Year 9 DLS pupils were challenged to plan, prepare, and deliver a four-minute speech on a topic of interest and a 200-word story for their final DLS project.

The speeches were jointly judged by staff and pupils.

Joint 1^st place: Emilia Dillon and Harrison Strange. Harrison chose to share his knowledge of the Battle of Gallipoli through description of the events and commemoration in the present day. He was very knowledgeable and was able to answer questions from the audience in detail. His story was a dramatization of the battle with a haunting ending. Emilia confidently and maturely explored the concepts of feminism and equality; reviewed as ‘superb’ by one judge. Emilia’s story was a moving description of Malala Yousafzai accepting her Nobel Peace Prize.

Joint 2^nd place: Charlie Brice and Yoel Adato. Yoel delivered an interesting and well-structured speech on the benefits of drumming and his story was an imaginative first-hand account of being asked to join Metallica in concert. Charlie shared information on allergies to give an insight to living with these which included an Epi-Pen demonstration. His story was a fictional first-hand account of how serious allergies can be.

Highly commended:

Bert Dicker for his engaging speech on the one child family considering different viewpoints and a humorous story on this topic.

Edward Cripps took the topic of jam to new heights with an in depth look which engaged staff and pupils alike. His story was told from the point of view of an apple with a lesson for us all: enjoy your life, you only get one chance.

William Edmeades Stern for his speech on Space Junk using humour and language to good effect with a story of an astronaut’s final moments in space.

Thomas Knowles spoke on the Battle of Hastings describing the events in vivid detail and wrote a first-hand account of the battle with a dramatic ending. 

“Without equality we will not have a variation of ideas if the same people are in government and running companies…..[equality] helps us all out with less poverty and more peace and stability.” Emilia Dillon (speech)

 “The wind in my hair is being trailed by a line of sweat as I run down towards the commanding officer, I hear the whistle blow signaling the Turkish assault then I was dreading the bodies that they would rack up and I knew this was the end …” Harrison Strange (story)

The crowd erupted; the floor vibrated and I witnessed 1.6 million rock gestures shoot into the air. It was the most memorable, spectacular, and striking performance I have ever been a part of……” Yoel Adato (story)

 “I am going to be talking to you about a subject that, through no fault of my own, I know a lot about. Yes, I am talking about allergies because I suffer with a variety of allergies that mean I must take very good care and know a lot about how my body reacts to different substances.” Charlie Brice (speech)