On Thursday evening, Gresham’s A and B teams travelled down to St Benedict’s Catholic School in Bury St Edmunds for the second round of the English-Speaking Union Churchill Public Speaking Competition.

Lola H gave a confident and assured speech exploring the quotation from Martin Luther King “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and performed very well under cross examination. Her partner Hennie D then chaired the next debate, whilst Irene T delivered some probing questioning.

In our third debate, Sophia L was a friendly Chair who summarised the debate superbly, whilst Katharina M carried out impressive follow-up questions. The evening concluded with a memorable speech performed by Pullo W on the topic ‘Borders do not separate people, they separate ideas.’

The standard of competition was very high with only two teams being selected for Round 3 and Gresham’s B – Sophia, Katharina and Pullo – was one of those selected. This is the furthest we have progressed in this competition so far, so many congratulations to all six, but especially to Gresham’s B.

Thank you to the ESU for providing three expert judges and to St Benedict’s for hosting.