The senior and intermediate teams performed very well in the national finals of the BPW and Rotary competitions respectively. The senior team of Jacob Wilson, Rilly Chen and Laura Millar were named national runners-up and awarded the Anne Simms trophy. Jacob won an award for being the best chairman in the competition and was described by the judge as having the “X factor”. The competition in Oswestry was of a very high standard and the CRGS team put in an excellent performance despite the fact that main speaker Rilly Chen was a late stand-in for Robert Parini who was on the school’s Classics trip. Rilly brought a Chinese perspective to the topic ‘what do we learn from history?’ and showed her insights and intelligence in responding to some very probing questions.

The intermediate team of Jack Wilby, Jake Humbles and Afham Raoof represented the school with distinction in Somerset. They were representing not only CRGS but also London and South East in the national finals. They ‘wowed’ the audience with their speech on ‘why learn a language?’ but unfortunately did not get the judges’ vote on the day. Nonetheless they performed impressively and enjoyed the experience of competing at a national level. As a prize they were rewarded with a tour of the BBC, a visit to the Houses of Parliament and tea with Baroness Hayman, Lord Speaker in the House of Lords.
My thanks to Mr Smy who coached and accompanied the team throughout the competition.

Mr K Jenkinson