Last night, Oathall triumphed at the Youth Speaks competition with both the senior and Intermediate teams beating teams from Ardingly college.
The stage was set. The water glasses were filled. The teams had been practising for weeks. The chairperson stood up and proceedings began. First up were the Intermediate teams. Ben White (Chairperson), Joshua Lade (Speaker) and Dan Blain (Vote of Thanks), aided by Miss Slade, took to the floor with a well crafted presentation about the value of enrichment activities. The team were impressive in their time keeping and attention to detail; Josh deftly answered a question from the audience. The other teams from Ardingly Prep School were not easy to beat, they also had superb presentations, however the passion for the farm shone through and the team won the overall performance, with Joshua winning best speaker.
Boosted by the Intermediate team victory, the Senior team: Jack Lewis (Chairperson), Phoebe Freeman (Speaker) and Helen Wilson (Vote of Thanks), aided by Mrs Murray, then took the stage. Social media and how it is eroding society was the topic of choice for the Senior Team and they navigated this tricky topic with anecdotes and excellent techniques. The audience were captivated and, although again Ardingly put in two impressive performances, the Oathall Senior Team were just too good on the night, winning overall performance and Phoebe winning best speaker.
Oathall will now be entered for the Southern Intermediate Final on the 7th of February at the Weald School and the Southern Senior Final on the 10th of February at Shoreham Academy. This is a fantastic achievement and the teams should be very proud of themselves.
