The first Public Speaking Event organised by the Lanarkshire Lieutenancy took place in the Banqueting Hall Hamilton, attended by four schools from across the county on Friday 29th March 2019.
Pupils attending the event from Uddingston Grammar School have produced the following update for the Lieutenancy Website along with a photograph taken by Isla Reidford .
“Lord Lieutenant Lady Haughey CBE welcomed everyone and thanked pupils and staff for their involvement. There was a special mention to the 20 pupils taking part representing each school. Lady Haughey finished her welcome by introducing the subject of the event – Citizens in our schools and community.
Bellshill Academy kicked off the event by greeting the panel and pupils attending before giving their wonderful speech. Dalziel High school were invited to ask a few questions and congratulated the pupils of Bellshill Academy for their excellent speech.
Dalziel High School were next to speak and they confidently spoke without any prompts. They welcomed the panel by name as well as the pupils involved. Larkhall Academy were invited to ask a few questions about their speech.
Larkhall Academy were third to speak and they spoke with confidence about citizenship in their school. In particular about a teacher in their school and her experience of gaining British Citizenship. Uddingston Grammar were invited to ask Larkhall Academy some questions.
Finally, Uddingston Grammar spoke with confidence about the citizens of the school. They mentioned a number of different initiatives that take place within the school community. Their speech was finished off by Bellshill Academy asking a few questions.
A representative from each school was invited back to the stage to each answer a question from the judging panel. The panel asked each pupil their opinion on the difficulty of the citizenship test. Each school gave an excellent response. The judging panel and the pupil panel were asked to complete their final evaluations and hand them in. The panel then took a short break to discuss the winner and final outcome.
Lord Willie Haughey as Chair of the Judging Panel thanked all 4 schools for their participation and then called each school in alphabetical order to receive their prizes. He then announced the winners – Dalziel High School.
Pupils from Dalziel High school were called to the stage to receive the trophy and prize from the Lord Lieutenant .
Finally, the Executive Directors for South and North Lanarkshire – Mr Tony McDaid and Mr Derek Brown thanked pupils from all schools and the judges for their participation in the event.
It seemed to be an enjoyable event all around, the audience was made up of pupils from the participating schools and all were exceptionally behaved. “
Congratulations again to all four schools taking part in this inaugural event – the standards achieved were excellent and reflected a tremendous amount of work in research and preparation . All of the pupils taking part should be very proud of their achievements and they were certainly all a credit to their respective schools .
Special thanks are due to South Lanarkshire Council for hosting the event , master of ceremonies Sheriff Robert Dickson DL , organiser John McKenzie DL, the judging panel and education staff who all worked so well as a team and contributed to the success of what will surely be the first of many public speaking competitions for schools in Lanarkshire .
Article written by Uddingston Grammar Pupils
Photography by Uddingston Grammar Pupils