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Rising Voices of Unity – Girls’ School Speech Finals

August 29, 2024 at 11:43 AM

The 2024 Girls' School Rehu Tai Festival of Oral Language finals brought together the finest young orators, each tasked with addressing the theme of Kotahitanga (Unity). Over two days, participants from Years 4-8 captivated audiences of their peers and parents, sharing where they see unity in their lives.

Year 7 students opened with compelling speeches. Layla Tuala-Glassie took first place with Don't forget your roots. She shared a snippet of each culture comprising her identity, realising she herself was a picture of unity. Other finalists included Alyssa Dempsey with Young leaders unite, Tamia Tavita-Falesiu with Supporting each other, and Monia Qian with Take a stand against racism. In the Spoken Word category, Libby Lawson’s Equals earned her top honours, with finalists Emily Folkard presenting The battlefield of unity, Ria Toemen delivered The glue, and Isabel Selwyn asked What would happen?.

In the Year 8 Persuasive Speech category, Ellie Harrison won with Global passports, advocating for a document to allow us to travel freely. Farrah Palmer with The power of a smile, Anna Lonergan with We don't need unity, and Yiyi Jiang with #Done for: Why we should cancel 'cancel culture' provided her some stiff competition. In the Spoken Word category, Coco Veber-Nichols strong delivery of It's 2024! Why are we still at war claimed first place, alongside performances by Millie Peters and Katelyn Klette with their shared theme Dreams of unity.

For Year 6, Grace Baker won the Persuasive Speech category with Be united against bullying, followed by Annika Wells with Stop school pollution, Noor Kaur’s AI divides us, and Hattie Whitwell’s plea to Stop animal abuse. In the Spoken Word category, Christine Cooney won with United once and for all, in a talented category with Charlotte McGuinness’ Unity is a key and Lara France’s War.

In Year 4, Georgia Henderson won with The great cast of lockdown – a clever recounting of a rather unfortunate start to her Covid-19 experience. She was joined in the finals by Olivia Boyd with Gymnastics, Mofan Yang with Memorable Beijing in winter, and Valentina Lee with My singing competition. Year 5 flashtalks saw Rachel Hu claim first place with How bees and ants show unity, joined by Joanne Gao with Stop bullying, Olivia Ouwerkerk with Unity in tigers, and Bella Cheung with Unity in sport.

Following the finals, our Year 8 winners Coco Veber-Nichols and Ellie Harrison represented the school at the Remuera Cluster Rehu Tai Festival of Oral Language. Ellie earned an impressive second place in the Prepared Speech category, tapping into the wishful holiday-makers ultimate desire to have all-access pass to the globe. Congratulations to our finalists, school representatives, and all those involved in preparing our girls to be influential orators.

Our Year 5 and 6 students also represented school at Remuera Cluster Rehu Tai Festival of Oral Language. We had two third placegetters, Rachel Hu in the Flashtalk category and Christine Cooney with her Spoken Word. Congratulations to our finalists, school representatives, and all those involved in preparing our girls to be influential orators.

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