Lexy competes in U5 Chrystall GDST Public Speaking Competition

Year 11 student Lexy travelled to Cardiff to take part in the prestigious GDST competition

On Wednesday 22 January, High School student Lexy, accompanied by Daria and Mr Viesel, travelled to compete in the annual Year 11 Chrystall Carter GDST Public Speaking competition. After stopping in Birmingham and Bristol we made it to Cardiff, Wales! We were warmly welcomed by Howell’s School, Llandaff, and were impressed by their ‘Great Hall’, which oozed history and intellectual debate.

Our heat of the competition included five schools with topics ranging from ‘Comedians should not have to apologise for their jokes’ to whether ‘Fashion should be a form of escapism and not a form of imprisonment’, with exy arguing that ‘We all need to be a bit childish.’ Lexy spoke very eloquently, outlining her clear reasons as to why we all need to be more childish in order to find more fulfilment in life. Furthermore, she was able to respond to audience questions with focused and well thought-through answers, delivered in a natural and fluent manner.

The standard this year was truly excellent, and despite Lexy’s strong performance, Oxford High went through to the next round. With the competition ending ahead of schedule, we trekked back to Northampton via Gloucester and Long Buckby. I can safely say that this trip greatly improved our knowledge of the whereabouts of British towns!

However, the competition itself was most enlightening and we are grateful to the GDST for organising the competition, and to Howell’s School for hosting the event, as well as gifting each of us their school’s delicacy – Welsh Cakes!

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