St Mary’s College in Crosby has made a successful start to its 2011 public speaking campaign.

After winning the opening heat of the English Speaking Union’s national public speaking event, the school is now set to compete in the Liverpool finals at the city centre Athenaeum at the end of the month.  This is the twelfth successive year that St Mary’s has reached the Liverpool finals.

Success at the Athenaeum would result in a place in the national semi-finals for the tenth year in a row.  On three occasions - most recently in 2009 - the school has then gone on to reach the national finals of the competition in London.

This year’s team is made up of Nicholas Hicks (Chairman), Katie Malone (Questioner) and Ruth Cawdron (Speaker) who will be discussing the topic ‘Yes we can!’ at the Athenaeum.

The ESU event for year 10 and 11 pupils is designed to promote clear communication,with the youngsters being encouraged to pit their wits against one another in a polite, non-adversarial way.  Competitors are trained to listen carefully and speak confidently in a wide variety of contexts, adapting what they say and how they say it to different situations and people.

St Mary’s College Head of Sixth Form, Daniel Magill, commented: “The school has a very good track record in this event and, with another talented team representing us, we’re hopeful of more success this year.”

Talkative trio - Nicholas Hicks with Ruth Cawdron (left) and Katie Malone.

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