Youth Speaks Competition

On Tuesday 5th November, two teams  from Old Palace went to Royal Russell to participate in the annual ‚ÄòYouth Speaks‚Äô
competition organised by the Rotarians. 
Our Intermediate team spoke first on the subject of ‚ÄòStreet art and social justice ‚Äì the politics of Banksy‚Äô considering how Banksy uses his artwork for the benefit of the local communities in the UK. Shelise from Year 8 was chair person and gave an excellent introduction while Sumaiya, as main speaker, impressed the audience with her eloquence.  Finally, Catherine effectively summarised the presentation, making it clear that Banky‚Äôs street artwork should be appreciated and not exploited, which is one of the dangers of creating
free, public artwork by a famous artist.
The Senior team chose ‘Should capital punishment continue to exist?’ as the focus of their presentation. Isobel did a fine
job of chairing proceedings while our main speaker, Fiona, spoke passionately about this difficult and emotive topic,
highlighting some appalling miscarriages of justice.  Emma‚Äôs Vote of Thanks concluded the presentation and underlined
the inhumanity of capital punishment. 
Speaking for six minutes in front of a large audience was certainly nerve-wracking, but on reflection this was a worthwhile skill to master. Both Senior and Intermediate teams presented eloquent and well-structured arguments, so congratulations to both of them. Well done particularly to the Intermediate team for winning first place in their category!
Finally,  a big thank you to Mrs Parker and Miss McCabe who organised Old Palace‚Äôs participation in the Youth Speaks
competition.
Shelise, Year 9 and Emma, Year 12