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IGS - Primary Speaks Competition
Thea in Roddick 1 sent this report:
Last Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 students travelled to Invicta to participate in the newly relaunched Primary Speaks competition. Students from East Farleigh Primary School, Roseacre Junior School, St Andrew’s Primary School, Oakfield Primary School and Valley Invicta Primary Academy at Leybourne Chase all arrived ready to start the day.
Miriam in Frank 1, Lead Ambassador, organised the event on behalf of the Maidstone Museum Ambassadors in association with the MMF. The aim of the day was to encourage a range of young people to become involved and interested with the amazing local resources and collections that the museum provides while also developing important research skills and gaining confidence with public speaking in a positive environment. The day unfolded without a hitch and with smiles all around.
After arriving, the students gathered in the Mezz where Miriam gave a short welcome speech, detailing the day’s events and reading a previous winning speech for inspiration. This was followed by an address from Mrs Giles, who welcomed all our visitors to Invicta before they got started on their project. And, before long, our guests were excitedly writing away.
Each school group was supervised by one of our student mentors, who supported in finding ideas, composing, and performing a one-minute speech. Each mentor was assigned a collection from Maidstone Museum, which became the topic for their group’s speeches as they used the internet to research independently.
While the collections formed inspiration for the basis of their research, each participant could choose to focus on any aspect they chose, drawing from the website’s provided factsheet. The students showed great creativity, and we were especially impressed with their ability to compile facts and their own opinions on topics ranging from the discovery of the Maidstone Iguanodon to historical sporting attire.
After all their hard work researching and writing their speeches, the students were addressed by our guest speaker, Trevor Sturgess from the MMF, who kindly gave up his afternoon to deliver a short speech and act as a judge in the competition stage. He spoke about the importance of speaking skills, interacting with local museums and his hope for the next generation to continue their enthusiasm for the local youth ambassador scheme. This provided an important link for us all between Wednesday’s event and our ongoing hope to encourage local youth participation in the museum.
And then the competition began...
Each student admirably presented their minute-long speech, bravely standing on a stage in front of their peers and a panel of judges formed by Miriam, Trevor and Mr MacDonald. The enthusiasm displayed was certainly impressive, whether they were discussing gemstones, Viking inventions, the Ancient Egyptian hierarchy, the advantages of moving to Japan, Mayan astronomy or ancient death rituals and belief systems- these speeches were certainly entertaining!
Congratulations to Ishaan, specially commended for his amazing delivery and Rachel who came in second place. Rachel’s speech certainly made us all consider the importance of sustainable fashion and how this could be incorporated in the Maidstone Museum. A special well done to Aashish from Roseacre Junior School, whose enthusiasm about Japanese toilets had us all entertained. We look forward to hearing where these public speaking skills will take you in the future.
We would like to thank all the students and teachers who took the time to travel to Invicta and participate in this successful event, with a special thank you to our student mentors, supervising staff and guest Judge Trevor Sturgess.
