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| Tom, Rhiannon and Odhran |
Mr Dale writes:
Chailey – in the form of Odhran O’Donoghue
(Speaker), Rhiannon Goss (Chair) and Tom Stone (Questioner) - emerged victorious
in the area heat of the English Speaking Union competition held at Brighton College
and comprising teams from Priory, Brighton
College itself, Moira House and
Brighton and Hove
School
All three were highly commended for their
contributions. Odhran’s wonderfully inventive rumination on the title ‘The
search for extra terrestrial activity is a colossal waste of government time and
money’ won him plaudits from every sector of the transfixed audience – but in
particular from the judges who regarded it as ‘superb’.
He spoke without notes for 5 minutes, riding
the laughs, as he very cleverly and often satirically attacked the proposition.
Equally eloquently he then defended himself against a barrage of questions from
the audience and other students.
Just as important – as this is a team
competition – were the contributions of Rhiannon and Tom, both of whom had to
join the team from Priory for their presentation. Rhiannon commanded the stage
increasingly ‘developing a good rapport with the audience’ as one of the judges
remarked. Tom had the potentially tricky job of probing a very clever speech
about dying with dignity but he carried it off with aplomb and emerged as the
best questioner of the night.
The school together with Priory go forward
to the area final leaving three prestigious public schools in their wake – all
the more piquant in the light of Mr Gove’s recent remarks.
