Enfield school wins London Region Public Speaking Competition

St. John’s Senior School beat off competition from 90 London schools to be crowned the regional winners of the Churchill National Public Speaking Competition.
Held at the HQ of the world famous English Speaking Union, Dartmouth House, St. John’s team had qualified for the London finals following an impressive debating display in the local rounds.
St. John’s team consisted of students Ryan Boroughs, Elizabeth Jonscher and Vraj Bhatt who were guided and coached by teacher Antigoni Efstathiou.
Headmaster Mr. Andrew Tardios accompanied the team to Dartmouth House and was immensely proud to see his students win the ‘London Cup’.
“Ryan (Speaker) was eloquent, informative and smart. He answered questions thrown at him from the challenging team, from the audience and even from one of the judges, with good sense, clarity and, what counted a great deal, with sincerity,” explained Mr Tardios.
“Elizabeth (Chairperson) was responsible for keeping the participants and the proceedings on track and then to summarise, succinctly, the main points made by each side. She had an aura of natural sophistication and spoke with courtesy and dignity throughout. Vraj (Questioner) had the task of probing the opposing speaker’s speech with questions that would demonstrate to the judges that he had the ability to think fast on his feet in order to test the basis of the opponent’s argument.”
Following feedback from the judges and photographs with the trophy, the team made their way back to the nearby Ritz Hotel, where they enjoyed refreshments and celebrated their success.
They will now prepare to take on the winners from other regions in England and Wales for the National championship, which will be held on the 30th April 2016 at Churchill College, University of Cambridge.