Young Speakers' Club
The Young Speakers’ Club runs at lunchtime every Tuesday, in Mr Durrheim’s room within the English Department. Open to pupils in Forms 1 - 3 of the Senior School, it evolved from what was a junior branch of the Debating Club. As well as providing a platform for debating teams to try out and to practise their skills, the Club also gives members opportunities to engage in other forms of public speaking and presentation. Amongst other things, the club offers a variety of activities such as Balloon Debates, Mock Trials, Just A Minute, Call My Bluff and recently, a very popular variation on Question Time.
As a departure from the traditional format of alternating between debating and these other options, the club recently yoked Term 2 to Term 3 with a sequence of four lively debates on popular and controversial motions such as “This House Thinks rugby is better than football”. This enticed a wider section of the school community to come along and see what the club has to offer.
The Young Speakers' Club still maintains its link with the Senior Debaters and Mrs Ovenstone-Jones acts as liaison with a foot in both camps. She is kept busy training and coaching the Young Speaker teams for competitive debating as well as working with Mrs McGrath’s senior teams. Mr Meechan has recently joined the club, bringing his youthful enthusiasm to the table and, as always, Mr Durrheim is there to add his not inconsiderable weight to things!