Fir Tree and Speenhamland pupils win big in Trinity School’s annual public speaking competition

SCHOOL pupils have been recognised after competing in an annual public speaking competition.

On Thursday, June 15, three schools in the Newbury Academy Trust came together for the annual House Speeches and Primary Speeches Competition, hosted at Trinity School.

The winning lower school team was from Speenhamland Primary School, which presented an inspiring speech on Anne Frank.

After the primary school speeches, the stage was set for a fierce face-off between the Trinity Houses involving pupils from Years 7 to 12.

The winning House was Pegasus, which spoke about ‘Disney’ and ‘overcoming adversity’.

And the award for Best Speaker was presented to Tabitha Higgins in lower school and Ruairi Hopkins-McQuillan in upper school.

Three ex-students formed the judging panel.

These included Pierce Jones and Alex McQuillan, both University of Oxford graduates and previous speakers.

The pair were joined by Elle Codling, who is now Trinity School’s librarian.

Speaking about the competition, executive headteacher Charlotte Wilson said: “This was a wonderful event bringing together our three schools.

“The theme was inspiration, but it was our students who truly inspired each other.”