SPEAKERS: These five sixth formers from The Arnewood School have completed an intensive public speaking course. From left to right: Katherine Charles, Samantha Fagan, course leader Clive Wren, Rebecca Reece, Daisy Sheppard and Henry Lowndes.
Five sixth form students from the New Forest roused audiences with their new found public speaking skills.
The talented Year 12 students from The Arnewood School in New Milton gave speeches Winston Churchill would have been proud of, thanks to an intensive six week course on public speaking.
Their training culminated in a speech day when the teenagers had to give compelling speeches to parents, school staff and governors.
Headteacher Nigel Pressnell was one of the guests and was wowed by the students’ impressive speaking skills.
He said: “Six weeks ago the students were all complete novices when it came to public speaking.
“And in that short time, thanks to some excellent training, they were transformed from novices to seasoned politicians.
“All of their speeches were extremely powerful and inspiring. It was a very proud moment to witness how far they had come.”
The five students – Rebecca Reece, Katherine Charles, Samantha Fagan, Henry Lowndes and Daisy Sheppard – completed a demanding, and often nerve-racking, course on public speaking.
For six weeks they attended an hour long course covering different themes such as, how to structure a speech, gestures, pausing, using anecdotes and concluding.
The course also used good and bad role models such as, Barrack Obama and Gordon Brown, to give the students examples on what to emulate and avoid.
Their final speech day tackled a range of subjects, including global poverty, defending pessimism and engaging young people in politics.
One of the talented orators, Rebecca Reece, said: “This whole experience was very challenging and I have learned some very valuable skills that I am sure help me in the future.”
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