STUDENTS and staff from Queen Elizabeth’s competed in a Public Speaking event organised through the English Speaking Union at Blundell’s School - and finished in third place. 

English teacher, Kate Bentham, and Year 10 students, Toby Moran-Mylett, Alana Marshall, Dan Ley, Charlie Rose, Lauren Abdey and Harriet Wood, knew this would be a gruelling challenge.

For the competition, teams of three students in Key Stage 4 compete, with each team member taking one of three roles – chairperson, speaker or questioner.

Team one spoke to ‘All nations have a right to nuclear weapons’; Toby as the Speaker, Alana as the Chairperson and Dan as the Questioner.

Team two spoke to ‘It is OK to kill one to save many’; Charlie as the Speaker, Lauren as the Chairperson and Harriet as the Questioner.

After a difficult, but interesting day, QE took a very creditable third place, narrowly missing out to Blundell’s School and Colyton Grammar.

Kate Bentham, English teacher, said “We are very proud of the six students who took part in this very challenging competition. They were truly outstanding, especially when you consider what strong competition they were up against. Congratulations to them all”.