A Year 7 competition combining photography and oratory proved that public speaking has the power to move people as little else can.
Pupils from the year group ‘bubble’ gathered in the Main School Hall for the final of the contest in which QE’s newest pupils gave speeches describing their submitted photos that were by turns comic and reflective, informative and sad.
Head of Year 7 Tom Harrison said: “This year’s final was a showpiece of some of the finest public speakers Year 7 has to offer. The quality on show was outstanding and I found myself both laughing and close to tears at different speeches.”
He congratulated the overall winner, Zane Shah: “I am extremely proud of Zane, the other finalists and all the boys who put efforts into writing and delivering a speech this year.”
Although the images, which were projected on to a screen, were important to the event, it was, in fact, primarily a test of boys’ abilities as public speakers. They had to speak for up to three minutes about a chosen photo – not necessarily one they had taken themselves – and were judged on the content, style and delivery of their speech. The presentations were judged by the Headmaster, Neil Enright.
Mr Harrison got the proceedings under way with an introductory talk about the power of public speaking in which he mentioned that even the most powerful political leaders in the world can be exposed to ridicule if they show bad communication skills.
The six finalists, one from each Year 7 form, were then introduced by Mr Harrison.
Mathuran Arunan, from Harrisons’ House, spoke about a summer holiday photo from Torquay, recalling how he had spotted an elaborate sand sculpture and recounting funny moments, including thinking he might not survive a ride on a particularly frightening water slide: “What an embarrassing way to die!” He also spoke of how he enjoyed the Devon scenery and the time spent with his family, concluding: “Simple pleasures are often the best.”
Leicester’s Nishchal Thatte also had happy memories of time with his family – in his case, from a trip to Box Hill, where he, too, he enjoyed the scenic vistas: “The best part is, it’s free,” he said, adding that he “would love to cycle there one day”.
For Underne’s Orko Ghosh, it was a family holiday in Wales which generated “memories that we will treasure”.
There were very different emotions in Veer Gali Sanjeev’s speech. The Stapylton finalist took third place after displaying a photo of plastic pollution in a bush and asking: “What are we doing to our planet?”, adding that he felt anger and sadness at “the selfishness of the human race”.
Runner-up, for Broughton, was Shreyas Iyengar. He showed a holiday snap at the white cliffs of Dover. Walking to the top had been an achievement, he said, before adding “but the real take-away was spending time with my family”.
Zane’s winning speech was accompanied by a picture of the sunflower he had grown.
He spoke about growing it – a challenge set by his sister – and how it became a “therapy companion” to help him deal with the huge volume of homework he was receiving in his new School! Then it died, and he was crestfallen, feeling that by leaving it outside during a storm, he had failed to to help it thrive.
Then, however, he had an epiphany, as he realised that “the plant had been helping me” and that, with this horticultural assistance, “I had outgrown my worries” – worries which revolved around starting a new school and making friends there.
Mr Harrison said: “In the end, Zane was triumphant for Pearce House with a speech which talked about how the time he spent caring for a sunflower acted as a helping hand with, and a metaphor for, his first few weeks and months at QE.”
Merits from the annual competition were awarded to all six finalists, and there were also House points – 2 for sixth place, 4 for fifth, 7 for fourth, 10 for third, 14 for second and 20 points for the winner.
“This competition gives every boy the chance to have their voice heard. We firmly believe that our students need not only to develop a range of knowledge and talents within the classroom, but also the communication skills necessary to argue a point and to convey their opinion. It is also a fantastic opportunity for us to get to know a little bit more about our newest group of Elizabethans!” Mr Harrison concluded.
All younger boys – from Years 7 to 11 – can easily access the reading material they want by first making a reservation on the School’s eQE online platform, and then coming along in their year group’s time slot to pick up their books. This is done from a designated area just outside the Library. They can use the same time slot to return books, which are then quarantined in a sealed container.
This “taste” consisted of “a third-form summer trip [Year 9, in today’s parlance] to Denmark and Sweden, and later the exchange visits with Dortmund and Berlin”.
“This ambitious goal needed something special and a special teacher. Enter K.L.E.W. Woodland or Clue (as in “I haven’t a …”) as he was known to staff and pupils alike. But he did (… have a clue). He was one of the many middle-aged bachelor teachers on the staff, who appeared to have been left behind by life. Disruption to career and life in general was almost certainly a consequence of the war.”
“The exchange visits, in addition to experiencing German, Germans and Germany first-hand, developed me personally. As the Gruppenleiter, I was spokesman for our group, liaised with the local contacts and made small speeches of thanks at the steelworks and the brewery, hastily scribbled on the back of beer mats. In a strange way I felt less constrained and more confident abroad than back home in London, which probably explains why I have spent so much of my time outside the UK.” Tony is pictured here with his friend and classmate, Colin Lennard, on a visit to Berlin in 1963.
He went on from QE to read German at Nottingham University from 1963-1966, which included half a year in Freiburg. “My main memory is playing rugby for the university and being selected for Notts, Lincs and Derby and UAU Midlands. Rugby shadowed my travels and I also played for Frankfurt SC 1880 and, in the twilight of my rugby career, for Stockholm Exiles RFC.” One key difference with UK rugby union is that the Swedish season runs from May to September: “snow and ice are better suited to ice hockey!
He eventually concluded that it was not the career for him – “Selling salt, soda and various acids in Stoke-on-Trent was not my cup of coffee” – and after some three years he moved back into teaching. He was appointed to a role in charge of marketing specialist EFL [English as a Foreign Language] courses for the Colchester English Study Centre, a subsidiary of Oxford University Press.
Through learning on the job and imitating the successes of others, he developed his skills. “I started to cooperate with UK-based training and development organisations by delivering their programmes in Germany in German and English. By this time, 1976, I had left Sweden and moved to Germany.”
Tony carried on working until his early 70s and today keeps busy through his hobbies. These include music: “I have always dabbled in pop, rock and blues.” He played drums with a band, the Square Pegs, while at Nottingham, and also played the guitar. Family and work commitments prevented him from pursuing this much until recent years, when he started jamming with a number of musicians. “This culminated in the making of my Nostalgia CD and, a year later, my debut and farewell concert, both on the same evening, at the Wienerhof in Offenbach-Bieber.” The concert near Frankfurt, which featured Tony Norman and The Nostalgia All Stars, took place in 2018.
“I would say that our academic performance, combined with our superlative extra-curricular activities, our careful pastoral support and our commitment to ensuring Elizabethans go on to make significant contributions to wider society, mean that QE is not only remarkably consistent, but consistently remarkable, too.”
Mr Enright added: “We have continued to flex to the ever-changing coronavirus situation this term, ensuring that the academic progress of our pupils, their pastoral support and enrichment are maintained. Our established eQE remote learning platform has served us well, particularly as we have integrated it with Microsoft Teams and deployed other specialised online technologies to meet specific needs, such as SchoolCloud’s Parents Evening Video Appointments.”
Year 9 Drama Club members performed an abridged version of Hamlet – and thanks to QE’s year group bubble system, their entire year were able to watch the performance in the Main School Hall.
This year, it had originally been planned to live-stream performances, but in the end it was decided simply to have the boys perform live at the School, with Mr Bonham-Carter filming them.
On the day of the performance, which replaced a Year 9 English lesson, Mr Bonham-Carter introduced the occasion, saying that Hamlet is a “play for us all”.