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Churchill Academy & Sixth Form

Year 8 Public Speaking Competition

On Wednesday 19th June, 13 plucky Year 8 students pitted their wits against each other in the Year 8 Public Speaking Competition organised by the English Department. Each student was tasked with the opportunity to display their verbal dexterity on a topic of their choice. 

In front of their peers, parents and three judges, the students spoke eloquently, informatively and confidently about a broad range of topics ranging from the entirely fictional existence of dinosaur worms, the art of procrastination and the perils of VAR. 

It was an excellent display of what Churchill Academy students can achieve and a thoroughly enjoyable event.

Well done to all the students who took part and congratulations to the winners:

 

Overall winner: Eleanor Worley - read the winning speech here

Climate Change Is Great!

By Eleanor Worley

Year 8 Public Speaking Competition 19/06/2024

 

Hello! My name is Eleanor and I have written a speech

about why climate change is great. Isn’t it? We all love

warm weather, right? As shown by 26% of people in the

UK going to Spain every year especially in the winter

when it is an average of 9 degrees warmer in Spain than

here when it rains even in June. Global Warming is

making the planet warmer and by the year 2100 the

temperature is estimated to have risen by 5 degrees

Celsius. This could improve our economy because people

in unbearably hot countries can travel to the UK for a

more comfortable summer in the not too hot Sun. But

what does this mean for other countries.

In the coldest parts of the Earth, such as Antarctica,

there are large ice burgs which are the home to seals,

walruses, polar bears and penguins which are the 12 th

most loved animal and chocolate snack in the world, but

the year 2100 half of the worlds ice burgs will have

melted along with the loved animals that will then be

extinct. But that’s not the only problem because the

melted ice will have nowhere to go and flood the Earth

where Belgium, 30% of Germany and halve of the

Netherlands will disappear by 2100.

The year 2100 may be 76 years away and won’t apply to

most people in this room but it will apply to your

grandchildren and even your current children, for

 

example, I would be 89 and positively thriving, unless I

lived in Belgium that is.

So, what is causing climate change to happen? We are!

Humans – the most populous mammal on the planet-

only recently, November 2022, the 8 billionth baby was

born in a world where we pollute the planet with fast

cars and planes allowing us to travel to Spain- pumping

large amounts of Co2 into the atmosphere. Although, for

some of us these aren’t simple choices about luxuries

whether that is to heat your home or drive to work.

However, all the burning fossil fuels you would think that

nobody cared for the loved animals.

 

So, let me conclude, climate change and preventing

global warming is a huge challenge of balancing,

competing needs and priorities. I think most of us would

welcome a bit more sunshine in the UK but what I’ve

learnt is that climate change isn’t just about it getting

warmer, it’s about terrible extremes of weather that are

so damaging to so many different communities. So

maybe climate change isn’t so great, and I should

probably change the title of my speech.

Thank you for listening.

Best use of humour: Xavier Kierle

Most passionate speech: Lilly Harris

Most powerful message: Wilfred Powell