National Successes for Telford Young Speakers

A team of three Sixth Form students from Thomas Telford School has won two major national Public Speaking competitions - National Rotary Youth Speaks and the BPW (Business and Professional Women) Public Speaking Competition - with a lively defence of Barbie dolls and each of the three also won individual awards.

It was a busy Easter for seventeen year old Poppy Bennett from Horton, Helen Barnett (16 from Randlay) and Tom Coram (17, from Wellington). First, they swept the board at the BPW competition, beating regional teams from across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Not only did the team pick up the Dalton Trophy as national team winners, but the judges awarded Helen Barnett the Elizabeth Peacock Cup as ‘Best Speaker with a Little Extra’ and Tom Coram received the Carillion Trophy as Best Expresser of Thanks.

Then, just a couple of weeks later, the team triumphed again at the National Rotary Youth Speaks Final where they were up against seven other regional winning teams from across the UK. As well as the team prize, the judges voted Poppy Bennett as the Best Chairperson.

The team’s Speaker, Helen gave a spirited talk - ‘Don’t Blame Barbie’ - when she argued that, far from being a bad influence on girls, Barbie as a clean living young woman with good habits and a strong work ethic with over 100 careers, is a good role model.

Thomas Telford School’s Public Speaking coach, Mr John Birkett commented: “We are enormously proud of our team. They demonstrated their ability to learn as they progressed through the competitions and developed both their teamwork and individual skills to reach their best in the final stages.