Winter 11 Featuring: The Buckingham Palace Awards Ceremony ...

ANNUAL FUNDRAISING APPEAL –
PUBLIC SPEAKING
COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS
Help school children develop their confidence, speech writing,
speaking and presentation skills and their ability to think
analytically on their feet.
Dear Members and Alumni
I am appealing to you to support our
Public Speaking Competition for
Schools. The ESU at Dartmouth House
is extremely grateful to the many
members in our branches who already
support this competition but we
urgently need more funding. I feel
confident writing to our members and
alumni because I know how important
this competition is to all of you and the
school children we support.
The cost of this competition annually is
£20,000.
The Public Speaking Competition for
Schools was started in 1960 by the
Brighton and Hove branch of the ESU.
It has evolved to become a highly
respected national competition, which
provides a forum for the promotion of
effective spoken English. Today the
competition is organised by the
National Public Speaking Coordinator
at Dartmouth House and by ESU
branches across England and Wales. It
is open to teams of three students in
Key Stage 4 (10 and11 year-olds) and
each team member takes one of three
roles – chairperson, speaker or
questioner. Unlike the ESU Schools
Mace, this is not a debating
competition. The format of the Public
Speaking Competition is nonconfrontational
in nature.
In addition to being an exciting
experience for the team, the model
achieves targets set by the Personal
Learning and Thinking Skills framework
as well as a wide range of National
Curriculum key concepts across the
subject areas.
Participation in this competition often
leads to great things – alumni include
prominent journalists, politicians and
business leaders.
How will your donation help
It will:
Provide necessary printed copies of the
(training) handbook for the children to
use at the competition.
This year we have been able to produce
a digital copy of the handbook only but
there is a balance to strike between
expensive distribution of hard copies
and printed copies that are needed to
help the students at the competition.
We cannot do this without funding.
Provide prizes to recognise the
achievement of the children who take
part.
The prizes are simple book tokens in
the early rounds but we would like to
be able to offer more significant prizes
in the regional and national finals.
Again we cannot do this without
funding.
Increase the reimbursement we give to
branch and regional organisers to
support the cost of organising the local
and regional competitions. This
reimbursement has not increased for a
number of years. Funds would cover
printing/photocopying costs and all
costs associated with organising a
regional final that reflects the occasion
and professionalism of the ESU.
Cover the expenses of the national
final, which is one of the most
prestigious events in the ESU’s
calendar. We need to pay for venue
hire, refreshments, programmes and
prizes, video recording and
photography.
Most importantly funding will make
public speaking training and
competitions accessible to children/
schools which wouldn’t otherwise be
able to access them. We would like to
offer bursaries for schools to enter the
competition by waiving the registration
fee and offer a free session of the
ESU’s ‘Discover Your Voice’
programme.
Please give whatever you can – all gifts
are gratefully received.
With best wishes
Jo Wedderspoon
Director of Fundraising and
Development
You can donate by sending a cheque
to:
Jo Wedderspoon
Director of Fundraising and
Development
“Public Speaking Competition Appeal”
The English-Speaking Union
Dartmouth House
37 Charles Street
London W1J 5ED
Or you can make a credit card donation
by telephoning Jo on 020 7529 1576.
Are you registered for Gift Aid with
the ESU
Most members are but if you are not
sure please contact Jo.