Schools from across the island took part in annual public speaking competitions sponsored by the Rotary Club of Douglas.

The winning team in the junior competition was St John’s School, while the senior title was successfully defended by Ballakermeen High School’s team.

Andrew Swithinbank,the chairman of the Rotary’s youth committee and the master of ceremonies for the events, said: ’We are delighted the adjudicators took the time to give feedback to all the teams as the Rotary is committed to encouraging and developing the abilities of children.

’As well as showcasing and celebrating their talents, we hope the competitions have provided a learning experience which will help equip participants for a future in which the analysis of a subject, creativity in presenting it and confidence to speak well in public will be core life skills.

The Rotary Club of Douglas’s youth opportunities committee worked in partnership with the Department of Education, Sport and Culture to organise the 55th annual competition.

The aim is to give pupils the chance to develop and demonstrate their skills in public speaking.

All the schools had held an internal competition first to decide who would represent theirs in the island-wide events.

The winning junior team, from St John’s School, was ably chaired by Ealish Ayres.

The main speaker Summer Rose enthralled the audience with a talk entitled ’If I were an animal I would be...’ surprising them with the answer: ’...a cockroach’.

Bel Hughes in her vote of thanked Summer for eloquently explaining the many reasons why she would be a cockroach.

The winning team in the senior competition was Ballakermeen High School which as last year’s winners hosted the event.

Successfully defending their winning position were team chairperson Brintha Yasodaran andmain speaker Paulina Kurzydlowska who made clear her feelings on the beginning of the working week in her talk ’I don’t like Mondays’.

Together with the vote of thanks from Conor Harper they conducted a thorough debate on whether in the interests of well-being and health care resources, Mondays should be removed from the calendar.

Mr Swithinbank said: ’This year it was noticeable how pupils at both primary and secondary schools were skilled in thoroughly analysing and presenting subjects.

’They were challenging and topical ranging from the nature and future of education in and outside the classroom, through "Is artificial intelligence anxiety inducing or a helping hand?" to how even the traumatic experiences of terrorist attacks can have a silver lining.’

Confidence

Giving feedback from the judges, Anne Clark, who is vice- chairman of the Manx Music, Speech and Drama Festival (The Guild), made it clear that not only the subject matter was important but also the clarity and confidence of presentation and the poise and interaction of all members of the school teams.

Rotary Club of Douglas president Wayne Tomlinson commented the high quality and variety this year meant it was a particularly tough choice for the judges panel which he chaired.

The winning schools received a cheque from the Rotary for £500.

And the first, second and third prize team members and individuals who made a special contribution received book tokens, sponsored by the Lockington Marshall Trust.