Unleashing the power of speech

By Kelly Carmody

Jul 14, 2023

Learning skills: Girgarre Primary School student Holly O’Neill was one of the school’s winners last term in the Junior Public Speaking Competition run by Lions Australia.

Each year, more and more schools become involved with the Junior Public Speaking Competition run by Lions Australia.

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The confidence-building program, which began in 2007, gives primary school students an opportunity to develop their ability to speak in public.

The program also hopes to further expand students’ knowledge and understanding of particular topics while working on ways to express thoughts and feelings through speech.

All students from Years 3 to 6 are given a topic and are asked to prepare a speech of three to four minutes to deliver in front of parents, peers and a judging panel.

This year’s topics saw students writing fictional speeches around the topic ‘Oh no — you’ve turned into a giant’ and reporting on factual strange world records.

At the end of last term, Girgarre Primary School took part in the program, and school principal Peter Caldow said it was a pleasure to watch.

“The confidence that each student displayed was phenomenal,” Mr Caldow said.

“Thanks to Avis Weller for supporting our school to participate in this competition.

“Congratulations to our student winners.”

Zara McKenzie and Holly O’Neill were the school’s winners and will now progress to the next round of the competition against other students in the region.

By Kelly Carmody