The Junior Speaking Contest is an event organized by the British Council and the European Platform.  It’s aimed at second and third year students participating in bilingual education.  All competitors have to write and deliver a speech, which should be between three and a half and four minutes long, on a given subject.  The contest gives pupils a chance to demonstrate both their fluency in English, as well as their public speaking skills.

Every year de Meergronden enters a pupil from each category to represent the school in the regional rounds, since only one candidate per year is allowed to enter, preliminary rounds are held at school to select the best candidate.

This year Anne van Lieshout (HV2t)  and Fabian Bleeksma (HV3t) were selected to represent the school in Emmen.  The subject of this year’s contest was technology and all speeches had to be about this subject.   Both students did extremely well and Fabian even won his round which automatically  qualified him for the finals, which were to be held on 2 April in the Jacobi theatre in Utrecht. 

The finals took place last week and Fabian performed his speech with confidence and conviction, the standard of all the speeches was extremely high and although he delivered his speech brilliantly, first place eluded him.  We are extremely proud of his achievements and are certain that there will be other pupils to follow in his footsteps in the years to come.