evening were Ms Sally Lawson and Ms Coralie Bray. They were very excited to come back to Peakhurst Public School to adjudicate for the evening. 

We started the night by listening to the Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 winners and highly commended students. It was very impressive to hear their speeches, good luck at the Network Finals. 

The next part of the night was to hear our Stage 2 speakers as they tried to convince us of their point of views. We started with Harper Choker and she presented a speech titled ‘Our Future is Doomed’. Next, we had Lucas Har and he spoke about why ‘E sports should be an Olympic sport’. Our third contestant, Samhita Venkatesh, talked about why ‘Climate Change is Affecting Wildlife’. Our last Stage 2 representative was Zenji Parry and he presented a speech about why ‘People Should Stop Wearing Crocs’. It was incredible to hear such persuasive speeches. The students then went to the Equity Room to start preparing for the impromptu section of the evening. The impromptu topic was ‘A Day to Remember’. 

The final part of the night was to listen to the speeches from Stage 3. Our first speaker was Thomas Wang and he spoke about ‘Why We Should Preserve our Oceans’. Next, we had Willow Parry and she presented a speech ‘Words Hurt’. Following Willow, we had Audrey Wyllie and she talked about the importance of ‘Buying Pets from Shelters’. Our last speaker of the evening was Murphy Byford. He presented a speech about ‘War- What is it Good for?’ The students then had 5 minutes to prepare their impromptu speech on ‘Choosing Carefully’. It was a really tough decision for our adjudicators. 

Ms Lawson and Ms Bray spent an abundance of time deliberating. They had a very difficult decision as all of the speeches were very impressive to listen to. By the end of the night, the winners had been chosen. 

Congratulations to the Stage 2 winner, Zenji Parry and highly commended, Samhita Venkatesh. 

Our Stage 3 winner was Willow Parry and highly commended, Thomas Wang. Well done! 

The winners will compete at the Network Finals at Peakhurst South Public School on Thursday the 17th of October. 

Miss Kostoglou 

Public Speaking Coordinator