John Scottus School prides itself on clear expression and the need for us all to be aware of our voice.. This was clearly conveyed in our Literacy Week and Annual Speech Competition which took place in December 2019.This  week focuses on the power of  truthful expression and the love of ideas and included events such as :‘Dress up as your favourite literary character’ event, specific time for reading throughout the week and an inspirational assemblies where we looked at writers’ views of finding their ‘voice’.

Another key component of our Literacy Week is our  speech Competition and we all gathered in the great hall to be entertained and delighted by the thoughts, ruminations and observations of our great and brave students. The speeches were diverse and gave us an insight into issues and concerns the students had in many areas such as The importance of Chickens  (by Anahita Aryan in  Second Year who won first prize ) ,ADHD  (by  Noah Denning from Third  Year who came second) and Why you should own a pet (by Vasilisa Ostrikova  who was awarded third prize in the Junior category. Other speeches in this category included Sports that should not be called sports! (By Anthony Adewuyi in Second Year), Why children should learn music  (by Ferdia Punch in First Year) and the final contributor was Adam Free from Third Year with his speech on ‘What is school for’?The Senior Cycle students examined topics ranging from Colours (by Molly Cavanagh in Sixth Year), Technology (by Nathan Boissier in Fifth Year), Is it false that no one is above the law? (by Sarah Kelly in Sixth year) and our  winner of the senior category was Fifth year student Sasha Beatty with her speech on  Pet Peeves. Both Transition Year students won second and third prize for their speeches on, The American War on Drugs (by Saffron Bardin who received second prize) and Why I believe Zoos should be shut down (by Clare Kelly who was awarded third place).

The Judges, Mrs.Breen, a past member of the teaching staff and Mark Mulvey , a John Scottus Alumni and past winner of the Speech Competition,  all praised the high standard and level of commitment each participant gave.  

During the interval Maria Colfer (our Head girl) and Rose Yoder (a TY student)  entertained us all with their powerful voice and musical talents. Thank you also to  Mr. Kerr  who provided musical entertainment at the beginning of the event.

A thank you needs to be given to all staff, judges, students and the school community at large  who all helped make this event truly great. All participants were fantastic and deserve fervent applause as the Literacy week and Speech Competition  was and continue to be, without fail, an inspiring event in the school calendar.