Public Speaking in the Spotlight in the Top End

Every year, the seven urban Catholic primary schools in the Top End of the NT come together for the annual Catholic Primary Schools Public Speaking Competition. One Year 6 student is selected through their school process, to represent their school at the combined event.  Students present a two minute speech on a prepared topic, as well as respond for one minute to an impromptu topic that is given just before their allocated time.

Judges for the event are drawn from the local community and this year the judges were: Courtney from MacKillop Catholic College, Robyn Craig from Catholic Education Northern Territory, and Athina Pascoe- Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston.

The students are judged on: structure of speech, language used, attention to topic, audience impact and timing.

This year, the event was hosted by Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Palmerston.  The topic for 2019 was  “Space exploration is a waste of time and money,” and the worthy winner was Vincent Nguyen from St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School in Humpty Doo.  He clearly detailed his response which was supported by very strong arguments.  His impromptu response to his three favourite foods certainly kept the audience entertained!

With all of the Year 6 students from our urban primary schools gathered together, this was a great opportunity to share in the Eucharist with a Mass celebrated by Fr Tom English.  After the Mass, the students divided up into groups and spent time in a range of sporting activities before a shared lunch.

Catholic Education Northern Territory has the slogan “Faith in their Future” and this day certainly highlighted that as a network of schools, we really do have faith in their future.